Addressing the UN Security Council, Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Resident Abroad, called for a UN Charter that aligns with the world's new realities.
Speaking at a public debate organized on Wednesday, the Minister noted that the international community has achieved many gains based on respect for this Charter. However, he emphasized that these achievements remain under threat in the face of emerging and multidimensional challenges to international peace and security.
«It is illusory to imagine, for a single moment, multilateral action without respect for the United Nations Charter, which forms the basis of our common actions and efforts, and which is now imposed as a common and collective constitution», he said.
«Faced with what is currently happening in the world, particularly in Gaza, where the death toll continues to rise and the situation continues to deteriorate daily, threatening a total conflagration in the region, current and future generations are entitled to ask us, the member states of the United Nations: What is the point of the UN Charter if it is violated with impunity?»
He continued: «Isn't the Charter on the way to becoming a mere declaratory document of good intentions? Has multilateral action reached its limits? Hasn't the time come to recognize its limits and consider other alternatives to global governance? Are we forced to choose between pluralism of action and pluralism of ideals?»
Emphasizing that the time has come to revisit the UN Charter to bring it in line with the new realities of the world, Bourita recalled King Mohammed VI's message to the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, in which he stressed: «After a long wait, it will be appropriate to reform the UN Charter by updating some of its obsolete provisions, while preserving the sum of principles of universal scope which presided over the founding of an organization with unique characteristics, called upon to play a leading role in the macro-management of planetary problems».
Noting that international peace and security are strengthened when the pre-eminence of the United Nations Charter is honored, the Minister also reaffirmed the need to respect and implement the sacrosanct principles of this Charter, notably the sovereignty of States, their territorial integrity, and their national unity.
Respect for the Charter does not mean variable-geometry respect for certain principles to the detriment of others, or the creation of an affinity group defending the principles of the Charter «à la carte», he stressed, adding that all these principles must be applied if we hope to guarantee a prosperous and sustainable peace and future for future generations.
The open debate was organized by Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of September.