Following its election as a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council, Saudi Arabia has apologized for not accepting the seat until “the Council is reformed and enabled, effectively and practically, to carry out its duties and responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security.”
In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saudi Arabia had declined the seat “based on its historical responsibilities towards its people, Arab and Islamic nations as well as towards the peoples aspiring for peace and stability all over the world.”
“If the member states of the United Nations consider wining the membership of UN Security Council, which is, according to the Charter of the Organization, the sole agency responsible for preserving world peace and security, as a high honour and a great responsibility for participating directly and effectively in the service of international issues, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes that the manner, the mechanisms of action and double standards existing in the Security Council prevent it from performing its duties and assuming its responsibilities towards preserving international peace and security as required, leading to the continued disruption of peace and security, the expansion of the injustice against the peoples, the violation of rights and the spread of conflicts and wars around the world,” the Ministry also said.
Saudi Arabia expressed regret that “all international efforts that have been exerted in recent years, and in which Saudi Arabia participated very effectively, have not resulted in reaching reforms required to be made to enable the Security Council to regain its desired role in the serve of the issues of peace and security in the world.”
The statement added that failure to reach a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause for 65 years, make the Middle East a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)-Free Zone, and put an end to the Syrian regime’s killing of its people using chemical weapons, is a living proof of the UN Security Council’s “inability to carry out its duties and assume its responsibilities.”
It is to be noted that Saudi Arabia yesterday won a non-permanent UN Security Council seat for the first time, joining Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria in taking places on the key body.