Presentation of Compañero Jaime Hermida
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations
Virtual Meeting of Victory Units/Municipalities
June 24th 2025
Good morning, Compañeras and Compañeros,
Thank you for the invitation, I appreciate very much bing able to share with you.
Former Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, Ben Norton, Fabrizio Casari have already commented on the current international situation and its consequences for international Peace and Security- Now we can reflect on its context at the United Nations, created after the tragedies, as is well known, of the world wars in Europe, with the phenomenon of Eurocentrism and the responsibility that now belongs to the member States according to the UN Charter, signed on June 26th 1945, with the purpose of being a source of international law and a cornerstone of Multilateralism.
For this, the UN focuses its efforts on three fundamental pillars, International Peace and Security, Development and Human Rights.
It has among its most important organizational structures the General Assembly, where all the 193 countries that compose it participate and the Security Council Composed of 15 Members.
We also have the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) composed of 54 countries, the International Court of Justice, the General Secretariat and until 1990 the Fiduciary Council functioned, with the Independence of Namibia in 1990, the Trust Council suspended its work as Namibia was the last country on the Council's list.
All these bodies have their responsibilities and their competence in well-defined topics, assigned according to the UN Charter.
In addition, the General Assembly has created different Commissions and Committees as it has considered appropriate, as well as Treaties or Conventions signed by States, which are under the responsibility of the UN according to International law.
Now, a very brief bit of history, the UN was founded 80 years ago by 51 States, Nicaragua being one of the first to sign. Of those 51 States, 20 were from Latin America and the Caribbean, or almost two thirds, which indicates that our region had a great advantage at that time and therefore, in theory, could have played a predominant role in the negotiations and adoption of resolutions in the General Assembly.
Let us consider the United Nations Security Council, which has as its main responsibility the maintenance of international peace and security.
The Security Council was originally composed of 11 members: five permanent members (the Republic of China [Taiwan], France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States) and six non-permanent members elected by the United Nations General Assembly for two-year terms.
An amendment to the Charter of the United Nations adopted by the General Assembly in 1965 increased the Council's membership to 15, the original five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members. Among the permanent members, the People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1971, and the Russian Federation succeeded the Soviet Union in 1991.
The 10 non-permanent members are elected to achieve a supposed equitable representation between geographical regions, with five members coming from Africa or Asia, one from Eastern Europe, two from Latin America/Caribbean and two from Western Europe.
The permanent members have the prerogative of Veto power on resolutions submitted to the Council. It should also be noted – as a curiosity - that the UN Charter does not mention the word Veto, it indicates that resolutions must be adopted with the affirmative votes of all permanent members.
Noting, also, the irony that Taiwan was a permanent member of the Council until 1971 before justice was served, being replaced by the People's Republic of China and Taiwan expelled from the UN. The permanent members assumed that category because they were the winning Allies of the so-called World War II. Obviously, Taiwan back then was imposed by Western countries.
The Western countries have always maintained a regional majority within the council. Currently, there are six countries, more than a third of them, three permanent members with veto, two Western European countries and one Eastern European country, which lately also has always been a member of NATO.
The resolutions are adopted with a majority of nine votes in favor, as you will see, they have a great advantage, since with blackmail and pressure they achieve nine votes or more, manipulating the issues and work of the Council.
Let us now consider two issues of the international situation, Palestine, Iran and Israel at the United Nations.
When the United Nations created the State of Israel, it was at the expense of the lands of Palestine, expelling that people from its territory, who were never consulted about it.
The international Zionist movement and Israeli prime ministers have always managed to get US presidents to do their will.
This phenomenon is not new, it is responsible for the Palestinian catastrophe or Nakba.
Currently, with President Trump, it has increased, strongly supported by the groups that make up the extraordinarily influential "Israel lobby", and the growing power of extremists in the Republican Party.
For decades, Israeli leaders have ignored when the US has raised some objections and they have done as they pleased.
That's why Israel can plan unhindered to occupy as much of Gaza as it wants for as long as it wants.
That is why, since the creation of Israel in 1948, more than half of the 89 US vetoes at the UN Security Council have been in support of the Jewish state.
Israel now occupies such a large part of the West Bank, with many hundreds of thousands of settlers, undermining the creation of a Palestinian state.
It must be remembered that Benjamin Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in Israel, despite his record of blatant corruption, incompetence and willingness to accept extremist demands, in order to cling to power, he has always demonstrated a unique audacity when it comes to the United States. He has made four speeches to the US Congress, one more than his closest competitor, none other than Winston Churchill, who gave three speeches at that Congress.
This is how we understand why President Trump in his first term at the behest of Netanyahu, AIPAC and other Jewish organizations withdrew from the agreement with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as comrade Denis Moncada explained.
He also moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus recognizing Israeli sovereignty, something that no other US president had done since Israel occupied it in the 1967 war. Trump did the same with the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and, the State Department reversed the long-held US position that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were illegal. In virtually all of these positions, the United States is almost the only country in the world that takes Netanyahu's line.
Under former President Joe Biden, Netanyahu's record was the same, the US did not rejoin the JCPOA or move the embassy back to Tel Aviv.
Now, in his second term with Donald Trump, Netanyahu seems to be on the verge of achieving his greatest goals. The total annexation of Palestine and the destruction of Iran's capabilities, it is well known that for more than 30 years Netanyahu has been demanding the destruction of Iran by the United States.
He has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the destabilization of the Middle East, of the anti-Zionist countries and movements that support Palestine, of the disastrous US invasion of Iraq before it took place, also in Lebanon, Libya and lately in Syria.
And the United Nations has been powerless, unable to enforce the UN Charter, its purposes and principles, defend international law in all its dimensions, implement its resolutions, preserve Peace in the face of all these attacks and violations of international law of Zionism, allowing Israel to act with total impunity.
The inoperative Security Council is a prisoner of itself. More than 147 countries recognize the State of Palestine, but, even so, on several occasions the United States has vetoed the application of the State of Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations in compliance with UN resolutions, the creation of two States, Israel and Palestine, for there to be peace in the Middle East, since Palestine is the core of the conflict in that region.
You are already well aware of Nicaragua's historic and always supportive support for the Palestinian cause. We demand an end to the genocide, an immediate ceasefire, an end to the criminal blockade of Gaza and full respect for international law.
The UN Charter establishes among its important principles and purposes in its Article 2, that the members of the Organization in their international relations, shall refrain from resorting to the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.
But in the Security Council there is the threat or the actual use of the Veto and the United States uses it to prevent the Council from making use of the existing mechanisms in the UN Charter and fulfilling its responsibilities, to stop the genocide and the bombings against Gaza, and the attacks and destruction in Lebanon and Iran, in the face of the usual silence and/or complicity of Western countries.
This Western manipulation and blackmail has permeated the United Nations system, as Compañero Moncada illustrated and masterfully explained last week.
And so, now, the United Nations General Assembly is the only main organ of the Organization that enjoys universal representation, being composed of the 193 Member States. The deliberative, normative and policy-making body of the UN, which debates and makes decisions on a wide range of international issues, including peace and security, sustainable development, human rights and international law.
The decisions, resolutions of the General Assembly are not legally binding, which is taken advantage of by the Westerners so as not to comply with the implementation of these.
Thus, we also have important issues under consideration by the General Assembly and of global impact that affect our peoples, such as the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, being the number one, the eradication of Poverty, the 2030 agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, among others.
The General Assembly has declared that "unilateral coercive measures" are illegal, since they punish an entire population. Sanctions have been proven to cause suffering and death all over the world and are a form of war.
The efforts of developing countries are hindered by the imposition of Unilateral Coercive Measures that attack our peoples, undermine peace and negatively impact programs and actions to implement the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
In all these issues our developing countries, through the G77+ China Group, through the Non-Aligned Movement, we consistently advocate for a more equitable international economic order, for the legitimate right to development and for the eradication of poverty in all its forms, we fight to defend our common interests based on the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities, and taking into account the historical responsibilities of developed countries, as a result of colonialism and the plundering of our natural resources, we demand from them the fulfillment of their commitments of financing, technology transfer and capacity building so that our peoples may achieve sustainable and harmonious development with our Mother Earth.
The developed countries are not fulfilling these commitments, there is a growing tendency to evade and ignore what has been agreed and the financing required is getting smaller and smaller in the face of current needs and crises. It is also noticeable that they do make all their resources available for war and attacking free countries.
Nicaragua, in its international policy, is fighting for peace, on behalf of the peoples of the Global South, who long for a Multipolar world. At this time of multiple challenges affecting humanity, we advocate rebuilding trust and reactivating global solidarity.
Only through unrestricted respect for international law, the sovereign equality of States and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and compliance with its resolutions will it be possible to move towards a more just world order, in which peoples can live in peace, with dignity.
It is more than clear that a Refounding of the UN is required, a comprehensive reform so that it really is to the voice of the G193 Group, as our greatly missed Father Miguel D'Escoto called it and is not dominated, nor blackmailed by Western selfish interests.
To conclude, it only needs to be said that, in the face of these situations and despite the multiple aggressions, this multipolar world has been born, of the hope, solidarity and struggle of all our Peoples against the old and new forms of colonial, neocolonial and imperial imposition.
There are more and more voices and more initiatives that join that call, to the consolidation of the Multipolar World, we see it in the BRICS, in the UN now with Belarus, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Laos, Mali, Nicaragua, Palestine, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, which make up the Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter, a platform that has allowed the articulation of common positions and the presentation of political declarations and resolutions, in favor of respect for international law and national sovereignty, for the equality of States, demanding the end of Unilateral Coercive Measures, among many other issues.
Thank you very much, Compañeras and Compañeros.
Long live Sandino!
For our Sandinista Popular Revolution!
With our Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario!
Always Onward with the Sandinista Front!