July 16, 2024
Thank you, Mr. President. The United States welcomes the opportunity to come together to discuss this serious matter of international peace and security and multilateral cooperation – even if it was convened by a Council Member that has shown time and time again that it doesn’t take this matter seriously.
And in fact, as I listen to the Russian Representative’s statement, I thought I was in the wrong room because this seemed to be a session whining about the United States and the West, and I hardly heard the word “multilateralism” mentioned.
Colleagues, as you all know, Member States are invited to donate artwork to the United Nations. And these official gifts are meant to epitomize the ideals of the United Nations; the values outlined in its Charter. You may all ask, why am I mentioning this?
Well beyond this Chamber, at the easternmost edge of the United Nations North Lawn, is Russia’s gift presented in 1959. It’s a bronze statue of a man, beating his sword into a plowshare. Transforming a weapon of war, into a tool for the common good. Prioritizing food security and agricultural prosperity over destruction.
And so, it is ironic that today, the very country that erected this statue, this statement of the UN’s ideals, is now actively engaged in a war of aggression against its neighbor.
A war that has weaponized food, worsening food insecurity not only for Ukrainians, but for tens of millions of hungry people around the world.
A war that has severely damaged Ukraine’s power production, threatening to leave hundreds of thousands in the cold this winter.
A war that has killed thousands of innocent people, including dozens just last week at a pediatric hospital in Kyiv.
A war that has facilitated the unlawful transfers of thousands upon thousands of people from their homes, including children.
And a war that has caused Moscow to result to nuclear brinksmanship and to violate international sanctions obligations.
Of course, Russia’s abhorrent behavior began well before its full-scale invasion in 2022.
In particular, Putin has treated human beings as bargaining chips, and continues to do so to this day.
I think about the family and friends of Trevor Reed and Britney Griner and Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan as well as others. People detained for doing their jobs, or even just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and used as human pawns.
Last year, this Council had the privilege of being joined by Paul’s sister, Elizabeth in the public gallery. And I asked Minister Lavrov to consider her unimaginable pain, having gone four years without seeing her brother. To look into her eyes and see her suffering.
Today, over two thousand days since he last saw his family, Paul remains locked up in a Russian penal colony. And so, Minister Lavrov, I want to look into your eyes – while you look into your phone.
And say we will not rest until Paul and Evan come home, and Russia has ceased this barbaric practice of holding human pawns once and for all. And that is a promise.
Colleagues, it is clear: the hypocrisy displayed on the UN’s North Lawn, by a nation that has chosen to beat plowshares into swords, is only matched by the hypocrisy it has displayed in this very Council today and every day.
Today, we gather under the guise of embracing and improving multilateralism; of recommitting to international law.
And yet, as we speak, Russia continues to erode confidence in our institutions, while willfully and flagrantly violating the core tenets of the United Nations Charter: territorial integrity. Respect for human rights. International cooperation.
These are our values; the shared principles every single one of us agreed to uphold. And they have provided the basis of the United Nations’ greatest triumphs.
Our shared principles have helped us forestall nuclear proliferation and prevent mass atrocities. They have helped us forge peace after years of strife, and provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to those in need.
Now let me be clear, I’m not starry-eyed. The United Nations isn’t perfect. It reflects a deeply imperfect world, one filled with conflict and contradiction.
The debates we have in this room exist beyond it, too. And yet, this institution endures – multilateralism endures – because we need it to endure. We need an effective United Nations to tackle the kind of borderless challenges that affect us all.
More than that, the United Nations endures because people and nations continue to see its promise. And even in the darkest moments of the past few years, those people, those nations have offered glimmers of hope. Moments in which multilateralism won out over isolationism; hope, over cynicism.
And I think about the global response to Russian aggression. In the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 143 UN Member States came together to affirm Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Time and time again, the vast majority of this Council has spoken out against Russia’s illegal, unprovoked, unnecessary war, and against all those who enable it.
And in multilateral fora across the globe, including at last month’s Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland, leaders have committed to Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction, reform, and modernization. To good faith negotiations towards a just and lasting peace, consistent with the principles of the UN Charter.
In all of these efforts, the United States has been inspired by the extraordinary courage and the resilience of the Ukrainian people. Ordinary citizens willing to risk everything to protect the values they hold dear. Democracy and justice. Equality and humanity. Peace and security.
The very values we all have the privilege – in fact, the responsibility, to fight for, here in this Chamber.
Colleagues, the United Nation needs reform. Not a wrecking ball, and certainly not one accompanied by mealy-mouthed calls for cooperation. But rather, meaningful and positive evolution. Real action, real change, to make this body as effective, efficient, and inclusive as possible.
And so, in the face of Russia’s divisive rhetoric, attacks on an international architecture we all helped shape, and flagrant violations in Ukraine, and all around the world, those of us committed to progress, both within this institution, and beyond it, can do more.
In fact, we must do more.
For our part, the United States is committed to modernizing and strengthening this institution, and the multilateral system more broadly, to better reflect the priorities of all Member States, including developing countries:
Whether it’s working with shareholders of Multilateral Development Banks to address economic barriers to achieving the SDGs; or championing efforts to reform the Security Council itself; fostering accountability and transparency, and ensuring this body incorporates geographically diverse perspectives, including permanent representation from the Global South.
It’s why I conducted a wide-ranging set of conversations on Council Reform: a listening tour with Member States, reform groups, regional groupings, and other institutional systems. And why we will continue to engage widely to ensure this body is fit for the 21st century.
Creating this change, and upholding the rules-based international order as defined by the Charter, aren’t mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are mutually reinforcing.
And so, as we work to reform multilateral systems, we will uphold our commitment to the international community: from the UN Charter to other treaties and conventions, international humanitarian law to World Trade Organization Rules.
Not, as my Russian counterpart might argue, to keep other nations down. But rather, to help them build up. To ensure that everyone plays by the rules, and that the rules are fair to everyone, including the developing nations that have, for far too long, been used and abused by Russia.
To that end, we will champion fundamental, universal human rights at the very core of that international order; freedom of belief and religion, expression and peaceful assembly, no matter who you are or where you were born, what you own or how you pray.
We will steadfastly pursue a peaceful resolution to conflicts around the world, while working around the clock to promote diplomacy; to expand and accelerate humanitarian efforts; to aid in reconstruction; to not only respond to the crisis of today, but work to prevent them.
And we will renew our commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: to heal the climate, to end poverty and hunger, to fight corruption, to sow equity and justice where it is under assault. To achieve the kind of monumental change only we can: as a united global community.
Colleagues, this is our charge. This is the moment the United Nations was designed to meet. And so, we must rally behind the UN Charter, and its fundamental principles of sovereignty, of territorial integrity, of peace and security.
We must embrace multilateralism for what it is, not a politically expedient buzzword, but a means of achieving real progress on the issues that affect us all.
And finally, we must, turn swords into plowshares, conflict into common good, and together create a more peaceful, prosperous world for us all. Thank you.