Statement by

H.E. Mr. Said Saied Iravani

Ambassador and Permanent Representative

of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

Before the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of UNGA on Ukraine

on UNGA draft resolution A/EE-11/L.6 entitled

 “Furtherance of Remedy and Reparation for Aggression against Ukraine”

New York, 14 November 2022

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. President, 

I align myself with the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Eretria on behalf of the like-minded group, and I wish to add the following in my national capacity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, on a number of occasions, has expressed its clear, consistent, and unwavering position with regard to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

As a founding Member of the United Nations, the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly supports fundamental principles of international law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations as enshrined in its Charter.

In the same vein, Iran has long been advocating the Declaration on the principles of Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and reaffirming the basic principles contained therein particularly underlining that all States shall refrain in their international relations from military, political, economic or any other form of coercion aimed against the political independence or territorial integrity of any State.

Regrettably, the same countries that emphasize “the importance of maintaining and strengthening international peace founded upon freedom, equality, justice and respect for human rights, and of developing friendly relations among nations irrespective of their political, economic and social systems or the levels of their development”, were, and are continuing to be, at in the forefront of violating these very principles elsewhere.

The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the United Nation’s ongoing efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict. The United Nations should maintain objectivity and impartiality in order to play a responsible and constructive role in the political settlement of this conflict.

Mr. President;

The draft resolution A/ES-11/L.6 contains languages that fall outside the purview of the competence of the General Assembly, as according to Article 39 of the Charter, the General Assembly has no authority to determine the existence of an act of aggression. Furthermore, the GA Resolution 3314 of 14 December 1974, based on the same Article of the Charter, calls on the Security Council to determine the existence of an act of aggression.

We must not tolerate abusing General Assembly for the furthering narrow interests of a group of States by shrinking the role of this august body to a rubber stamp, as this would result in further undermining multilateralism and the rule of law at the international level.

If agreed upon, the proposed mechanism would have no actual contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict; rather it would serve only as a political tool in the hand of a group of States.

The problem here is that the main sponsors of this draft resolution, in a blatant double standard, apply different criteria in other conflicts of the world, such as Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, and so on.

We share this view that if an international Mechanism is to be established to investigate violations of international law caused by state wrongdoing and assess its reparations, it should be a mechanism with a broad mandate that could address any instance of international wrongdoing committed by any State and address all incidents and demands for reparations including those arising from international responsibility for military aggressions, looting blockades, unilateral sanctions, and occupations,  apartheid, as well as provision of WMDs including chemical weapons to the brutal regimes like the Saddam Hussein.

The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the inviolability of the jurisdictional immunities of States and their property, which are generally accepted as a principle of customary international law. The Islamic Republic of Iran, hereby, registers its strong objection to any mechanism that may undermine this well-established principle of international law. We would like to record that, any acts or decisions that may be derived from the mechanism referred to in OP3 and OP4 of the draft resolution will have no legal status and will thus be null and void.

I thank you, Mr. President.