Pellegrini Takes Floor at UN Security Council

New York, September 26 (TASR-correspondent) - The UN Security Council is weakened by internal conflicts, frequent vetoes of important resolutions and the failure to address violations of international law and power politics instead of peace efforts, said Slovak President Peter Pellegrini during Wednesday's open debate at the UN Security Council in New York, adding that the confidence of UN-member states in the Council's ability to respond to crises around the world has been undermined as a result. Pellegrini stated that another consequence of the division in the UN Security Council is the war in Ukraine, Slovakia's immediate neighbour. This occurred "despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of UN-member states have repeatedly condemned Russia's continued aggression", he stated. This is not the only conflict in the world, added Pellegrini, also mentioning the situations in the Gaza Strip, Mali, Myanmar and Sudan in this vein. In his view, the principles of international cooperation on which the security architecture has stood since the Second World War are currently under threat. "Without them, the international order as we know it will collapse and end in chaos and violence. This is unacceptable for Slovakia as a long-standing and steadfast supporter of multilateralism," stressed Pellegrini. The president emphasised the need to respect internationally recognised national borders and lambasted certain countries - without naming them - for not respecting the UN and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "Big players mustn't just do as they please," he stressed. "Bitter lessons of the past tell us that a determined aggressor is not easily appeased," said Pellegrini, posing the rhetorical question of how many countries in the world today would sign the UN Charter ratified 79 years ago. zel/df