New York, October 8 – The United Nations General Assembly will debate Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine and possibly vote on a resolution to declare that the move has “no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine.”

The assembly’s 193 member states will meet Monday October 10 to begin the debate after a similar resolution calling the annexation illegal was vetoed by Russia in a U.N. Security Council meeting. In that meeting on September 30, 10 countries supported the resolution: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Albania, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and United Arab Emirates.

Russia voted against and four countries abstained – China, India, Brazil and Gabon. 

The assembly is a legislative body composed of 193 countries and each has one vote and where the veto does not exist. By contrast the five U.N. Security Council permanent members – US, United Kingdom, Russia, France and China – have veto power over decisions on world peace and security. Decisions taken by the Security Council are binding on U.N. members.

The draft resolution to be debated in the assembly would condemn Russia for holding on September 23-27 “illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.”

It calls on “all states, international organizations and United Nations specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration” by Russia of the status of the four regions and “to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status.” 

If adopted by the assembly, the resolution would be the fourth to be enacted by the body in its diplomatic efforts to end the war started by Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this year.

In the previous three votes in the assembly a majority of the 193 member states supported the resolution condemning the war. The vote taken on March 2 just days after fighting erupted a total of 141 countries voted to condemn while Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea voted against. A total of 35 countries abstained. 

The adopted resolution on March 2 condemned “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” in violation of the U.N Charter and demanded that Russia withdraw immediately and cease all acts of war.

In the second and third votes, the number of countries supporting ending the war dropped while countries that abstained increased.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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New York, October 7 – The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for world assistance and solidarity with the people and government of Pakistan as one-third of the country was deluged, affecting 33 million lives and over 15 million people could be pushed into poverty.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who visited Pakistan for a first-hand view of the destructions, said Pakistan was responsible for less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but it is now paying a “supersized price for man-made climate change.”

He said while the weather has improved and flood waters have receded mostly in the southern parts, the country is threatened with an explosion of heath diseases like cholera, malaria and dengue fever.

Floods have destroyed 1,500 health facilities, two million homes were damaged or destroyed and more than two million families have lost all possessions. The country also suffered severe losses in crops and livestock.

“Severe hunger is spiking,” Guterres said in an address to the 193-nation assembly. “Malnutrition among children and pregnant lactating women is rising. The number of children out of school is growing. Heartache and hardship – especially for women and girls – is mounting.”

The U.N. and Pakistan government have called for a pledging conference with an initial appeal of $816 million to meet the most urgent needs in the country through May 2023.

Csaba Kőrösi, the president of the assembly, appealed to governments to stand in solidarity with Pakistan with prompt responses to the country’s needs saying that “the price we are paying for delays rises each day.”

“This is a tragedy of epic proportions” that requires “immediate interventions,” to prevent a “permanent emergency,” he said.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) in Geneva said it needs urgent help for over 650,000 refugees.

U.N. News reported that Matthew Saltmarsh, the agency’s spokesperson, said Pakistan faces “a colossal challenge” to respond to the climate disaster, more support is need “for the country and its people, who have generously hosted Afghan refugees for over four decades.”

Saltmarsh reported on the latest estimates of the unprecedented rainfall and flooding, recorded at least 1,700 deaths; 12,800 injured, including at least 4,000 children; some 7.9 million displacements; and nearly 600,000 living in relief sites.

“Pakistan is on the frontlines of the climate emergency,” said Saltmarsh. “It could take months for flood waters to recede in the hardest-hit areas, as fears rise over threats of waterborne diseases and the safety of millions of affected people, 70 percent of whom are women and children.” 

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New York, September 30 – Russia cast a negative vote and effectively blocked UN Security Council members from adopting a resolution that would have condemned President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine as “illegal.”

Ten of the 15 council members voted in favor of the resolution while four of them abstained. The four abstentions are China, India, Brazil and Gabon. Russia’s veto automatically killed the resolution. The veto power belongs to Russia, the US, UK, France and China which permanent council members.

The 10 members who cast the positive votes are: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Albania, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and United Arab Emirates.

The council held a meeting to discuss issues of peace and security in Ukraine and to vote on the resolution on the same day Putin formally signed documents in Moscow to seize Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and declared that Ukrainians living in the areas are “Russian citizens forever.”

In the council meeting US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged council members to secure and protect the sovereignty of all states to ensure that “no state can take over another state.” She said the US and its supporters will now take the resolution to the 193-member UN General Assembly, where there are no vetoes.

“We want to show that the world is still on the side of sovereignty and protecting territorial integrity,” she said.

British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said in an address to the council that the area Russia is claiming to annex is more than 90,000 square km. “This is the largest forcible annexation since the Second World War.”

“Council members have voted in different ways. But one thing is clear. Not a single other member of this Council recognizes Russia’s attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Russia’s veto doesn’t change that fact.”

“The international system is being assaulted in front of our eyes,” she said. “Russia will not succeed in this illegal imperialist war. The only question is how much damage they do, how many lives they waste, before they realize that.”

The Russian seizure of the Ukrainian regions was strongly condemned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as an escalation of the seven-month war in Ukraine.

“In this moment of peril, I must underscore my duty as Secretary-General to uphold the Charter of the United Nations,” Guterres said in a statement issued the day before Putin signed decrees annexing the Ukrainian territories in a ceremony in the Great Kremlin Palace. The annexation followed referenda conducted by Russia in the four territories, which the UN said were faked and not legal.

“The UN Charter is clear,” Guterres said. “Any annexation of a state’s territory by another state resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter and international law.”

“Any decision to proceed with the annexation would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned,” Guterres said. “The position of the United Nations is unequivocal: we are fully committed to the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions.”

The UN leader reminded Putin that Russia is one of the five permanent members of the 15-nation UN Security Council, and “it shares a particular responsibility to respect the Charter.” (By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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New York, September 21 – US President Joe Biden told the annual UN General Assembly session that Russia’s war in Ukraine is an affront to the world and called for reforming the UN Security Council in which Russia has veto power over decisions on global peace and security.

Biden delivered a strong condemnation of Russia, saying the country “is friend of no one” in the world and it has “shamelessly violated the core tenets of the UN Charter with its brutal, needless war” in Ukraine.

Biden’s speech captured the attention of the 193-nation assembly session with his strong condemnation of the war and determination to assist Ukraine. He said Russia’s nuclear threats against Europe is a “reckless disregard” for its own responsibilities as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

UN Security Council

Biden called for enlarging the membership of the UN Security Council, which currently has 15 countries, including Russia, the US, United Kingdom, France and China which are permanent members with veto power. Russia has vetoed resolutions that condemned its military invasion of Ukraine.

Biden said the council should be reformed to include countries from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Talks to reform the council have been going on for over two decades, but the issue of weakening the permanent members’ veto power has remained a stumbling block.

UN Charter and ideals in jeopardy, world divided by multiple crises

The assembly session opened its 77^th session on September 21 dominated by the on-going war in Ukraine, conflicts in many countries, climate disasters and a worsening global economy.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the session saying that the world is in “rough seas” with global discontent this coming winter topped by a raging crisis of rising cost of living and other problems.

“The United Nations Charter (or constitution) and the ideals it represents are in jeopardy. We have a duty to act. And yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. The international community is not ready or willing to tackle the big dramatic challenges of our age. These crises threaten the very future of humanity and the fate of our planet.”

He said the “geopolitical divides” are undermining the work of the UN Security Council – the highest UN responsible for world peace and security – international law and people’s trust and faith in democratic institutions.

Most of the 193 UN member states are represented by their presidents and prime ministers in the largest in-person attendance since the Covid-19 pandemic break out. The exception is Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will deliver his address in a pre-recorded video.

The war in Ukraine, which started with Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 this year, remained a top concern. UN officials and some governments have accused Russia of violating the UN Charter, human rights of Ukrainians and committing war crimes.

French President Emmanuel Macron in his speech denounced the invasion, saying

“What we’ve seen since February 24 is a return to the age of imperialism and colonies. France rejects this. France, obstinately, will look for peace.”

Turkeye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who helped broker the deal to export Ukraine’s wheat and food stuffs through the Black Sea, said, “We need to find together a reasonable, just and viable diplomatic solution that will provide both sides the opportunity of an “honorable exit.”

He called for reforming the Security Council into “a more effective, democratic, transparent and accountable structure” by increasing the number of permanent members. “The world is bigger than five (permanent members). A fairer world is possible,” he said.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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New York, September 20 – The United Nations General Assembly opened its 77^th session dominated by the on-going war in Ukraine, conflicts in many countries, climate disasters and a worsening global economy.

The strong warnings came from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who opened the annual session by saying that the world is in “rough seas” with global discontent this coming winter topped by a raging crisis of rising cost of living and other problems.

He admitted: “The United Nations Charter (or constitution) and the ideals it represents are in jeopardy. We have a duty to act. And yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. The international community is not ready or willing to tackle the big dramatic challenges of our age. These crises threaten the very future of humanity and the fate of our planet.”

He said the “geopolitical divides” are undermining the work of the UN Security Council – the highest UN responsible for world peace and security – international law and people’s trust and faith in democratic institutions.

Most of the 193 UN member states will be represented by their presidents and prime ministers in the largest in-person attendance since the Covid-19 pandemic break out. The exception is Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will deliver his address in a pre-recorded video.

The assembly session, known also as general debate from September 20-26, is taking place under the theme A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges. It reflects the intense and critical time the world went under the pandemic, the Russian war in Ukraine, climate calamities and food and energy high prices.

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