Statement by Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council Ambassador Samuel Žbogar at the UNSC Briefing on Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order

Thank you, Mr President.

As we are meeting to discuss preparedness of our multilateral system for the contemporary challenges, I would like to start with the timeless words of the second UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld : “The United Nations was not created to bring us to heaven, but to save us from hell.”

Unfortunately, we seem to be moving more in direction of the later. We live in a world of dark statistics, with the highest number of ongoing conflicts, the highest number of casualties among civilians, among children, humanitarian and medical workers and among journalists. Conflicts have driven numbers of forcibly displaced people to record high. We live in time of hunger and protection crisis.

Women, children and older persons bear the largest burden. Climate change, water scarcity and pollution are adding pressure on the communities around the globe.

This dark trend is not a consequence of an outdated multilateral system but rather a consequence of erosion of respect for its principles by some UN member states, including regrettably by a permanent member of the Security Council.

We are witnessing flagrant violation of the UN Charter with Russian aggression in Ukraine. Appalling violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law are causing immense suffering of civilians in Gaza, in Sudan, in Ukraine and elsewhere.

We are facing blatant disregard for the Security Council resolutions and its sanctions in Sudan, in Gaza, DRC and DPRK to name a few.

The problem is not in multilateral system built around the UN. The problem is that the international order based on the power of rules is being pushed out by the rules of power.

We can’t and we don’t need to agree on every issue on the agenda of the Security Council but we need to share a basic foundation of effective multilateralism, which – according to our conviction should be respect for the UN Charter and international law. No ifs, ands and buts.

As a minimum this means peaceful settlement of disputes, refraining from the threat or use of force against territorial integrity of other countries and it means protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure in times of war.

We are not experiencing the crisis of multilateralism but rather a crisis of political will to make us comply and respect the international legal system we have all built and committed to. The world finds itself in a crisis of trust – a trust in the system and a trust in each other.

Therefore, the question before us should not be whether we need a new multilateral system but rather how we can restore political will and trust to strengthen the one we have diligently built for decades. Precondition for (re)building trust is full respect and compliance with the principles of the UN Charter.

We strongly believe we should reaffirm our collective commitment to the established international legal system by upholding the UN Charter as the cornerstone of our multilateral system. Through the codification of the international law and its progressive development we should strengthen compliance mechanisms and accountability to ensure member states’ adherence to their international obligations.

The inclusive UN system needs to stay a living mechanism ready to adapt to new realities and challenges of the modern time. We must achieve progress in the process of its revitalisation and reform. The upcoming Summit for the Future presents excellent opportunity in this regard.

The UN Charter has stood the test of time, proving its relevance through many challenges of the past eight decades. It continues to deserve, above all, our full and unconditional respect for its purposes and principles. It is on us now to effectively use the existing tools, provided by the UN Charter and the international law, and make our common future less daunting.

Thank you.

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