On Tuesday, April 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Via video link to UN Security Council members.
The Ukrainian president has proposed that the Security Council dissolve itself, reformat it, or remove Russia from its membership.
“We now need UN Security Council resolutions aimed at restoring peace in Ukraine. If you don’t know how to make this decision, there are two things you can do:
Exclude Russia as the aggressor and source of war so that it cannot hinder decisions about its aggression and war or reform the security system.
Or – if your current version has no alternative and no way out, then just self-resolving. I’m sure you can do without the third option, ”quotes RIA Novosti Zelensky.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the permanent members of the Security Council, including the Russian Federation, have the right to veto decisions in the organization. According to him, the UN can limit Russia’s powers so that it does not obstruct decisions about its own actions or “reform and realistically work for the sake of peace”.
“There should no longer be exceptions or privileges, everyone should be equal, all participants in international relations, regardless of their economic strength, geographical location or individual ambitions,” he said. TASS.
Zelensky believes the UN has failed to respond effectively to the current conflict. Under these conditions, Ukraine is taking the initiative to hold a global conference in Kiev, which will be devoted to the reform of the global security system.
In his speech, the President of Ukraine also warned of a large-scale food crisis, the consequences of which will be felt, including in African and Asian countries.
We will remind for the first time the call to remove Russia from the UN Security Council. heard In Zelensky’s video message on February 26. “The world should deprive Russia of the right to vote in the UN Security Council,” said the Ukrainian President.
What does the UN charter say?
Under the current UN Charter, no decision can be taken without the consent of any permanent member of the Security Council – each with a veto.
The Security Council consists of 15 member states, five permanent and 10 non-permanent, five of which are elected annually by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term. The 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council are elected geographically.
The permanent members of the Security Council are: Great Britain, China, Russia, the USA and France.
This device has largely survived from the 1940s. Russia, as the successor state of the USSR, has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since 24 December 1991.
…and how to use UN peacekeepers
The veto right that the Russian Federation has and does not allow, in particular, to send UN peacekeepers to Ukraine – such a proposal came from the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. UN peacekeepers are deployed to prevent or eliminate a threat to peace and security through joint coercive action if economic and political measures fail.
Decisions on the creation, composition, use and financing of peacekeeping forces are taken by the UN Security Council. Strategic leadership is carried out by the Military Staff Committee. This unit successfully coped with the tasks assigned to it in many local conflicts in various parts of the world. In 1988, UN peacekeepers were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“The UN really can only accept resolutions and come up with solutions to humanitarian issues. But unfortunately, he cannot act as a true peacemaker to directly influence the situation. And in this sense, Zelensky is right – the current world order turned out to be ineffective and powerless in conditions when diplomatic and political measures were apparently insufficient to resolve the acute crisis in Europe, ”the political scientist Grigory Alexandrov said in an interview with Gazeta. ru.
February 24 Russia started special military operation in Ukraine. After that, the USA, EU, UK and some other states introduced four packages of sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. In addition, more than 60% of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves ($350 billion) frozen – such data was given on April 5 by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.