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STORY: UN / GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
TRT: 04:06
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / CHINESE / RUSSIAN
DATELINE: 18 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, aerial view of the United Nations headquarters
18 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
3. Wide shot, Security Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Global solidarity and solutions are needed more than ever. The climate crisis is raging, inequalities are growing, and poverty is on the rise. As this Council knows well, peace is getting pushed further out of reach — from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Ukraine to Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond. Terrorism and violent extremism remain persistent scourges. We see a dark spirit of impunity spreading.”
5. Wide shot, Security Council
6. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This Council should be expanded and become more representative of today’s geopolitical realities. We must also continue to improve the working methods of the Council to make it more inclusive, more transparent, more effective, more democratic, and more accountable.”
7. Wide shot, Security Council
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“The past 80 years is a period of accelerated advancement in world’s multipolarity and economic globalization, a period that has witnessed people across the world forging ahead and meeting challenges together, and also a period during which the global south has been rising and growing strength. Meanwhile, although human society has emerged from the shadows of the Cold War and moved beyond the multi the bipolar standoff, comprehensive peace and shared prosperity remained elusive in the third decade of the 21st century, peace and development remains a long-term arduous task. The 80 years of history are enlightenment enough in the face of the turbulent and changing world, the UN centered international system provides important safeguards for the course of human progress.”
9. Wide shot, Security Council
10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Today the world has come closer than ever before to a dangerous threshold. It is teetering on the brink of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers. The West, operating through the rules-based order template, is agreeing to in circumvention of the United Nations decisions and key topics for the majority of countries, and subsequently portraying these solutions as universal solutions, and imposing them on others. We therefore see a deliberate undermining of the authority of the organization.”
11. Wide shot, Security Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“Prior to Bashar Al Assad's departure from Syria, Russia used the Security Council to block any action to hold the Assad regime to account for its crimes against humanity. Russia's war in Ukraine is the bloodiest in Europe since the founding of the United Nations after World War II - this war needs to end. China has consistently exploited its status as a developing nation within international organizations to advance its separate agenda. The UN should not be in the business of endorsing any one country's initiatives.”
13. Wide shot, Security Council
14. Wide shot, Minister for Foreign Affairs of China at the stakeout area
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“Gaza is the homeland of the Palestinian people. It is part of the Palestine territory. It should not be a sacrifice in international politics. The parties concerned should continue to implement the ceasefire agreement and advance the follow up negotiations in a constructive manner. The post war governance in Gaza should be guided by the principle of Palestinians governing Palestine and should be advanced in tandem with the two-state solution, so as to realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel and archive enduring peace and security in the Middle East.”
16. Wide shot, Minister for Foreign Affairs of China leaves the stakeout area
“Global solidarity and solutions are needed more than ever,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council during its meeting on “Maintenance of international peace and security.”
The ministerial-level open debate held today (Feb 18) was chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under China's presidency of the Council, focusing on pressing global challenges such as conflicts, climate change, and economic inequalities.
António Guterres highlighted escalating global tensions, stating, “The climate crisis is raging, inequalities are growing, and poverty is on the rise,” while emphasizing that growing conflicts from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Ukraine, from Sudan to DRC underscore the need for a more representative and transparent Security Council aligned with “today’s geopolitical realities.”
Wang emphasized the importance of multilateralism, reflecting on the UN's 80-year history as a cornerstone of international peace and cooperation. “Although human society has emerged from the shadows of the Cold War, comprehensive peace and shared prosperity remain elusive,” he noted, underscoring the ongoing challenges in global development.
Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya warned of escalating global risks, stating, “The world has come closer than ever before to a dangerous threshold,” and criticized Western powers for actions he said undermine the UN’s authority and risk direct military confrontation between nuclear states.
U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Dorothy Shea said Russia and China have exploited the UN system for their own ends, stating, “Russia used the Security Council to block any action to hold the Assad regime to account… China has consistently exploited its status as a developing nation to advance its separate agenda,” while emphasizing that the UN must remain impartial.
Briefing reporters after the meeting Chinese Foreign Minister said, “Gaza is the homeland of the Palestinian people. It is part of the Palestine territory. It should not be a sacrifice in international politics.”
He continued, “The parties concerned should continue to implement the ceasefire agreement and advance the follow up negotiations in a constructive manner. “
“The post war governance in Gaza should be guided by the principle of Palestinians governing Palestine and should be advanced in tandem with the two-state solution, so as to realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel and archive enduring peace and security in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Wang concluded.
