“Whether it is about climate change, technology, sustainable development or conflict, the same challenge remains: the current international institutions do not reflect global realities. The majority of the world is not properly represented in the global institutions and their interests are not met. This must change,” he stated, identifying the consequent loss of agency as a factor undermining the legitimacy of such institutions.
Stubb outlined a three-point proposal for reforming the UN.
The UN Security Council, he said, should be expanded from five to ten members in a way that guarantees that all major continents are represented – by adding two members from Asia, two from Africa and one from Latin America.
“Second, no state should have veto power,” he continued. “[I]n today’s world, it has too often incapacitated the Security Council.”
His third proposal is that any permanent or elected member of the council should be stripped of its voting rights temporarily if it violates the UN Charter, under a decision by the UN General Assembly.
“There should be no room for double standards in the United Nations,” emphasised Stubb.
“Finland’s three point proposal today is very concrete, some might say overly optimistic, but I do feel we have to begin somewhere.”
He also touched on the conflicts in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine. Neither Russia nor any other country, he underscored, has a historical right to the people or territory of anyone else.
“Finland condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Finland equally condemns the attempts to manipulate the global information space to destroy the principles that have sustained world peace for decades. I call on [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to end this war right now,” he said.
“While Russia is doing its best to blame others for its own aggression, we must systematically revert to the principles of international law and the UN Charter.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan would produce a just plan that is clearly in the interests of the global majority, according to Stubb.
Also in Palestine, peace would be in the interests of the global majority, and a ceasefire, a two-state solution and regional security arrangements would ensure stability, as well as economic and societal development, across the region.
In recent days, concerns over the conflict spilling over in the region have mounted as Israel has ramped up its strikes on Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people in the past two weeks, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health was quoted saying on Saturday by to the Washington Post. Last Tuesday alone, Israeli strikes killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women.
On Sunday, Israel announced it has carried out “large-scale” air strikes in Yemen, targeting “military targets” of the Houthi, according to the BBC.
In Sudan, Stubb viewed that the global community has failed to apply local solutions in its attempts to resolve the civil war, turning the beleaguered country into an “arena for regional and international rivalry”.
“No one benefits from this development in the long term,” he said.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the humanitarian situation has worsened due to the civil war, disease outbreaks and heavy rains and flooding. More than eight million people have been internally displaced due to the situation, while almost 25 million are in need of assistance.
“I call upon the UN to take centre stage in conflict resolution and prevention once again. Peace mediation cannot be transactional – it has to be centred in the United Nations. International law, the UN Charter, and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states must prevail.”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
