Check against delivery

Statement by the Delegation of Ukraine at the Open Debate of the UN Security Council on “Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace: The New Agenda for Peace - Addressing Global, Regional and National Aspects of Conflict Prevention”  

(22 August 2024)

Mr. President,

Ukraine highly appreciates the initiative of the Presidency of Sierra Leone to hold this important debate and expresses its gratitude to briefers for their presentations.

The New Agenda for Peace has emerged in times of the most serious threats to the global security architecture. In our region, these threats have reached a level comparable to that of the Second World War, thus calling into question the reliability of prevention instruments we have relied on for decades.

We fully agree with the position of the Secretary-General, mentioned in the Concept note, that countries must move beyond words and invest in prevention.

We also believe that nationally-led prevention strategies would benefit if they are complemented by viable instruments at the multilateral level, first and foremost those at the disposal of the UN Security Council.

Unfortunately, the latter is not yet the case. And insufficient preventive measures in the early stages may only encourage aggressors to expand violence in terms of both intensity and geographical scope.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine serves as a powerful example. The Security Council has been immobilized primarily because the aggressor occupies a permanent seat here.

We remain convinced that a country in the permanent seat should not exercise a veto right during consideration of situations, in which that country is directly involved as a party to conflict and moreover, instigator of conflict.

At the prevention stage, this does not even require amendments to the UN Charter. What is needed is a return to the implementation of the Article 27(3) of the Charter. As demonstrated by this year’s IGN, this issue is important to the majority of UN Member States.

Mr.President, 

The case of Russia proves quite clear, that a lack of democracy, accountability and rule of law makes a regime prone to aggression. Therefore, restoring respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a crucial element of our efforts to prevent conflicts and sustain peace.

It is equally important to explore the prevention toolbox to discourage an instigator from new flare-ups of violence. Imposing sanctions against an aggressor at the international level has been a legitimate and adequate response aimed at restoring respect to the norms and principles of international law. It is especially relevant, when an aggressor could block from its permanent seat any preventive actions by the Security Council.

Prevention should also include ensuring accountability as an important part of peacebuilding and sustaining peace in line with the UN Charter.

All the above are among the elements of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, which serves as a roadmap not only for ending the war of aggression against my country but also as a model applicable to other conflict situations, as it is based on the UN Charter and international law. 

Strong preventive diplomacy is not merely an option, it is essential for achieving practical results. Our discussions must be followed by concrete actions to break the vicious cycle of conflicts and hold their instigators accountable.  

Thank you.