Statement by DPR Ivars Liepnieks
at the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform
New York, 26 January 2022
Honorable Co-Chairs,
I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Co-Chairs – Permanent Representatives of Slovakia and Kuwait - for calling this meeting and leading the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Security Council reform, and pledge Latvia’s full support to your efforts.
Every day we face new and more complex threats and challenges to international peace and security, and as we reach new levels of atrocities, brutality and suffering, the UN Security Council is struggling to exercise its main task – maintenance of international peace and security.
This can be also attributed to the long-overdue reform of the Council – years have passed, but we do not find ourselves even a step closer to the finish line. In this context, Latvia would like to reiterate its call to start the text-based negotiations without any hesitation.
While Security Council essentially has all the tools necessary to respond and maintain peace and security in accordance with the UN Charter, it is unable to do so, because it’s been hijacked by Russia and its abuse of veto.
Russia's continuous aggression against Ukraine is an ongoing and serious breach of international law. The redrawing of borders by using military force represents a threat that goes beyond Ukraine - it is a threat to international peace and security and undermines the UN Charter.
Russia’s aggression proves that the reform of the Security Council is now required more than ever. People all over the globe see the incapacity of the Security Council to act decisively as the failures of the UN, we cannot allow that. We cannot expect faith in the UN system to last if the Security Council’s hands are tied.
The adoption of the so-called veto initiative has contributed to the efforts aimed at empowering the General Assembly and ensuring that the UN is not voiceless when the Council appears deadlocked.
As a member of the ACT Group, Latvia believes that the Council would better represent the interests of the United Nations membership if we could demand more accountability, legitimacy and transparency, including regarding the working methods. At the same time, we believe the Council should enhance its relations with the broader UN membership.
The expectations of the majority of the United Nations membership to have the Security Council more representative of the twenty-first century are summarized in the UN Secretary-General’s Report on Our Common Agenda.
Latvia continues to advocate for equitable regional representation of African, Latin American and Small Island Developing States in the Council. Likewise, we see a merit in the allocation of additional elected membership to the Eastern European Group.
Furthermore, Latvia strongly believes that no matter the size, all countries can have an impact in the Security Council. Latvia is strongly committed to further prove that the Baltic states can positively contribute to solving global challenges.
Therefore, in 2025 Latvia will run for the elections of the non-permanent member of the Security Council which reflects our responsibility to contribute to international peace and security, protect the rules-based international order and advance effective multilateralism.
In conclusion, we confide in the leadership of the Co-Chairs in facilitating substantive results on the reform of the Security Council in a text-based format that would trigger the progress in the negotiations. As we have underlined before, we believe that a consolidated text of positions of the Member States following this session would benefit in taking the next step.
Thank you!