Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, has said that Russia’s veto of an Irish-led UN security council resolution on climate change is “regrettable”, but he doesn’t anticipate the veto system changing anytime soon.
Speaking at an Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) webinar, Mr Coveney said that he was hoping that Russia could be persuaded to support it.
The resolution related to conflict caused by climate change, and it also sought to make climate change a permanent fixture on the council’s agenda.
“On Monday, 12 security council members voted in favour of the resolution. India voted against and China abstained. Russia decided to use its veto to prevent the resolution being adopted,” said Mr Coveney.
Mr Coveney said his understanding was that Russia believes climate change should be discussed elsewhere in the UN system, and the security council should concern itself with other causes of conflict.
He described the veto system as an “anachronism”, and said that no member state should be able to override the will of the majority of council members.
“I wish it didn’t exist... but I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I know a few years ago France led efforts to try and get agreement on limiting its use, particularly in cases where there are breaches in international humanitarian law or atrocities being committed.”
Mr Coveney said he would like to see the debate re-emerge, but he doesn’t think the P5 countries (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the USA who hold a permanent seat on the security council) will voluntarily give up their veto power.
Peacekeeping
Many countries which have a UN peacekeeping presence are facing food, land and water scarcity due to climate change, such as the Sahel and Lake Chad region, he added.
However, he said the fact China abstained, rather than vetoing, was an achievement in itself.
He didn’t anticipate another resolution coming to the fore anytime soon. However, he thinks climate change will still be discussed at security council level. “All is not lost.”
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing in north west Syria is another important issue for the security council, according to Mr Coveney.
Mr Coveney said he visited this crossing at the start of the year. This is the only international crossing into Syria and 3.5m people rely on it to receive aid and other support.
Mr Coveney said different countries have different perspectives on the crossing. “I know that the Russian, Iranian and Syrian view is that there are dangers with facilitating this crossing, in some ways it is supporting a continuing opposition to the Assad regime.”
However, it was Ireland’s view that this crossing is a humanitarian necessity. “I am glad to say we managed to win the argument... to keep it open for at least another 12 months.”
The UN security council will need to agree to keep the crossing open again in the next few weeks, as the initial agreement was incumbent on a review of the first six months. Mr Coveney said there needed to be transparency over what was being shipped across the border, and the UN should have oversight of it.
Mr Coveney also expressed concern over the forced disappearance of Syrians. “This is just a horror. The number of people who have just disappeared without any form of trial or legal process is a source of enormous concern.”
He said the question was how the UN system will deal with this, and he was hoping that Ireland could act as a bridge to facilitate discussions. “[IT IS] a regime that most countries don’t want to recognise... how do we progress in a way that reduces the extraordinary misery that continues to be inflicted on the Syrian people?”