RIYADH: Some of the world\u2019s most powerful countries are violating international law while sitting on the Security Council, the UN secretary-general\u2019s spokesperson has said, arguing that reform is needed to make the body more credible and representative.<\/p>\n
Appearing on the Arab News\u2019 current affairs program \u201cFrankly Speaking,\u201d during UN General Assembly high-level week in New York, Stephane Dujarric rejected accusations that the UN chief applied double standards, pointing to Antonio Guterres\u2019 criticism of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, US military action against Iran, Israeli settlements and human rights violations in Iran.<\/p>\n
Drawing a distinction between the secretary-general\u2019s diplomatic role and the Security Council\u2019s enforcement responsibilities, he said the council remained divided on several issues.<\/p>\n
Secretary-General Guterres was pressing for an expanded permanent membership \u201cto make it more credible, to make it more representative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His record should be judged across his statements throughout the year, Dujarric argued, rather than through a single General Assembly speech.<\/p>\n
During the interview, Dujarric described Saudi Arabia as critical to a regional diplomatic solution and addressed Iran-backed Houthi attacks, the detention of UN staff, Palestinian statehood, obstacles to Gaza aid, Lebanese sovereignty and efforts to end Sudan\u2019s war.<\/p>\n Pressed on why repeated condemnations had not stopped Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and commercial shipping, he said the UN\u2019s response extended beyond public statements.<\/p>\n Its Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, had been pursuing a political process through contacts with Saudi officials, the Yemeni government and the Houthis, seeking to bring the parties together and keep them engaged.<\/p>\n The consequences extended beyond Yemen and Saudi Arabia because of the disruption to international shipping, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are member states that have influence over the parties, including Iran, when it comes to the Houthis. They also need to play their role.\u201d<\/p>\n Dujarric argued that military action had not resolved the conflict and called for renewed commitment to political dialogue. Any settlement required the parties, particularly the Houthis, to negotiate an agreement.<\/p>\n The limits of the UN\u2019s leverage were especially stark in the continued detention of its own personnel. Asked about 73 staff held by the Houthis, some since 2021, a colleague\u2019s death in detention and the seizure of UN facilities, Dujarric demanded their release.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re well aware of the 73 that are being held and need to be released immediately,\u201d he told \u201cFrankly Speaking\u201d host Katie Jensen.<\/p>\n While diplomacy had not yet secured the necessary results, he said previous achievements in Yemen should not be disregarded. Continued military action had increased civilian suffering and insecurity in southern Saudi Arabia, with attempted attacks on Riyadh as well.<\/p>\n More than 110,000 civilians in Yemen were on the move seeking safety, he said, adding: \u201cAll of this is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n On efforts to end the wider regional conflict, Dujarric was unequivocal about Saudi Arabia\u2019s importance.<\/p>\n \u201cWell Saudi Arabia, by its geography, by its size, by its importance, is critical. They are the leading power in the neighborhood, so to speak. So, they are critical to a solution. They are critical to a diplomatic solution.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Guterres had been involved in backchannel contacts and supported Pakistan\u2019s efforts, alongside engagement by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.<\/p>\n Challenged over whether regional and middle powers had displaced the UN from the center of mediation, Dujarric said the priority was identifying who had the leverage to bring the parties together.<\/p>\n Conflicts involving powers such as the US or Russia could leave the secretary-general with limited room to maneuver, he acknowledged, without eliminating the UN\u2019s diplomatic or humanitarian role.<\/p>\n \u201cThe point is not for Antonio Guterres to get the headlines,\u201d he said. \u201cThe point is to try to end this conflict in the best possible manner and in the quickest possible manner.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of efforts to ease the wider crisis, he outlined a proposed UN mechanism to facilitate exports of food, energy and fertilizers through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the movement of needed supplies into the waterway.<\/p>\n Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services, was continuing contacts to secure the parties\u2019 agreement, Dujarric said.<\/p>\n Saudi engagement was also central to his argument for preserving the prospect of Palestinian statehood, despite worsening conditions in the West Bank.<\/p>\n Dujarric said Guterres\u2019 latest report had raised the risk of ethnic cleansing in connection with the situation facing Palestinian civilians and Israeli settler activity.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cJust because the two-state solution appears to be further away doesn\u2019t mean we can give up on it. We cannot afford to give up on it because, frankly, what is the alternate solution? More violence? More killing? A one-state solution?\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what the New York Declaration had achieved a year on, he said it had helped keep the two-state solution on the international agenda. Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia\u2019s foreign minister, had attended the follow-up meeting at the UN, he noted.<\/p>\n But maintaining diplomatic attention had not changed realities on the ground. Progress required active engagement by the US, Saudi Arabia and others to reverse the deterioration, he said.<\/p>\n In Gaza, Dujarric rejected the suggestion that the UN\u2019s contribution was confined to condemning violence and appealing for aid access.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, what we\u2019re doing is we have boots on the ground, so to speak; not military boots, but humanitarian boots.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands of UN personnel, most of them Palestinians, remained in Gaza alongside hundreds of international staff, he said. They were trying to reach civilians, often at risk to their own lives, and colleagues had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and military action.<\/p>\n He said the UN was working closely with the Board of Peace to expand humanitarian access, but its efforts faced practical limits.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you know, we don\u2019t have the keys to the crossings from Israel into Gaza. We don\u2019t control them.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what the failure to comply with International Court of Justice orders said about the international system, Dujarric said it called into question member states\u2019 adherence to commitments they had made on joining the UN.<\/p>\n He urged governments with influence over the parties to apply pressure in the same direction, for Palestinians in Gaza and for Israelis\u2019 safety and well-being.<\/p>\n In Lebanon, restoring state authority required changes by both Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, he said, as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon approached the end of its mandate.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWhen it comes to Lebanon and southern Lebanon, frankly we need to see an immediate stop to Israeli military activities in the south, which are hampering the efforts of the Lebanese Armed Forces to reassert their authority fully over the territory.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe also need to see Hezbollah cooperate and implement fully Resolution 1701, to allow the Lebanese state to have full authority over its own territory.\u201d<\/p>\n UN peacekeepers would remain until their mandate ended, and would continue assisting the Lebanese Armed Forces, he said, noting that some had lost their lives.<\/p>\n Turning to Sudan, Dujarric resisted describing diplomatic efforts as failed, arguing that this risked implying they had been abandoned.<\/p>\n Pekka Haavisto, UN envoy, had visited Sudan and was in New York for talks, he said. One challenge was aligning multiple peace initiatives so that mediators worked toward the same objective.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, civilians were being brutalized, starved and bombed in a struggle for power, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the added challenges, of course, is that weapons continue to flow into Sudan, when the last thing Sudan needs more of are more drones or more guns.\u201d<\/p>\n Turning to the wider challenges facing the UN, Dujarric warned that escalating rhetoric could fuel further conflict, contrasting threats by world leaders with Guterres\u2019 appeals for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.<\/p>\n For countries in the Global South questioning the UN\u2019s relevance, he pointed to its work in more than 160 countries, supporting governments, civil society and development, alongside Guterres\u2019 advocacy for better representation in the Security Council and international financial institutions.<\/p>\n At the General Assembly itself, Dujarric cautioned against treating the absence of some leaders as evidence of diplomatic inactivity. Attendance fluctuated and some leaders faced crises at home, while talks in New York remained intense.<\/p>\n He also criticized visa restrictions affecting participation in UN diplomacy, describing the denial of a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as deeply regrettable. He said Sudan\u2019s leader had also been denied a visa and that the UN was pressing Washington to uphold its host-country agreement.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cPeople need to come here and they need to engage in diplomacy. And it\u2019s hard to engage in diplomacy when not all of the players on the team are actually on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what Guterres\u2019 successor would inherit, Dujarric acknowledged the organization\u2019s financial challenges, but said changes to its financial rules had helped avert the worst.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will inherit a UN Secretariat that is dedicated, that is ready to continue full steam ahead and is determined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Dujarric, the daily accounts of suffering in Sudan illustrated the personal challenge of speaking publicly about these conflicts. He described the difficulty of delivering briefings about people facing famine in displacement camps also coming under bombardment.<\/p>\n \u201cMy toughest briefing is, I think, when I speak about the cruelty imposed on the most vulnerable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His own distress, however, was tempered by the knowledge that those being bombed, attacked and starved were enduring far greater hardship. That was what drove him, he said, \u201cto ensure that their stories are not forgotten, that their voices are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Dujarric](\"https:\/\/assets.maestronewsroom.com\/media\/30f6532d-717b-4366-9158-9c455299fcd9\/1790347164235-206e3319ef804bd2.png\")
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