Equality ‘ends at the doors of the Security Council’, Kenya’s Ruto tells General Assembly

Kenyan President William Ruto told the General Assembly on Wednesday that the sovereign equality the UN proclaims is contradicted by its own structures, urging Member States to reform the Security Council and an international financial system “built for another age”. Addressing the General Debate, Mr. Ruto said Kenya spoke “not from despair in this institution, but from conviction in its possibilities”, adding that “multilateralism works when nations summon the will to make it work”. However, he said the world recorded 65 State-based armed conflicts last year, 13 of them full-blown wars, with nearly a quarter of a million people killed in organised violence and disputes increasingly “frozen, deferred or decided by force”. ‘Permanently excluded’Every nation has one vote, Mr. Ruto said, yet five hold a permanent power on questions of war and peace that the other 188 do not: “The equality proclaimed in this assembly ends at the doors of the Security Council.” Africa’s 54 Member States, more than a quarter of the assembly, have no permanent seat on the Council, he said: “Permanently discussed, yet permanently excluded.”He warned that confidence in the consistent application of internat...