UNSC veto power must be challenged, abolished - Tok Mat

NEW YORK: Malaysia has stressed that the use of veto power at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must be questioned and firmly challenged, particularly in cases involving crimes against humanity.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said global confidence in the world body's ability to act was now at its lowest point.

"No part of the UN is more in need of reform than the Security Council. And no part more clearly exposes the weaknesses of the UN than the Security Council," he said in his national statement at the General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) here today.

Mohamad said Resolution 76/262 had established an accountability channel between the UNSC and the General Assembly.

"We must make full use of this resolution as a platform to strengthen accountability over the use of veto power. Expanding the Council's membership alone will not address its failures.

"The veto power must be challenged, and it is the veto power that must be abolished. We must begin that effort now," he said.

Mohamad said there was still time to save the global order, and that the paralysis of the UNSC should not mean the paralysis of the UN.

"It is fair to say that global confidence in the UN's ability to act is now at its lowest point. This situation is destroying confidence in the very idea of a multilateral order."

Mohamad said people were seeing the world order becoming increasingly fragmented, the resurgence of an arms race and hearing open threats to use nuclear weapons.

"They see their respective governments choosing not to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and the various ways it is being misused, but instead giving it more power," he said.

Amid this state of turmoil, Mohamad said the only way to correct the course was to rebuild confidence in proactive governance and multilateralism.