TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR HAS called for reform of the UN Security Council and its veto power in the nation’s address at the United Nations General Assembly.
In Ireland’s national address, Varadkar said during Ireland’s recent term on the Security Council saw first-hand the positive effect that its work can have.
“But we also saw its efforts stymied, its mandate undermined; crucial decisions and actions blocked by the use of the veto.
“Our future requires a UN with a reformed Security Council – without the anachronism of the veto. It has no place in the 21st century. We also need a UN Security Council that properly reflects the world’s demography and politics as it is now not in the 1940s,” he said.
“We know what can be achieved through cooperation at the UN. We have seen it. We have lived it and participated in it. This is our institution and system that has real value,’ he said.
Varadkar also used the opportunity to pay tribute to Private Séan Rooney who was killed in Lebanon last December, who he said paid the “ultimate price” while carrying out peacekeeping duties.
“We think too of his family and his comrades, and of all the women and men who have lost their lives in the pursuit of peace,” he said.
Ireland is proud to hold the longest unbroken record of service in UN peacekeeping missions, he said.
“We are proud that the women and men of the Irish Defence Forces who work to protect civilians and sustain peace around the world – in UN, EU and NATO led missions -operate with the mandate of this organisation,” said the Taoiseach.
“We are concerned at the ongoing threats to peacekeeping operations. We see with even national authorities seeking the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, compromising the security of their own people and creating further conflict,” he added.
Speaking about Ukraine, Varadkar said Ireland’s term on the Security Council in 2021/2022 saw “Russia’s imperialist and brutal invasion of Ukraine”.
“It was an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression by an expansionist, revanchist power against its neighbour.
“The brutality of Russia’s actions in Ukraine has caused unfathomable suffering for the people of that country. And, as I stand on this most global of stages, I am deeply conscious of the wider suffering it has caused, increasing global food, energy and economic insecurity,” said Varadkar.
He said Russia’s inexplicable decision last month to collapse the Black Sea Grain Initiative has only made this bad situation worse.
Reminding nations present at the assembly today, he said many countries see the war in Ukraine as a European problem – “a conflict in which there is little at stake for the rest of the world”.
“But, have no doubt, each of us in these United Nations has a deep interest in ensuring that Russia’s attempt to move borders by force does not succeed.
“For when one aggressor prevails, their peers elsewhere take note and are emboldened. We know this from history.
“When Europeans draw attention to the profound injustice of what is happening in Ukraine, there can be criticism, some of it justified, of the developed world’s failure to respond with the same intensity of feeling and action to conflict and suffering elsewhere,” he said.
Varadkar said while we can acknowledge that we have fallen short, the people of Ukraine should not be the ones asked to pay the price.
“They have done nothing to bring down this war on their heads. They deserve the right we all claim – to determine their own future, in peace and security.
“They deserve the unqualified support – and the action to back it up – of every single Member State of these United Nations,” said the Taoiseach.
“Equally, the Russian Federation and its Leaders deserve our utter condemnation for what they have done and are continuing to do. They must be held accountable,” he added.
“Among the many horrors of the situation in Ukraine has been Russia’s threat – indeed its multiple threats – to use nuclear weapons. Such threats are, in themselves, outrageous,” the Taoiseach told the assembly.
“Russia knows, as we all do, that their use would result in devastating humanitarian and environmental disaster. Ireland has long been committed to a world free of nuclear threats – but we see a world in which their place in security doctrines is growing, rather than diminishing,” he said.
This must be reversed. The stark alternative is a new nuclear arms race. That must not pass.
The devastation on innocent civilians of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas cannot continue to echo down generations, said Varadkar, who highlighted that Ireland led negotiations on a Political Declaration to respond to the humanitarian consequences arising from their use.
“We are pleased that 83 states adopted the Declaration in Dublin last year. And we urge all states here to join.
Varadkar also addressed the assembly about climate change contributing to increasing numbers of humanitarian crises, with record numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance.
He called out the lack of progress in some areas, stating that there is serious gender inequality, with more than 130 million girls out of school and less than 20% of the world’s landowners are women.
“We have seen the stalling – and, in some cases, the reversal – of progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals we collectively agreed to implement.
“The Goals represent a high point for international cooperation and the promise of a world that we can securely pass on to the next generation.
“Ireland is deeply proud of the role we have played. In 2015, with Kenya, we led the negotiations that created the Sustainable Development Goals.
“And this year – at the halfway point – we worked with Qatar to bring about the SDG Summit’s Political Declaration; the Declaration that we unanimously approved in this Hall earlier this week,” said Varadkar.
He said it is beyond time for us to demonstrate that the Sustainable Development Goals are more than a set of aspirations.
“It is time for all of us – to turn our collective commitments into reality,” he said.
The Taoiseach also spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating that the international community has failed in its regard.
“It should not be so – we have known for decades the parameters of the only just solution: a two-State solution, with a viable Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel, whose right to exist should be accepted and respected by all its neighbours.
“We have affirmed and reaffirmed this many times. Yet, day after day, developments take us further from this vision and make a two-state solution harder to handle.
“We see acts of terrorism perpetrated against Israeli and Palestinian civilians; increasingly dangerous and provocative rhetoric; and clear violations of international law,” he said.
The promotion of peace and reconciliation is diminishing and the consequences are stark, said Varadkar, who added that Ireland “wholeheartedly” agreed with a resolution passed by the assembly, seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s prolonged occupation.
Clarification of international law can only strengthen international peace and security, he said.
Varadkar said an entire generation on the island of Ireland has now grown to adulthood free from the shadow of violence.
“We know that peace is hard won and can never be taken for granted. We do not presume to know the solutions to the conflicts faced by many nations around the world.
But we strongly believe that this body that we all belong to – this body that encapsulates hope and ambition; compromise and dedication – has given us the ability to build peace; just and inclusive peace,” he concluded.
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