China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other nations have joined together to spread a message of support for the United Nations’ founding treaty, seeking to promote multilateralism and diplomacy about the use of force against perceived violations by other UN member states.
The coalition, made up of 17 signatories calling themselves the “Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter”, included Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Nicaragua, Korea North, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, Venezuela and the State of Palestine, an observer state not a member of the UN.
His conceptual note of March 10, obtained by Newsweek, said the group “will endeavor to preserve, promote and defend the prevalence and validity of the UN Charter.”
The group said the letter, signed for the first time during the final months of World War II, today “has renewed and even more important value and relevance, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, while providing a platform for, among others , promoting the prevalence of legality over the use of force and both to discuss and coordinate possible joint initiatives to promote respect for the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. ”
These principles include “non-interference in the internal affairs of States, peaceful settlement of disputes and refraining from using or threatening to use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.”
The group said it would also more broadly defend “the values of dialogue, tolerance and solidarity, given that they are at the center of international relations and remain vital for peaceful coexistence between nations”.
LAURA BONILLA CAL / AFP / Getty Images
The note was included in a letter addressed to ambassadors from potential countries interested in joining the group, which was first established two years ago. He requested a response by April 9 this year.
He described the format of the Group of Friends as being “open in nature and, consequently, its composition should be regularly updated, as Member States, Observers and UN entities express their willingness and interest in joining it, subject to the approval of its members. “
The meetings are held at least every three months, as a permanent representative, and extraordinary meetings may be held on specific topics, at the request of the members. The chancellors of the member countries will also meet in parallel to the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York.
A country will have a one-year term as coordinator, after which the position will be transferred on the basis of the “principle of geographic rotation”.
The initial formation of the Group of Friends in February 2019 came shortly after the United States and several of its allies and partners supported the claim by the president of the National Assembly, controlled by the Venezuelan opposition, Juan Guaidó, in defiance of President Nicolás Maduro, who he was accused of engendering his last victory at the polls.
Former President Donald Trump launched a “maximum pressure” campaign to overthrow the socialist leader, but he maintains his positions both at home and at the UN
Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden, sought a more multilateral approach to politics, but maintained the sanctions already in place against Venezuela, as well as against Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and other countries involved in the Group of 17 parties of friends.
The countries involved also protested separately against US sanctions and interventions in several statements shared by their diplomats.
Cuba’s mission on Friday marked 25 years since Washington put the Helms-Burton Act into effect, extending decades-long sanctions against Cuba to foreign companies that deal with the communist island. In a note on Twitter, the mission said that the act “aims to internationalize the blockade through coercive measures against third countries, in order to interrupt their investments and commercial relations with #Cuba and subject these sovereign states to the will of the United States.”
Biden, whose wife, First Lady Jill Biden, traveled to Cuba during a warming of relations under former President Barack Obama, has not yet reversed the tightening of Trump’s restrictions against Havana or his last-minute designation of the country as a state sponsor. of terrorism.
Nor has Biden yet returned to the Obama-era nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015 alongside other major powers, including China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, although during his presidential campaign he has often stated his intention to do so. His government asked Tehran to first restore the nuclear enrichment limits suspended following the withdrawal from the United States and the failure of European parties to comply with the agreement.
Secretary Antony Blinken also said the government would pressure other countries not to thaw Iranian assets until Iran offered concessions.
“The United States says it favors diplomacy; not Trump’s failed ‘maximum pressure’ policy,” tweeted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, alongside an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing the statements of the top US diplomat. USA. “Still, @SecBlinken is proud to block Korea from transferring our OWN money to the Swiss Channel – used only for food and medicine.”
“Repeating the same policy will not bring new results,” he added. “Only way: #CommitActMeet.”
Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Aymen Sousan also attacked the sanctions. On Wednesday, he compared the policies of the European Union and the United States to those of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), which once took control of the country and remains active, despite separate campaigns to combat it launched by Iran and by Russia on the one hand and on the other, a coalition led by the United States.
He accused the West of imposing “modern colonialism” on Syria during its civil war, financial crisis and struggles with COVID-19.
Speaking in Caracas on Friday, Maduro also referred to a troubled past with Western powers.
“History always teaches us what we were, where our roots come from,” said the Venezuelan leader. “It teaches us what we are today and why we are on a project to break the ideological, cultural, political and economic ties of imperial domination in this century.”
North Korea has also traditionally criticized sanctions imposed by the United States and the international community, and Pyongyang has reintroduced a more critical language from Washington since the collapse of the unprecedented peace negotiations launched in 2018. Speech to the renowned Korean Workers’ Party, 8th Party congress in January, supreme leader Kim Jong Un described the United States as his country’s “main enemy” and announced that North Korea “would expand solidarity with independent anti-imperialist forces”.
Like the US, several governments involved in the Group of Friends have also been accused of human rights abuses by the UN in reports that they routinely dismissed as biased against them and their allies and partners.
The recent request for new members also comes amid renewed competition from major powers between the United States and its main rivals, China and Russia, which have enjoyed an increasingly close strategic partnership in recent years. Both Beijing and Moscow asked individually not to intervene in their respective internal affairs.