UN General Assembly
2016

The seventy-first session must achieve greater progress on that matter. I take this opportunity to request that President Thomson prioritize the appointment of the next chair of the intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform, who will preside over a year of real progress on that matter. It cannot be that, in a world where democracy is the standard norm and accepted practice, the single largest body in the world, the United Nations, plays by different rules. It cannot be that one or two or five individuals can hold ransom the seven billion people living in the world. It is accepted that democracy is the basic standard for any meaningful engagement in any part of the world, in any country or any self-respecting organization. In the same light, we urge the continued strengthening of the United Nations global footprint in general and of the United Nations Office in Nairobi in particular. That will increase the relevance of the United Nations and enhance its legitimacy in the global South.