UN AND UKRAINE. An emergency session has been organized at the UN since Monday, February 28, 2022, to work towards the adoption of a resolution which “deplores” the war in Ukraine. A text that does not condemn despite almost unanimous speeches against the military operation of Russia.
Russia alone against the rest of the world? This is what could be decided, or almost, between this Tuesday March 1 and Wednesday March 2, 2022. Almost a week after the start of the war in Ukraine, and after months of tensions which have only s exacerbate, the United Nations could make its voice heard almost unanimously to go against the military operation launched by Vladimir Putin. A rare procedure was thus initiated at UN headquarters in New York on Monday, February 28: an emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly.
This meeting which brings together the 193 Member States was organized following a decision taken by the Security Council of the United Nations, the governing body of the organization on which sit in particular France, the United States , China, the United Kingdom, Russia and ten other countries. The resolution was adopted on Sunday February 27, Russia having been unable to oppose its right of veto. This was a procedural matter. On the other hand, the Russians argued on Friday February 25, preventing the Security Council from adopting a resolution condemning the invasion and demanding the withdrawal of Vladimir Putin’s troops from Ukraine.
At the UN, France refuses abstention
By a procedural sleight of hand, the United Nations nevertheless managed to begin work to establish a text to blame the Russian offensive. But no conviction will be pronounced. The UN should simply announce that it “deplores in the strongest terms” the military operation. A softened language because, to be adopted, the resolution must obtain 2/3 of “for” among all the votes cast. The softening of the remarks therefore aims to obtain a sufficient number of votes, while several uncertainties hover.
Because the Arab countries (except Kuwait) remained silent, while the powerful China and India should not vote in favor of the text, they who abstained on Friday at the Security Council. History not to offend with Vladimir Putin without being in agreement with his decisions. But the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, warned: “no one can look away, abstention is not an option.” Western Europe and the United States are, unsurprisingly, on the same wavelength and will adopt the text, as will most countries in Latin America and Africa, to condemn – even if the term will not be in the text- the attack on Russia. France, through its ambassador, “calls on all the Member States of this assembly to vote for this text. Beyond Ukraine, it is a question of defending the Charter and the raison d’être United Nations.” The speeches must follow one another this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Opposite views between Ukraine and Russia at the UN
It is only the 11th emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly that is organized. Each time since the first in November 1956, it has happened in the context of a war: Suez crisis, Soviet invasion of Hungary, crisis in Lebanon, Congolese crisis, Six Day War, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Israeli-Palestinian conflict and occupation of Namibia by South Africa. Ukraine expects a lot from the United Nations, after the failure of diplomatic negotiations in the days before the start of the Russian operation. “If Ukraine does not survive, the UN will not survive,” said Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya. “We can save Ukraine, save the United Nations, save democracy and defend the values we believe in,” he added. For his part, Vassily Nebenzia, representative of Russia, assured that Russia has “no plan to occupy Ukraine” and that Vladimir Putin’s will was to “protect” the inhabitants of Donbass, ” which requires the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”.