PRESS RELEASE : We take seriously our role in strengthening the multilateral system – UK Statement at the Security Council [December 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 December 2022.

Ambassador Barbara Woodward’s statement at the Security Council meeting on reformed multilateralism.

Thank you, President. I join others in thanking the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly for opening our debate and their leadership on this issue.

The UK has long-supported multilateralism, and we remain deeply committed to it today.

We take seriously our role in strengthening the multilateral system, and supporting the rules-based international order.

This is more important than ever. Today, as we’ve heard, we face extraordinary, complex, and interconnected challenges.

This includes the global threat posed by climate change, and alarming violations of human rights that have a disproportionate impact on women and girls.

With Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, we have also witnessed a permanent member of the Security Council violating the UN Charter and flouting the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In the face of these challenges, the UN as a whole, and the Security Council, must continue to take decisive action.

However, the world today is very different to the one that gave birth to the UN in 1945.  So it is right that we consider how the UN and the multilateral system should evolve.

The Security Council must, as others have said, become more representative of the world today and the UK has long called for its expansion, in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.

As the UK Foreign Secretary publicly reiterated this week, we support new permanent seats for Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, and permanent African representation.

We also look forward to the resumption of the General Assembly’s Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform, and hope to see these progress to a text in the New Year.

Beyond the Security Council, the UK welcomes the Secretary-General’s efforts to advance wider UN reform.

We strongly support his reform agenda and vision for a UN 2.0, better adapted to the challenges of the twenty-first century.

We also welcome the Secretary-General’s report on ‘Our Common Agenda,’ seeking to turbocharge delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. As we know, these have been set back by the pandemic and the global energy and food crises.

The new Agenda for Peace, in particular, will set new ambition for the UN’s response to international peace and security and we welcome the further detail the Secretary-General set out today.

Through better data use, analysis, innovation and strategic foresight we can unlock the full potential of the UN. This must also be accompanied by a focus on results.

Beyond this, we support reform efforts with international financial institutions, and admire the momentum built by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Her Excellency Mia Mottley.

The UK is driving forward many of the objectives of the Bridgetown Agenda, including on greater finance provision, the G20’s Capital Adequacy Framework Review and on climate change financing.

In closing, Madam President, I quote from the Foreign Secretary’s speech this week, we all benefit from the wisdom and compassion of those leaders who created the laws and institutions that prevent a relapse to the old order where the strong prey on the weak.

So in conclusion, Madam President, we will continue working with our partners to ensure that the UN, and the multilateral system as a whole, is best-positioned to respond to the complex challenges of today’s world.

I thank you for convening today’s debate.