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Annalena Baerbock at the train station in Washington, D.C.: Continue to New York City
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) considers the UN Security Council to be outdated. The body bears responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. On her arrival in New York for the UN general debate, Baerbock called for fundamental reforms at the United Nations.
Germany is committed to "making the UN system fairer, more inclusive and more capable of acting," Baerbock said in New York. This also includes a reform of the Security Council, for which Germany has been campaigning for years with Brazil, India and Japan in the so-called G4.
"A UN Security Council that still represents the world of the 20th century is no longer in keeping with the times," Baerbock warned in her statement. "Only if the United Nations gives itself an 'update' of its operating system in order to arrive in the world of the 21st century will it be the place where the international community solves its problems together in the long run."
The Minister explained that in order to contribute to such modernisation, Germany is leading the negotiations for next year's UN Future Summit together with Namibia. First of all, however, the UN general debate is about numerous major challenges: "peace, the further development of international law, good climate, health and development policy, and also the rights of girls and women in countries like Afghanistan". This means that the "heart of the world" will beat in New York in the coming days.
The general debate in the UN General Assembly, in which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is also participating, begins on Tuesday. A summit on sustainable development will take place in New York on Monday.
More ambition to curb the climate crisis
With this in mind, Baerbock called for "putting the Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of the United Nations". This includes "more ambition in mitigating the climate crisis, the greatest threat of our time". In addition, the UN, the international financial institutions and health bodies must finally be set up in such a way "that our partners in Africa, Latin America and Asia receive the voice they deserve".
On Monday, Scholz, Baerbock, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) and Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) will also take part in a ceremony marking Germany's admission to the United Nations 50 years ago.
The Federal Foreign Minister has been in the United States since Tuesday. Among other things, she visited the state of Texas and held talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other political decision-makers.
kha/AFP