In his speech, the UN head paid special attention to the need to expand the number of permanent members of the Security Council. The UN Secretary General called for reforming the Security Council: “Open the doors and let in the light!” UN
The Secretary-General of the United Nations addressed the UN Security Council via video link with a call for urgent reform of the Security Council, which, in his words, “defined the course of history” and “prevented the chaos of a great war,” but is now in dire need of change.
Speaking from Hanoi, the UN chief began with the story of the very first vote of the Security Council in 1946. When the ballot box was examined before voting, a note from New York mechanic Paul Antonio, the creator of that very ballot box, was unexpectedly discovered. “May God be with every member of the United Nations, and may your noble efforts bring lasting peace to the world,” the Secretary General quoted the contents of the note.
“The Security Council exists for the sake of the people,” António Guterres emphasized. – For the sake of parents who have lost children, refugees left homeless, soldiers who have lost limbs. In every corner of this hall there are shadows of the dead. But next to them are the hopes of the living.”
The Secretary General noted the key historical achievements of the Security Council: promoting the suppression of genocide in Cambodia and the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa, the implementation of peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Liberia and other countries, as well as the creation of a global architecture to combat terrorism.
However, according to Guterres, the reputation of the Security Council “remains fragile.” The Secretary-General condemned instances in which Member States have acted contrary to the UN Charter, which “undermines confidence in the entire system” and “jeopardizes global security.”
In his speech, the head of the UN paid special attention to the need to expand the number of permanent members of the Security Council. “Africa, the region where almost half of all UN peacekeeping missions take place, does not have a permanent voice at this table,” the Secretary-General noted, adding that Latin America, the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific region are also underrepresented.
António Guterres supported the initiatives of France and Great Britain to limit the use of the veto and called on the Security Council to “study them carefully.”
Concluding his speech, the Secretary General addressed the members of the Security Council: “Be worthy of the olive wreath of a peacemaker! It’s time to open the doors and let in the light. Without a Security Council fit for purpose, the world will be in danger.”