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View all search resultsPalestine test for UN ‘resilience’, says Indonesia
Indonesia has put Palestine at the center of its call for better multilateralism, saying the crisis in Gaza will test whether the United Nations can uphold the principles it was created to defend and deliver when it matters most.
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Foreign Minister Sugiono delivers his speech on Sept. 26 at the United Nations General Assembly high-level debate in New York City, the United States. (Handout/Foreign Ministry)
T
he case for Palestine will be the “clearest test” of the United Nations’ shared principles and conscience, Indonesia’s top diplomat said on Saturday, as he pitched the nation’s support for a better institution that will make good on its promise to build peace amid growing distrust in multilateralism.
Speaking against the backdrop of the iconic green marble lectern at the UN in New York, the United States, Foreign Minister Sugiono delivered a 17-minute address centered on the need for “resilient multilateralism” that “adapts, responds and most importantly delivers”, amid the conflict in Gaza.
“Palestine is not only a question for one region,” he said at the UN General Assembly on Saturday. “It is a test of whether the multilateral system can uphold the very principles it was created to defend, and whether it can deliver when it matters most.”
He described the situation in Gaza and the West Bank as clear violations of international law and reminiscent of the period before the establishment of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
“Sovereignty must be respected and colonialism must be brought to an end. This is where Palestine remains one of the clearest tests of these principles and the test of our conscience,” he said.
He said the UN remained “indispensable” as it gives nations the space to resolve differences without resorting to conflict, but a UN new secretary-general must be able to “translate multilateralism into concrete results for people”.
“Believing in the United Nations also means believing that it must evolve with the world it serves,” he said, adding that “a multilateral system fit for the twenty-first century must be more representative, more agile, and better able to deliver.
