President Akufo-Addo has called on fellow Heads of States and Governments to insist on immediate reforms at the Security Council to conform with growing current trends.
Taking his turn to deliver his address at the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, President Akufo-Addo revealed that it is long overdue to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa.
According to him, “after serving on the Council at this difficult time in the world, our views on the need for reform have been even more strongly re-asserted”.
He told the gathering of world leaders that, the UN in its current shape “cannot continue to preach democracy, equality and good governance around the globe”.
“… We cannot insist on peace and justice in the world, when our global organization is seen by the majority of its members and the people of the world as hampered by an unjust and unfair structure.”
President Akufo-Addo
With Ghana currently serving out the second of her two-year term on the Security Council as a non-permanent member, President Akufo-Addo expressed disappointment over some facts taking place in African countries.
He indicated that African countries have witnessed, at first hand, over and over again, that the “big powers of the United Nations might be preaching democracy, fairness and justice around the world, but are happy to practice the opposite here at the UN, prioritizing parochial interests over those of humanity”.
Furthermore, the President expressed doubtless belief that with all that has been proudly achieved in its seventy-eight years of existence, African countries still have to deal with some challenges.
Among other things, he cited African countries dealing with “the reluctance by the nations, organizations and the major powers at the formation of the organization, to agree to any reform to reflect present realities has led to the undermining of the credibility of the United Nations and some of its organs, in particular the Security Council”.
Referring to his maiden speech as President of Ghana at the United Nations General Assembly, he noted that he spoke at length on the need for reform of the United Nations and of the Security Council in particular.
“I said, then, that the urgent need to reform this Organization had been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but, somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to execute it.
“I said, then, that Ghana supports UN Reform, especially of the Security Council, as set out in Africa’s Common Position on UN Reform, based on the Ezulwini Consensus.”
President Akufo-Addo
Reparations for countries affected by slave trade
Subsequently, he expressed that if the Assembly has quite properly chosen the rebuilding of trust as critical in restoring stability and prosperity to the world, it cannot rebuild that trust when the organization that should bind the nations is seen by many as helping to “perpetuate an unfair world order, which is reinforced by an inequitable, dysfunctional global financial architecture”.
Meanwhile, President has demanded for the payment of reparations for the countries affected by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
He highlighted that no amount of money will ever make up for the horrors, however, it would make the “point that evil was perpetrated, that millions of productive Africans were snatched from the embrace of our continent” and put to work in the Americas and the Caribbean without compensation for their labour.
Moreover, the President noted that the time has come for Europe and the United States of America to acknowledge that the vast wealth they enjoy was harvested from the sweat, tears, blood and horrors of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the centuries of colonial exploitation.
“Maybe we should also admit that it cannot be easy to build confident and prosperous societies from nations that, for centuries, had their natural resources looted and their peoples traded as commodities.”
President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the world has been unwilling and unable to confront the realities of the consequences of the slave trade.
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