As Ongoing Conflicts Produce Ripple Effects Far Beyond National Borders, World Leaders at High-level Debate Offer Varying Takes on UN’s Ability to Deliver Peace, Security
Amid ongoing conflicts, geopolitical tensions and repercussions far beyond national borders, world leaders today offered different assessments of the United Nations and its ability to deliver on its promise of peace and security, on day two of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.
Javier Gerardo Milei, President of Argentina, called the United Nations a “useless organization”, whose purpose is “to a feed a caste of fatally arrogant parasites disguised as well-meaning bureaucrats”. Instead of guaranteeing collective security and human rights, bureaucrats have allowed chaos, violence and international terrorism. He also accused the UN of looking the other way regarding the situation in the Malvinas Islands*, South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, stressing that the Malvinas Islands is a national cause for Argentina.
Offering a contrasting view, the President of Czechia, Petr Pavel, stressed the continuing importance of the Organization as geopolitical risks mount. “Diplomacy matters most not between friends, but between adversaries,” he said. That is where the United Nations remains indispensable: as a forum for dialogue, even when agreement seems very distant. The next Secretary-General, he added, will face a defining task: adapting the UN to a world of growing geopolitical rivalry and fragmentation.
Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of the Government of Spain, condemned what he called an absurd belief that the “world is a zero-sum game” in which winning implies others losing; ignorance that scorns science; and cruelty that “isn’t even moved when it sees the ribs of a starving child or a hospital reduced to rubble”. He called for rebuilding the architecture of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, as well as strict regulations on techno-oligarchs to control the development of artificial intelligence.
Against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts, several world leaders warned of their consequences threatening regional security, food supplies and the principles of the UN Charter.
Moscow’s War against Ukraine: One of Biggest Tests for UN’s Relevance
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, highlighted the cost of the war for the Russian Federation, reporting that its army lost 248,964 people on the battlefield in Ukraine between January and August this year. Twenty-one countries have populations smaller than the number of Russian troops lost in those eight months, he said. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has repeatedly promised that his forces would seize Ukraine’s Donetsk region, he noted. “Putin will fail this time too,” he stated, adding that Moscow has claims against neighbouring Republic of Moldova and constantly threatens Poland and the Baltic States.
Alar Karis, President of Estonia, called Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine “one of the biggest tests for the United Nations relevance”, underlining that Moscow’s targeting of Black Sea ports has threatened global food security, rendering the conflict a global problem.
Edgars Rinkēvičs, President of Latvia, warned that instability travels and conflicts cross borders. “What happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine; what happens in the Middle East, in the Red Sea and in Sudan does not stay there,” he stressed, urging all to commit to the United Nations Charter and its principles.
Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, Acting President of Venezuela, said that after “two major painful tests” — the fraying of its domestic politics and a double earthquake in June — her country is being “reborn” through a democratic transition that will include elections. Venezuela aspires to have relationships of respect and equality with the United States, all South American countries and the international community, she said, thanking United States President Donald Trump and his Government for what she called their readiness to resume the course of diplomatic relations and cooperation. “Today we are working solemnly through dialogue to settle our differences” for energy, security, and economic cooperation, she said.
Global Food and Energy Prices at Mercy of Conflicts Raging in Europe, Middle East
“As a developing island country, the Dominican Republic is well aware of vulnerability,” Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, President of the Dominican Republic, said, citing wars in Europe and the Middle East — “far away from our coasts” — that directly impact the prices of food and energy. He also sounded alarm of the crisis in Haiti, where transnational criminal networks control territory and traffic arms and people, thus threatening peace and security in the region.
Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran, highlighted the human impact of recent attacks on his country, including the assassination of its supreme leader, scientists, men, women and innocent children, maintaining that Iran had “only defended ourselves”. “We are not terrorists, our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country,” he stated, recalling attacks by the United States and Israel. “We did not bend the knee, we did not bow our heads, we responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” he added. Addressing what he described as double standards, he contrasted scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear activities with Israel’s nuclear capabilities and actions in Gaza, noting that Iran had been attacked while at the negotiating table. “Israel kills but Iran is subject to sanctions — this is a true tragedy which would make anyone hearing it laugh,” he stated.
Justin Nsengiyumva, Prime Minister of Rwanda, said the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is a clear example of how the UN is more effective at responding to crises than anticipating them. “The roots of the conflict in eastern [Democratic Republic of the Congo] are political, and they lie in longstanding grievances, exclusion and failures of governance. The solution, too, therefore, must be political,” he asserted, calling on all actors, including the Security Council, to support ongoing peace efforts.
Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, countered that her country is still confronted with a “war of aggression waged by Rwanda” under the guise of the Alliance Fleuve Congo/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23). Several steps towards peace have been taken, but for millions of Congolese, peace remains only a promise, she said. While Security Council resolution 2773 (2025) lays out an unambiguous path forward, “we do not need new texts to replace those which have already been adopted. What we need is their implementation,” she said.
Moving Past Destruction, Division, to Prosperity, Partnership
Some leaders also highlighted the efforts to move beyond the years of destruction and political division.
“Syria is rising”, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, President of Syria, declared. “The bloodshed was stopped, destruction was stopped. Syria started the journey of reconstruction, of recovery,” he said, pointing to the rebuilding of military and civilian institutions and transitional justice efforts. Some 3.5 million refugees and internally displaced persons had returned “in a safe and decent way”, he said, adding that Syria had turned “from a crisis to an opportunity for many countries”. “The security of the region has to start in Damascus,” he stressed.
Libya no longer needs more management of the crisis — it needs the will to end it, insisted Mohamed Younis A Menfi, President of the Presidential Council of Libya. “Our goal is clear: A unified, sovereign State whose institutions derive their legitimacy from the will of its people.” He also described the Mediterranean not as a barrier between Africa and Europe, but as a shared space for connection. “Relations among its countries should move from beyond merely managing migration and crises towards making the Mediterranean a bridge for development, trade, energy transition, investment and common security,” he said.
And in Central Asia, which until recently was often mentioned against the backdrop of unresolved border disputes, water resource management issues, and many other conflicts, the situation has “completely changed”, said Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Presidential Administration of Uzbekistan, thanks to the initiative of her President and the political will of the region’s Heads of State. “We began to view each other as partners — not as source of threat,” she said. The same holds true for President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s approach to the Afghanistan issue, since viewing it solely as a source of danger will not solve the problem — nor address the issues of multi-ethnic Afghans, “who must be given hope”.
Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus, where UN peacekeepers have been deployed since 1964, said the onus is on Member States to contribute and protect the multilateral system and ensure it can respond to contemporary issues. At the same time, he responded to remarks made the day before by Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling on him to green-light substantive negotiations on the divided island’s future within a UN-agreed framework. “What is now required is political will by all parties,” he said.
Peace, Stability across Africa Requires Security Council Reform
Several speakers from African member States renewed longstanding calls for Security Council reforms, including Kenya’s President William Samoei Ruto, who noted that Africa’s 54 countries make up almost a quarter of the UN’s membership — yet it has no permanent Council seat. “That imbalance might have reflected the world of 1945; it does not reflect the world of today,” he asserted.
“How many more years should African leaders travel to New York and stand before this Assembly and call for fair representation in the Security Council?” echoed King Mswati III of Eswatini, who also appealed for greater international support for African-led initiatives to forge peace and stability on the continent.