President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged urgent reforms to the UN Security Council. (@PresidencyZA/X)
President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged urgent reforms to the UN Security Council, saying it had failed to uphold international law and respond effectively to global conflicts.
“South Africa remains deeply concerned by the erosion of the credibility of the Security Council and its failure to ensure accountability and uphold international law,” Ramaphosa told delegates during the general debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“As the security and humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Gaza and elsewhere deteriorate, it is a matter of grave concern that there are countries that continue to violate international law and defy UN resolutions and rulings from bodies like the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“We cannot and should not accept that members of this organisation continue to violate without consequence the charter that we have all agreed to uphold.”
He urged the UN to be stronger in its resolve and commitment to building peace, security and development goals.
“We must invigorate the negotiations on the Security Council and reform at the inter-governmental negotiations in the General Assembly, including by initiating text-based negotiations. The Security Council must be more accountable, representative, democratic and effective in executing its mandate,” he added.
Ramaphosa noted that there was growing consensus among countries that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as South Africa has argued before the ICJ.
The UN was established 80 years ago in the wake of the second world war and, through its charter, nations promised to uphold peace, development and human rights underpinned by international law.
“Therefore, as nations that have pledged to uphold the UN Charter, we have the ultimate responsibility to ensure and protect the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” Ramaphosa said.
He spoke a day after participating in a high-level meeting to reaffirm international commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to mobilise support for its implementation.
“South Africa reiterates its firm commitment to the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state existing peacefully and side by side with the State of Israel, along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Ramaphosa said at that meeting.
“The viability of a two-state solution depends on full and universal respect for international law. It requires the immediate and full implementation of resolutions of the United Nations, as well as the Provisional Measures and Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice.
“All states, including the State of Israel, must comply with our collective obligations under international law.”
During his Tuesday address to the General Assembly, Ramaphosa also urged member states to fulfill the mandate of the UN in enabling better trade between nations and urgently addressing climate change, noting that while member states had adopted the sustainable development goals, “many of these goals remain elusive”.
“There are many reasons that hold many countries from fulfilling and implementing these development goals. Some of the reasons are lack of sufficient financial resources,” he said. This was especially true of developing countries, which were “indebted and paying more on debt servicing than they do on health and education”.
“Trade is one of the most important instruments to mobilise domestic resources for development. It is concerning that geopolitical shocks and unprecedented trade policy volatility are destabilising the global economy and jeopardising a critical source of development financing,” Ramaphosa said.
South Africa, among several other countries, is grappling with the negative economic impact of tariffs imposed by the US to protect its own producers. Ramaphosa reiterated the importance of the African Continental Free Trade Area in driving sustainable growth and development on the continent.
He said the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality, launched under the auspices of South Africa’s G20 presidency, would support efforts to build more inclusive economies.
On climate change, Ramaphosa said countries were “failing future generations” by their inability to reduce global warming which was impeding countries’ economic growth, especially in the Global South, whose nations bear the biggest burden, despite having lower emission rates than other nations.
“Member states must honour their undertakings and commitments in line with the guiding principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” he said.