First of all, the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to the representatives of Estonia, Canada, Poland and Slovenia, who joined the working group on the implementation of the 5th point of the Ukrainian Peace Formula for the first time.
Ruslan Stefanchuk noted that russia’s aggression against Ukraine has undermined the international system and grossly violated the universally recognised norms and principles of international law, and has shown the insufficient effectiveness of the existing mechanisms for ensuring the principles of the United Nations Charter.
“The experience of Ukraine, which suffers from unprovoked armed aggression, should serve as a warning to all states,” the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed, noting that Ukraine seeks to restore a just world order, and this can only be achieved if Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored within its internationally recognised borders: “To this end, it is necessary to improve the existing mechanisms for implementing the basic principles of the UN Charter.”
He also stressed that in recent years, many countries have been drawing attention to the need to reform the UN Security Council. “This year, these signals have become more active. More and more member states are in favour of reforming the Security Council, as the world realises that there are more conflicts and fewer opportunities to prevent or resolve them,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
He also emphasised that the use of the veto by russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, leaves no chance for effective UN intervention in the conflict: “International mechanisms for preventing and resolving such conflicts simply do not exist, because there is an unlimited veto power and the russian aggressor does not hesitate to use it.”
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recalled that on 20 September, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi took part in a meeting of the Security Council and presented the Ukrainian vision of specific possible actions based on the Peace Formula and its fifth paragraph, “Implementation of the UN Charter and restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and world order”. In particular, it concerns the institution of the veto, representation in the UN Security Council, its interaction with the General Assembly and prevention mechanisms.
In conclusion, Ruslan Stefanchuk stressed that Ukraine does not seek to create duplicative parallel processes to reform the Security Council. “At the same time, we are aware that in order to achieve results, like-minded people must act together and on the basis of a common understanding of the need to improve the existing mechanisms,” he said.
During the meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps, which was also attended by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that all those present had received a working document containing the Ukrainian vision of the implementation of the fifth point of the Formula – tools and measures to achieve the final results of this ambitious goal.