The images stir emotions and describe states of mind. Yesterday’s, from the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, speaks for itself.
Guterres is surrounded by members of security during his visit to kyiv, Ukraine. Two of them take him by the arm so that he finds support on his journey through the streets of the capital.
kyiv was bombed after several weeks without receiving Russian shells. It’s not by chance.
In the words of the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, yesterday’s bombing of kyiv was aimed at humiliating the UN. The bombings “say a lot about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything this organization stands for,” Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram.
“The Security Council failed to do what was in its power to prevent and end this war,” Guterres said alongside President Zelensky, calling it the “source of great disappointment, frustration and anger.”
The Security Council’s main objective is to maintain international peace and security. Guterres’ words are surely expressed by the impotence he feels of not being able to contribute a grain of sand to the conflict that Ukraine is experiencing after Russia invaded and attacked it since February 24.
The Security Council is nullified thanks to the figure of the veto that Russia has at its disposal. The five permanent members can block the resolutions that are proposed. Russia will never pass any resolution condemning what its government is doing against Ukraine.
On February 27, the permanent representative ambassador of Mexico to the United Nations, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, reiterated the historic position of Mexican diplomacy against the veto.
The probability that one of the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Russia), together with their respective allies, have interests in an international conflict is high. The veto is available to the five permanent members. They will always use it in defense of their interests.
This week the General Assembly agreed by consensus that it will meet every time there is a veto in the Security Council.
The resolution, sponsored by the principality of Liechtenstein, indicates that the head of the Assembly may request a debate on the situation on the subject that leads to a veto.
The objective is to show the world a critical security issue that for one or more of the permanent members of the Security Council, it is best to veto it in their interests.
The urgency of a profound reform in the Security Council is clear.