The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, supported, this Tuesday, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, “in the face of the many accusations and attacks he has suffered, and argued that the world might be “even worse” without the United Nations
At the Security Council’s annual meeting on strengthening cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations, Borrell came out in defense of the Organization, which brings together 193 Member States, and lamented that its founding Charter is “disrespected, distorted and kidnapped every day.”
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs argued that the state of the world is deeply worrying, but it might be even worse if we didn’t have the United Nations, which, through its Charter, “remains an unsinkable compass for our humanity ”.
“But the UN is present, with all the men and women who work for this organization, including the secretary general, and whom today [ontem] I would like to pay tribute, supporting him in the face of the many accusations and attacks he has suffered”, added Borrell.
In recent months, Guterres has been harshly criticized by Israeli authorities, who have repeatedly called for the resignation of the UN leader, following he stated that the attacks by the Islamist group Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum”, and stressed that the Palestinian people “are subject to a suffocating occupation for 56 years.”
At yesterday’s meeting, Borrell also took the opportunity to defend the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which saw its funding cut following Israel accused some of its employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack, which triggered the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Josep Borrell recalled that UNRWA exists because Palestinian refugees remain, “it is not a gift for the Palestinians, but a response to their needs”, and classified the agency as the “last lifeline for many people” in Gaza.
