President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged world leaders to demand immediate reforms at the Security Council to align with current global trends.
He emphasised that it was time to rectify the longstanding injustice presented by the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council 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.
The President issued this call during his address at the general debates of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
He informed the Assembly that, in its current state, the UN could no longer advocate for democracy, equality, and good governance worldwide.
“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.”
President Akufo-Addo voiced his disappointment over the fact that African countries had repeatedly observed the big powers of the United Nations preaching democracy, fairness, and justice globally but opting to practice the opposite within the UN itself, prioritizing parochial interests over those of humanity.
He expressed concern that even after 78 years since the establishment of the UN, African countries still had to grapple with the reluctance of nations, organisations, and major powers involved in the organisation’s formation to agree to any reforms that would better reflect current 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.
The President referred to his inaugural address to the UNGA, in which he spoke at length about the need for reform of the United Nations, 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.
“I also said, then, that Ghana supports UN Reform, especially of the Security Council, as set out in Africa’s Common Position on UN Reform, based on the Ezulwini Consensus,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo emphasized that the Assembly cannot establish trust when many perceive the organisation as contributing to the perpetuation of an unfair world order, which is upheld by an inequitable, dysfunctional global financial architecture.
