The Deputy to the US Representative in the United Nations, Ned Price, admitted that the United Nations couldn’t negotiate an end to wars, which he described as unfortunate.
Ned Price was speaking to foreign journalists at the Foreign Press Center in New York. He was asked to comment on why the United Nations and world leaders have been unable to resolve crises such as those in Gaza and Ukraine.
“This is a question that implicates conflicts and crises in hot spots that have different origins, that had different trajectories, and, as we see it, different paths to resolution. Of course, we all wish that this body across the street were able to successfully negotiate an end to wars and conflicts the world over, but unfortunately, that has not been the case. It certainly hasn’t been for lack of trying,” he explained.
“You mentioned Ukraine and Gaza. I have spoken during the course of this discussion about the very different origins and nature of those conflicts. The UN has been involved – to different degrees – in both. But certainly, the United States has been integral to efforts to provide humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people. We are working very closely, as I said before, with our partners in the region to try to achieve what has been so elusive over the course of more than a year now, and that’s a ceasefire deal that brings about not only a ceasefire but the release of hostages and the conditions that will allow for a surge of even greater levels of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” said Ned Price.
“In Ukraine, this is a conflict about which the UN Security Council and, even more so in some ways, the UN General Assembly has spoken. Over the course of the past three or so years, we have brought together some two-thirds of the world’s countries to make very clear that the international community won’t stand for this blatant aggression – what we would have thought should have been a relic of the previous century, where principles like might-makes-right and the idea that a large country can bully its small neighbor – to once again put those principles on the table.”
He expressed the view that these were the very principles the UN and other international bodies were founded to help eradicate, aiming to bring about global cooperation and foster what was hoped to be greater levels of global peace and security.
“The UN has done that in many contexts, in many different ways. Of course, in these two contexts, various diplomatic efforts, including multilateral efforts, are still ongoing to bring about an end to these conflicts,” he remarked.
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