MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte criticized the United Nations during its 76th General Assembly, calling the international body “inadequate” in the face of global crises.
Duterte also called on the UN to reform, particularly its 15-member Security Council, which he said is “neither democratic nor transparent in its representation and processes.”
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“Many member states have spoken firmly and we agree: This simply is not right. If the UN is to lead the world out of the many crises we face, things need to change. The UN must empower itself, by reforming itself. Therein lies the hope for humanity,” Duterte said in a recorded address.
The UN Security Council is primarily responsible to maintain international peace and security.
China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are its permanent members, while its remaining 10 members — elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly — are Estonia, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Norway, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.
Duterte has a long history of criticizing the UN, with him having once said that the world body had “no purpose” and that it has not been able to prevent wars or massacres from happening.
The president has also once threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the UN in response to appeals from two of the body’s human rights experts to stop extrajudicial killings in his administration’s flagship campaign against illegal drugs. — Xave Gregorio