We gather this year under ever-more daunting challenges. Our window to address climate change is rapidly narrowing. Progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is stagnating; in part, it is even being reversed. There have never been more conflicts since the establishment of the United Nations. The number of displaced persons is at record levels, and food insecurity has doubled since 2020. Children are subject to more suffering than ever, and the urgently needed political consensus on key agendas is becoming more challenging.
The ability of the United Nations to function as the peace organization for our world is increasingly paralysed. It is our joint responsibility to safeguard the international order for future generations. In doing so. we have an opportunity to make the United Nations stronger, more equitable and more resilient. Together with Member States, we are ready to tackle that task, with a sense of deep responsibility, as well as with courage and confidence in our ability to succeed.
There is a common thread to the various challenges that we are facing — the rule of law. which means that relations among States are governed by the law. that such law is the result of international agreements, that it applies to everyone and that there are consequences if it is violated. That was the spirit that guided those who gathered in San Francisco in 1945 to agree on the Charter of the United Nations — the most successful and most impactful treaty ever adopted.
At its very heart, the United Nations is a peace organization. It has risen from the ashes of two devastating world wars, and it makes a powerful promise to future generations that the United Nations Charter addresses: that we. gathered in this Assembly, will not allow unlawful war-making to bring devastation, human suffering and instability to the peoples that we represent.
As leaders, we have to ask self-critically: are we trying hard enough to put those promises into action? Illegal warfare is the biggest challenge to this Organization. There is no doubt that the unprovoked and. at its core, colonizing war that Russia has been waging against its neighbour. Ukraine, a founding Member of the United Nations, is the most egregious, blatant and manifest violation of the prohibition of the illegal use of force since the creation of the United Nations. For us to stand up together against that act of aggression means, most importantly, standing up for the international order. That order is certainly the only security guarantee, especially for us. a small State, but also for the international community.
This Assembly is the bedrock of genuine multilateralism, based on the principle of sovereign equality. As such, it has admirably lived up to the challenge that it was handed by the Security Council, paralysed by the use of the veto. Together, we have called for the complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. Together, we defined the parameters for a just peace that we all want to
see as soon as possible and. together, we made the legal determination that the actions by Russia against Ukraine amount to an act of aggression. We have yet to take the next obvious step together: to ensure criminal accountability for that act of aggression for the individuals who ordered it. in line with international law. We will continue our conversations with all present to enable us to achieve that. That serves the goal of a just peace for Ukraine in accordance with the terms defined by us in this Assembly, but it will also have a catalytic effect of a far wider reach.
In ensuring criminal accountability for the most manifest violations of the United Nations Charter, we will also protect ourselves, in particular the small States among us. and our own sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our international order is founded on the prohibition of the illegal use of force. For that prohibition to be effective, it must be backed up by accountability and by the rule of law. That, of course, is the task of the International Criminal Court, established 25 years ago. with competence over the most serious crimes under international law. the crime of aggression among them. We must give the Court the competence to exercise full jurisdiction as quickly as possible so that it can fulfil its task with respect to the illegal use of force.
Aggression is a fundamental challenge to all of us who signed up to the United Nations Charter. At its core, the United Nations is. and must continue to be. a peace organization. For billions of individuals, this building embodies the promise that we will respond collectively to those that openly undermine peace and security. That is why Liechtenstein joined this Organization more than three decades ago. That is the pledge made to future generations in San Francisco, and it is the expectation that our people have. The United Nations has evolved tremendously since its creation. It has been the crucial force in advancing international law. Its role as a provider of humanitarian assistance has become irreplaceable. Its agencies and programmes carry out functions of enormous importance to individuals around the globe. Yet its core mission is. and remains, the maintenance of peace and security, and that is the role that we are challenged to safeguard.
It is a difficult task. It is a fact that the Security Council is often unable to act. The deep political divisions among the permanent members are likely a reality for years to come. The pernicious effects of the veto are being mitigated, but they persist, often with a devastating effect for the people affected. Next year’s Summit of the Future is an essential collective test for all of us. We must demonstrate our ability to find ways to ensure collective action when the Security Council fails in its tasks. This Assembly will therefore have to play a central role in a new agenda for peace. We can do more to bring the Security Council’s practice into line with the law to which we all subscribed when joining the United Nations.
We are proud to have presented to this Assembly the veto initiative, which ensures accountability and an institutional balance. We should now focus on ensuring that those that are parties to a dispute do not participate in the decision-making on those disputes. That is simply the law set out in the United Nations Charter, and its application has been neglected so far.
In recent years, climate change has occupied an increasingly central place in our discussions. This Hall has seen summit meeting after summit meeting on that issue. This year again, we are urgently reminded of the limited window that we have to address the climate crisis. From weather extremes to sea level rise, all regions of the world are affected by climate change. But those that have done the least to cause the crisis in the first place are the ones most affected. We certainly are in the fight of our lives, as Secretary-General Guterres has said. However, as we gather here, we are not on track to win that fight. We hope to see significant progress at the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting, to be held in Abu Dhabi later this year. But that alone will not be enough. For climate change as well, the law must guide us. That is why we have strongly supported the request for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the question of climate change. We are confident that the Court will help us to have clarity regarding the complex legal questions concerning climate change, and thus assist in our common fight against that most existential threat.
That initiative, led by Vanuatu, was yet another example of leadership by small States, a testament to genuine and effective multilateralism. Small States like ourselves — and we are indeed a majority in this Assembly — need the United Nations. But the United Nations also needs us. and now more so than ever. It is we small States that automatically look beyond our national interests. We understand that our success does not have to come at the cost of someone else’s loss. We look for partnerships as a matter of course and as a way
to success, and we work for the rule of law as a matter of enlightened self-interest. At a time of competitive alliance-building, our ability and willingness to forge common ground are indispensable to the future success of the United Nations. We can. and we will, play an important role in shaping the Summit of the Future.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development remains one of the most successful expressions of common ground from the past decade. It plays an evermore important role in shaping Government policies, and it is deeply embedded in the consciousness of our people. The SDGs may well be the most widely known agreement that the United Nations has reached in the past decades. And yet. halfway through the implementation process, the picture is rather bleak. The number of people living in extreme poverty is higher than before the coronavirus disease pandemic. Hunger levels are back to those of 15 years ago. At the current pace, full gender equality is not just decades away, but in fact centuries. The lack of progress across our countries is mirrored in the difficulty to find political consensus on the way forward. That negative trend needs to be reversed now. The 2030 Agenda is the only global road map that we have to overcome the multiple crises that we face today.
Liechtenstein’s strong commitment to the SDGs is also reflected in its second voluntary national review, which I was honoured to present earlier this year. Our official development assistance spending has been increased by 22 per cent in comparison to that of 2018. That is meant to help to reverse the negative trends in the fields of poverty reduction, food security and access to education, as well as climate protection. All Government bills are now evaluated against the Sustainable Development Goals. Our commitment to the 2030 Agenda is a genuine expression of multilateralism, of which we need to see more.
Gender equality is a central part of that agenda. We will not forget the countless women who suffer from violence and oppression worldwide. We will continue to call out situations of systematic gender persecution, from Afghanistan to Iran. We will continue to call for the empowerment of women and to support the bravery of women who stand up to demand political change, from Belarus to Myanmar. We need women’s voices and active role in our national politics and in international leadership positions, in particular in peace operations.
The international community faces major challenges that will shape the future of us all. As highlighted at the beginning, by signing the United Nations Charter, we have given future generations the promise that they will all have a prosperous future. We can no longer afford to remain inactive and divided on key issues. Therefore, we have to face difficult questions and different interests. Even if solving such problems is not easy, we must never lose sight of the very main purpose of the United Nations, which is to ensure global peace. That requires the contribution of all States, large and small. The rule of law. democracy, social justice, tolerance and the ability to engage in dialogue are fundamental conditions for peace. In the spirit of San Francisco. Liechtenstein will continue to advocate strongly for those values within the international community.