MOHAMMED SHIA' AL SUDANI, Prime Minister of Iraq, said this year’s debate happens in a period when the global order is not easily able to achieve the goals for which it was created, with all rules of international law and international humanitarian law being violated.  Important principles like sovereignty, territorial integrity, responsibility to protect and right to self-determination are all ignored while the Security Council is powerless in the face of enduring challenges.  “Ignoring these institutions threatens to revert the international community to chaos,” he warned, adding that putting an end to the violations in Palestine and the region is the responsibility of everyone, particularly the Security Council.  In the Occupied Palestinian Territory today, he continued, there is public talk of mass starvation and the use of nuclear weapons to exterminate the population, who have been denied their rights amid a “shameful global paralysis”.  International law and Security Council resolutions are now “mere ink on paper” and are dangerous precedents that can result in dire consequences for all of humanity.

He declared his country’s solidarity with Lebanon as it faces a new phase of brutal aggression that seeks to plunge the region into crisis, promising to provide support to enable it to withstand the attacks.  He further lamented the deliberate targeting of international and relief organizations, together with the harm of their personnel, including UNRWA staff.  These abuses not only disrupt humanitarian action but violate international law.  He called for urgent international cooperation to spread tolerance and combat hate speech, violence and rising Islamophobia, stressing that the UN should double down on efforts to promote understanding among people of diverse views.

In Iraq today, he announced, a comprehensive plan for reconstruction and development is being witnessed.  With many challenges ahead, his Government has made great strides in security, with its victory over terrorism soon to be crowned.  Now, in the process of organizing elections in the country’s Kurdistan region, efforts are under way to strengthen Iraq’s democratic process.  He said his Government’s priority is to spread justice and preserve diversity, “which we consider as our most important assets”, adding that the Administration is also focused on enforcing the rule of law and diversifying sources of income, managing the energy transition and quelling political unrest.  All these are a tough call, he said, due to paucity of funds occasioned by an “excessive dependence of oil revenues”, misappropriation and corruption.

Nevertheless, he was optimistic that e‑governance and the digital transformation will help achieve good governance and stem the tide of corruption, also calling on the international community to assist in recovering stolen funds.  Iraq looks towards cooperation for regional security and plans to launch economic integration initiatives, particularly the Development Road project to link the Middle East to Europe.  This project, he said, represents the most important step for regional cooperation.  On climate and environmental challenges that Iraq seriously experiences, especially in desertification, he called for international solidarity, particularly in raising awareness about water resources.