MINSK, 29 September (BelTA) - In his speech at the general debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov defended the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, BelTA has learned.
"For 79 years, our countries have been meeting in this hall to convey their truth, exchange best practices and support important initiatives. All this happens under the motto - to make the world a better place. Is the world really getting better? More predictable, safer, more stable? There are old-timers among us who remember the times when the UN played a special role in this. We, the younger ones, know this, unfortunately, only from textbooks. Then, many years ago, the UN Charter was something unshakable, a true guarantor of compromise and future-oriented solutions," Maksim Ryzhenkov said.
He noted that many still remembered the victims and horrors of World War II, and no one wanted a repeat of that terrible tragedy. "Therefore, together we have formed a unique tool for collective dispute resolution and strengthening the architecture of international cooperation. Yes, as history has shown, the tool is not perfect — just like we are not perfect. But, undoubtedly, it is the best we have," the Belarusian minister noted.
However, some conflicts are still bleeding, even though the unequivocal decisions were made on them. For example, Palestine. Today it is suffering from a true humanitarian catastrophe and where tens of thousands of civilians are dying.
“But this does not diminish the achievements of the last century. The colonial system was broken. Many nations gained the right to independent development. Points of economic, industrial and financial growth emerged on all continents. Entire regions began to beat famine and epidemics. UN peacekeeping was capable of preventing bloody conflicts or helping to end them. The blue color of the UN was everywhere where problems were successfully solved for development,” Maksim Ryzhenkov said.
The minister also talked about what is happening now and why the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter was established. "Why are we forced to defend the document that already has the highest legal force for everyone? Why can't we make full use of the UN tools to restore order in the world? The answer is obvious. Because a number of countries do not abide by the Charter. They are not going to. Because living according to international law for them is akin to slow extinction," the minister of foreign affairs said. “Everyone on this rostrum, including them, refers to the Charter. However, not in a universal way, but only in relation to one's own selfish interests and claims. Often in relation to others."
He recalled that the universal UN law gives everyone without exception equal rights to development and equal non-discriminatory access to common goods, technologies, and resources. "But is this approach acceptable to the West? Obviously, no," the Belarusian minister stated. “The West’s main interest is to maintain their dominance and the prosperity of their elites by exploiting other nations and their resources, while employing the principle of 'divide and conquer’ which is as old as the world.”
From the point of view of the “collective West”, 72% of people live in what the West calls “autocracies”, while 20 years ago this figure stood at 46%. "So is the policy of the West successful in forcing the world community to live according to their patterns? The answer is obvious. Clearly not," the minister emphasized.
According to him, if more trust were placed in the UN today, most global peace initiatives would be born within the Organization itself, not outside it. The world would not be threatened with a renewed split into political and economic blocs.
