President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on world leaders to insist on immediate reforms at the Security Council to conform with current global trends.

He said it was time to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa.

“After serving on the Council at this difficult time in the world, our views on the need for reform have been even more strongly reasserted,” he said.

The President made the call when he took his turn at the general debates of the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on Wednesday in New York.

He told the Assembly that the UN could no longer press for democracy, equality, and good governance around the world, in its present state.

“We cannot insist on peace and justice in the world when our global organisation is seen by the majority of its members and the people of the world as hampered by an unjust and unfair structure.” 

President Akufo-Addo expressed disappointment at the fact that African countries, “have witnessed, at first hand, over and over again, that the big powers of the United Nations might be preaching democracy, fairness and justice around the world, but are happy to practice the opposite here at the UN, prioritising parochial interests over those of humanity.”

He expressed concern that after 78 years of existence of the UN, African countries still had to deal with “the reluctance by the nations, organizations and the major powers at the formation of the organisation, to agree to any reform to reflect present realities.”

“This has led to the undermining of the credibility of the United Nations and some of its organs, in particular the Security Council,” he stated.

The President referred to his inaugural address to the UNGA, in which he spoke at length about the need for reform of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council.

“I said, then, that the urgent need to reform this Organisation had been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but, somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to execute it.

“I said, then, that Ghana supports UN Reform, especially of the Security Council, as set out in Africa’s Common Position on UN Reform, based on the Ezulwini Consensus,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo stressed that the Assembly cannot build trust “when the organisation that should bind us is seen by many as helping to perpetuate an unfair world order, which is reinforced by an inequitable, dysfunctional global financial architecture.”