President: Poland for reform of UN Security Council
Poland is in favour of reforming the UN Security Council to improve its efficiency in preventing conflicts in the world, President Bronislaw Komorowski said in his official address at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
The president stressed that Poland argued for a reform of the UN Security Council that would "increase its representativeness while also improving its efficiency."
Poland is becoming "increasingly responsible for development cooperation, humanitarian aid and climate protection," Komorowski said. "We would like to share our experience and our ideas as a non-permanent Security Council member in 2018-2019," the president said about Poland's ambitions on the UN stage.
In its nearly 70-year history, the UN "has enjoyed successes, but also numerous failures," according to Komorowski. "However, today the situation is particularly worrying, as we can observe symptoms of events that once led to the fall of the League of Nations. Today we are facing a revival of imperial attitudes, a return to thinking in terms of geopolitical spheres of influence which once already led the international community astray into hatred, confrontation and conflict," the Polish president said.
Bronislaw Komorowski noted that the UN Security Council proved ineffective in the face of conflicts in Ukraine and other regions. "It should be firmly underlined that the occupation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine constitute a breach of international law and trampling of fundamental values of the United Nations," the president said of Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
President Komorowski stressed that "the European Union has become a synonym of peace in our region." "It was created to prevent wars that used to ravage our continent. Indeed, the European Union has become a significant guarantor of peace in Europe and far beyond."
The president said Europe had hoped that Russia would become more democratic. However, "what happened in Eastern Europe half a year ago has torpedoed this hope and has threatened European security."
Among other threats to global security, Bronislaw Komorowski mentioned the Islamic State and the conflicts in Syria, Libya, Israel, the Gaza Strip and a number of African states plagued by humanitarian crises.
The reason behind many conflicts, according to Komorowski, is the fact that nations "are refused influence on political decisions," while "the uncontrolled authorities are most often corrupted and selfish and fail to lift the countries from underdevelopment and poverty."
Source: president.pl; PAP