President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana has called on world leaders to insist on immediate reforms at the United Nations Security Council to conform with current global trends.
In his address to the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday in New York, President Akufo-Addo said that the current structure and composition of the Security Council represents a longstanding injustice for the nations of Africa.
“After serving on the Council at this difficult time in the world, our views on the need for reform have been even more strongly reasserted,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo also said that the UN could no longer press for democracy, equality, and good governance around the world in its present state.
“We cannot insist on peace and justice in the world when our global organisation is seen by the majority of its members and the people of the world as hampered by an unjust and unfair structure,” he said.
The President expressed disappointment that African countries have repeatedly witnessed the big powers of the UN preaching democracy, fairness, and justice around the world, but practicing the opposite at the UN, prioritizing parochial interests over those of humanity.
He also expressed concern that after 78 years of existence of the UN, African countries still have to deal with the reluctance by the nations, organizations, and the major powers at the formation of the organization to agree to any reform to reflect present realities.
“This has led to the undermining of the credibility of the United Nations and some of its organs, in particular the Security Council,” he stated.
President Akufo-Addo referred to his inaugural address to the UNGA, in which he spoke at length about the need for reform of the UN, particularly the Security Council.
“I said, then, that the urgent need to reform this Organisation had been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but, somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to execute it,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the Assembly cannot build trust when the organization that should bind us is seen by many as helping to perpetuate an unfair world order, which is reinforced by an inequitable, dysfunctional global financial architecture.
