The importance of strengthening multilateralism, the lifting of unilateral coercive measures and the need of moving forward with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were the main issues tackled on Monday at the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of this multilateral organization.
In his statement, Russian Federation’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, asserted the goals established 75 years ago to create the United Nations are nowadays more relevant than ever before, especially as the international community is becoming increasingly fragmented and political intolerance is exhibited.
According to the Russian foreign minister, the world needs to put aside dividing lines, needs a greater multilateralism and assistance in these times.
Likewise, he urged not to allow the Organization’s mandates are watered down by the lack of will of some member states, and insisted that unilateral sanctions must be lifted to talk about a free world.
President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called for the reform of the Security Council, for a Council that is democratic, transparent, accountable, effective and based on an equitable representation.
Regarding the problems faced by countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish president said that excessive greed, monopolization of power and the desire to continue colonialism using new methods is the biggest obstacle to the distribution of justice in the global system.
“Despite the ideals that have been set out, the United Nations system can neither prevent conflicts nor end those that have already begun. We all see now that we cannot overcome today’s challenges through structures designed for the needs of the previous century,” added President Erdoğan.
In that same vein, President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping urged the UN to take concrete steps to protect the multilateral system and the organizations’ role in international affairs, as well as strengthen security, development and human rights in the world, especially in the face of the challenges posed by the pandemic.
President Jinping said it is imperative that the representation and voice of developing countries be increased so that the UN could be more balanced in reflecting the interests and wishes of the majority of countries in the world, and called for the respect for the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and stressed there must be no practice of exceptionalism or double standards, nor should international law be distorted and used as a pretext to undermine other countries’ legitimate rights and interests or world peace and stability.
” What we need to do is to replace conflict with dialogue, coercion with consultation (…) We need to pursue the common interests of all (…) and build a big global family of harmony and cooperation,” highlighted the Chinese president.
Right to self-determination of the people
In his statement, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, condemned the blockade of essential resources for the development of the Cuban people, and he also recalled that the United States has ignored important agreements in the areas of environmental protection, withdrawing from international for a and multilateral mechanisms that promote the world’s peace and stability while attacking sovereign countries.
“Fear and repeated lies happen to be its main weapons of its media and war-mongering strategy. It has increased its hostility against Cuba to the highest level, systematically violating human rights by tightening its blockade and attacking its international medical cooperation in times of a pandemic,” blasted Foreign Minister Rodríguez.
“It is preventing the end of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, denies the people of Puerto Rico their right to free determination and independence, interferes in the internal affairs of dozens of UN Member States,” he added.
President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, congratulated the UN and recalled that his country remains faithful its constitutional principles, attaching great importance to non-intervention, respect for human rights, self. Determination of the peoples and cooperation for development.
“We need to be fraternal. We need to help each other now as we tackle the COVID‑19 pandemic. Long live universal fraternity!” he stressed.
Inclusive future for all and rejection to UCM
President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, insisted on the need of building an inclusive, transforming future in the aftermath of COVID-19, respecting the dignity and worth of each people.
“We must ensure that the sovereignty and equality of countries is respected. Violations to international law and unilateral coercive measures are issues that should not occur,” he said.
In this same vein, President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, said the lack of political will of some member states and the lack of respect for the current international legal reflect a clear and urgent need for a reform of the UN statutes.
The African president it is unconceivable that after 75 years, scientific and technological developments remain in the hands of a few nations.
“The highly unbalanced economic gap between rich and poor countries haven’t been bridged,2 he complained.