Letters

‘Ireland should lead on UN veto’

A system of checks and balances

Sat Dec 10 2022 - 00:14

Sir, – Your editorial “Ireland should lead on UN veto” (December 8th) reflects a common misperception in Irish political circles and media about the United Nations.

The centrepiece of the UN system – its Security Council – is a unique consensus-building mechanism, designed to arrive only at fully agreed, common denominator decisions on crucial matters of international peace and security.

The use of the veto by the Permanent Five is an indispensable part of that mechanism, which ensures that a system of checks and balances is in place.

Throughout UN history, it has been used by all its members. As of November 2022, Russia/USSR has used its veto 124 times, the US 82 times, the UK 29 times, China 18 times, and France 16 times.

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The conflict in Ukraine is an example of an extremely difficult and divisive matter, which should have been dealt with – at least by our preference – by political and diplomatic means. That’s in theory. In practice, it is clear that there is no agreement among the members of the Security Council on the genesis of this conflict, its instigators and possible solutions for it. Russia firmly believes that the US and its western allies have not only provoked the escalation in Ukraine, but deliberately pushed the situation to the point of military confrontation. If someone needs proof, there are explicit statements by Angela Merkel, former German chancellor, who indicated something we have suspected all along – that the entire process of political settlement in Ukraine through the Minsk Agreements was viewed by Germany, France and, no doubt, the US, as a complete hoax, designed to buy time to prepare the Kyiv regime for the military solution of the situation in Donbass. This situation, coupled with outright Nato plans to use Ukraine as an anti-Russian military outpost, created an unacceptable threat to the national security of Russia. In December 2021, the Russian side proposed to the US and Nato draft agreements on security guarantees for Russia, Ukraine and Europe, only to see them rejected by the West. That has been done in the full knowledge that, in the absence of political settlement in eastern Ukraine and the prospect of the Nato forces stationed on the western border of Russia, the only alternative would be – no matter how hard and undesirable – our military operation.

It is quite clear that Russia would not allow the UN Security Council to be used to promote a false and hypocritical western narrative. – Yours, etc,

YURIY FILATOV,

Ambassador,

Embassy of the Russian

Federation in Ireland,

Dublin 14.

Sir, – You suggest that Ireland should take the lead in the abolition of the veto in the UN Security Council.

Any change in the composition of the Security Council requires an amendment to the UN Charter, Article 108 of which states that all permanent members of the Security Council have to give their approval.

Russia could only lose its veto if President Putin agreed.

How do you propose to persuade him? – Yours, etc,

Dr JOHN DOHERTY,

Gaoth Dobhair,

Co Dhún na nGall.

Sir, – It is heartening to read your editorial’s support of the UN, despite its many deficiencies, most notably the lack of any movement at the Security Council to limit or even abolish the “Big Five” veto.

After 50 years, the international political landscape has changed and it is time that emerging continental powers in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as you suggest, were given a permanent seat at the security council. By so doing the power of the traditional “Big Five” would be diluted, thus allowing new voices for peace and future international security to have a voice. – Yours, etc,

BRENDAN BUTLER,

Drumcondra,

Dublin 9.