Former President of Liberia, Ellen Sirleaf, has called for urgent enforcement of international law and reform of the Council to address escalating conflicts and prevent future crises.
Sirleaf said this while addressing a High-Level Debate in the IN Security Council chamber on Leadership for Peace on Wednesday in New York.
Sirleaf, who spoke in her capacity as a member of the Group of Elders, established by former South African president Nelson Mandela, said the world needed leadership for peace desperately.
“Preserving peace should be the primary responsibility of any leader, yet the leadership for peace that the world desperately needs is sorely lacking,” she said, calling for action on three issues.
Firstly, she said leaders must uphold international law consistently, pointing to increasing numbers of instances of systematic violations in war zones, from Ukraine to Gaza and beyond,
Sirleaf said spoke on increasing number of impunity for those committing atrocities as well as influential States intervening in conflicts, transferring weapons to warring parties and inflaming aggressions.
“Powerful States, including some permanent members of this Council, are deliberately ignoring international norms,” she said.
Sirleaf added that the war of aggression on Ukraine was a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, with the Security Council paralysed and not responding.
Pointing to incidents whereby some Council members are undermining decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and threatening the International Criminal Court and its officials, she said
“it is vital that our international judicial institutions are supported and their decisions upheld. International law must be applied consistently, regardless of who is being held accountable.”
2025 will mark 25 years since this Council passed resolution 1325, which recognised the crucial role that women must play in peace and security, yet the decisions that most affect peace and security are still primarily, and in some contexts exclusively, made by men, often the same men who initiated the conflict.
As such, the Elders are calling for the mandatory participation of senior women in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes.
‘The world looks to you to act’
“Finally, you, as leaders, must restore the credibility of the international peace and security architecture,” she said.
She emphasised that the UN is known worldwide for its peacekeeping, including in Liberia, where after 14 years of civil war, peacekeeping operations played a crucial role in securing peace.
Sadly, peacekeeping is broken at a time when it is needed more than ever, she continued.
“When the world looks to the UN for leadership in the face of such threats as conflict or global pandemics, it looks first to the Security Council,” Sirleaf said.
“But, this Council is widely seen to be ineffective. Reform is urgent and overdue. The Council must be fit for the world of 2025 and beyond, not a relic from 1945,” she said.
She added that to build on the momentum of the recently adopted Pact for the Future, the Elders are calling for a coalition to launch a reform process and drive negotiations for a more representative and effective Security Council.
“The time for excuses is past, and your moment of leadership is now,” she said. “The world looks to you to act. Do not let us down.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, while addressing a High-Level Debate in the Security Council on Leadership for Peace, designed to bolster support for the principles of the UN Charter and build on the call for reform contained in the ground-breaking Pact for the Future, adopted on Sunday.
“In the face of deepening divisions and growing mistrust between nations, impunity is spreading along with “repeated violations” of international law and the Charter, the Secretary-General told world leaders and senior ministers in the Council chamber in New York.
“Leadership for peace means ensuring that the UN Security Council acts in a meaningful way to ease global tensions and help address the conflicts that are inflicting so much suffering around the world.”
“A united Council can make a tremendous difference for peace”, Mr. Guterres continued: “A divided Council cannot.”
He said it was “imperative” that in the light of the failure to act – due often to divisions between permanent members who wield veto power – members need to “spare no effort to work together to find common ground.”
He said despite inaction over wars in Gaza and Ukraine, there have been notable examples of effective unified action, from overseeing 11 UN peacekeeping operations involving some 70,000 personnel, to a landmark resolution which provides for African Union-led support operations.
These “prove that forging peace is possible”, including in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan”, the UN chief added.
“Our only hope for progress on peace is active collaboration and unity among Council members”, Mr. Guterres continued. “Today, I call on all members to live up to this great responsibility and to the promise of the UN Charter. Contribute to this Council’s success – not its diminishment.”
At the outset of the meeting, the Council adopted a presidential statement on the meeting’s theme, read in its entirety by Prime Minister Robert Golob of Slovenia, which holds the Council presidency for September.
The Council, among other things, called on all parties to armed conflict to comply fully with their obligations under international humanitarian law in order to respect and protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel. It also reiterated its commitment towards accountability for violations.
Delivering a statement in his national capacity, Prime Minister Golob said national interests are too often being put ahead of common values and principles.
“If we all put stronger efforts into giving priority to common interests, the world would be a better place,” he said. “The global public wants to hear this commitment from us today.”
He recalled that during the Balkan wars, the Council was willing and capable of adopting a resolution establishing an accountability mechanism through an international tribunal, but today, similar atrocities are happening in many conflicts.
“Unfortunately, adoption of such a resolution by this Council seems unthinkable,” he said, adding that efforts must be made to invest in building an effective, relevant Council that fits the world today.