{"id":290370,"date":"2025-11-20T10:23:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/80\/?p=290370"},"modified":"2025-11-20T10:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:23:47","slug":"pga-remarks-at-the-annual-plenary-meeting-on-use-of-the-veto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/80\/2025\/11\/20\/pga-remarks-at-the-annual-plenary-meeting-on-use-of-the-veto\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Remarks at the annual plenary meeting on \u201cuse of the veto\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remarks by the President of the General Assembly\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock<\/strong><\/p>\n

at the <\/strong>annual plenary meeting on \u201cuse of the veto\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

20 November 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

[As <\/strong>delivered<\/strong>]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Excellencies,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The single most important mandate bestowed upon this institution is to \u2018save succeeding generations from the scourge of war\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is only fitting for an organization born of the ashes of conflict, by people entirely exhausted by not one, but two world wars in a single generation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet far too often today, we see that the United Nations is unable to deliver on its most important mandate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Its principal organ tasked with the maintenance of international peace and security, the Security Council, has far too often been deadlocked on the most devastating conflicts, as also discussed on Tuesday at the debate on the Security Council.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inaction, or the use of the veto in the Council, means real people, watching in real time, may question the credibility and legitimacy of not only the Security Council, but of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ in its entirety.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, the need for Security Council reform is the \u2018poster child\u2019 of the shortcomings of the larger multilateral system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u2018Veto Initiative\u2019 was and is a response to this predicament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a chance for this Assembly, all 193 Member States of it, to demonstrate to the wider world that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ \u2013 even when facing a blockage in the Council – hears the desperate voices of those affected by these conflicts and is able to act.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An opportunity to show that we are<\/u><\/strong> working to alleviate their suffering, that we have not forgotten the promise of this institution, made to humanity in 1945: to save them, also today, 80-years later, from the scourge of war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Veto Initiative is our chance to demonstrate, even in these fragmented times, that multilateralism is alive; that cross-regional cooperation has, in fact, even been strengthened, with more debates within the General Assembly on peace and security matters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We see this in the resolutions passed on topics vetoed in the Security Council, such as, most recently, with the New York Declaration, adopted by 142 Member States.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s debate is an opportunity to discuss how we can further strengthen not only the Veto Initiative, but cross-regional cooperation and, by extension, trust in our institution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let us ask ourselves:<\/p>\n