António Guterres at the UN: “The war in Ukraine is an affront to the collective conscience”
The UN General Assembly held this Thursday a special session on the war in Ukraine in which the mobilization of the European Union stands out, with the presence of 25 foreign ministers from the bloc and the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who will also speak on Friday at the Security Council meeting on the conflict, EFE reports.
While in New York the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, described the war as an “affront to the global collective conscience”, China presented in Moscow its vision for a “political settlement”, a hypothetical alternative, ventures into the UN, to the majority resolution in favor of a “global, just and lasting” peace that will be voted on Thursday, at the end of the extraordinary session.
Also special meeting of the Security Council, on Friday, will be attended by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, recently arrived from his European tour.
“The invasion is an affront to our collective conscience; a violation of the United Nations charter and international law with dramatic humanitarian and human rights consequences. The impact is felt beyond Ukraine”, Guterres said at the beginning of the session, which will continue tomorrow. “The letter [fundacional de la ONU] leaves no room for doubt: all members must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity and political independence of any State”.
After Guterres, Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, took the floor, who recalled his speech in this very rostrum on the eve of the invasion. “A year ago, I spoke here, 24 hours before the first Russian bombardment of my country, at dawn. [del 24 de febrero]. Since then, Ukraine has exercised its right to defend itself, but Russia continues to seek the destruction of Ukraine as a sovereign nation. We have never wanted war, ”she stressed.
No peace plan should cross the “red lines” of kyiv, he warned, that is, the alleged territorial concessions to Russia in the east of the country and in Crimea. “For Ukraine, the red lines are the principles of the UN charter, including respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. There will be no type of marketing on Ukrainian territories, the president [Volodímir] Zelensky has made it clear,” Kuleba warned. Zelenski presented a ten-point peace plan in November, with the red lines well marked, although the text of the Assembly resolution does not make any reference to it in order to reach a greater consensus.
