Ireland calls for removal of veto power in UN Security Council

The veto power of the permanent members of the UN Security Council is a thing of the past and it must be removed.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said this in his remarks at the UN General Assembly in New York.

He said that during Ireland's recent term on the Security Council "we saw first-hand the positive effect that its work can have."

"But we also saw its efforts stymied, its mandate undermined; crucial decisions and actions blocked by the use of the veto. Our future requires a UN with a reformed Security Council – without the anachronism of the veto. It has no place in the 21st century," Varadkar said.

He stressed the need to have a UN Security Council that "properly reflects the world's demography and politics as it is now, not in the 1940s."

"We know what can be achieved through cooperation at the UN. We have seen it. We have lived it and participated in it. This is our institution and system that has real value," he said.

Varadkar also called on all UN members to help ensure that "Russia's attempt to move borders by force does not succeed."

"For when one aggressor prevails, their peers elsewhere take note and are emboldened. We know this from history," he concluded.

Photo: UN