(United Nations) As in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by the United States, the UN again proved powerless to prevent the war launched by Russia in Ukraine, an inability illustrated on Wednesday night to Thursday with a surreal emergency meeting of the Security Council.
Posted at 11:37 a.m.
At the start of the session, improvising, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres pleaded with Russia not to launch a military operation in Ukraine. With an almost pathetic admission: “I never believed” the rumors of an imminent invasion, I was “convinced that nothing serious would happen. I was wrong “. At the end of the session, he implored Vladimir Putin to stop his offensive.
The announcement of the entry into Ukraine of Russian troops came in the middle of the emergency session of the Security Council. Imperturbable, although warned by their mobile phones, the members of the Council continued to methodically read their speeches prepared in advance with the objective of alerting against the risks of an invasion… which had already begun.
Several members spoke again at the end of the meeting to condemn Moscow, with a particularly tense exchange between the Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and the Russian ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia. Coincidentally and ironically, the latter took over the presidency of the Security Council in February.
For Sergiy Kyslytsya, the UN’s reaction to the Russian threat, illustrated by its leader’s reluctance to criticize Russia, as he could have done weeks ago, was too late.
But what else could the United Nations Organization, created after the Second World War, do to prevent conflicts? Not much actually. For 77 years, the United Nations has proven unable to prevent a war started by one of its five permanent members, endowed with the right of veto, whether it be the United States for Iraq or Russia for Ukraine.
The multilateral institution, whose credibility has been seriously tarnished, is one of the few not to have been reformed to take into account the evolution of a world that has become multipolar.
A vote expected on Friday
The five permanent members of its Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom – are the only ones to lead the march of the world, relegating the Organization to a primary role of provider of humanitarian aid in the event natural disasters or conflicts, managing in some cases to limit their expansion. The very format of the institution, with its 15 members, ten of whom are non-permanent, has not changed and a reform aimed at enlarging it to better reflect today’s world has remained deadlocked for years. .
The UN Charter, which Moscow is accused of violating with the invasion of Ukraine, does not provide for any exclusion of its members if they were to start a war. Only a loss of voting rights is provided for at the General Assembly, but in the event of debts to the Organization exceeding a certain threshold.
In the Security Council, the right of veto allows everything and Russia does not hesitate to use it, without qualms. More than fifteen times since 2011 for the conflict in Syria alone and without worrying about the consequences for it. “They don’t care,” concedes a diplomat on condition of anonymity.
This will probably be the case again at the end of the week. The West wants to hold Russia to account with a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the vote, expected on Friday, Moscow will veto and the text carried by the United States and Albania will be rejected.
It will probably be immediately transmitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which brings together the 193 member countries of the Organization. Unlike those of the Security Council, however, its resolutions are not binding. However, they have a political value and the number of countries which will vote in favor of the text will be closely observed.
In 2014, when Crimea was annexed, a similar scenario occurred. Russia had vetoed a draft resolution condemning it and the text had then collected in the General Assembly 100 votes in its favor out of 193 members, that is to say a small majority.
Eight years later, Crimea is still under Russian control even though its annexation has not been internationally recognized.