“Regardless of size, each and every Member State of the UN has agency — a say in how the new world order will look,” Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, told world leaders.  It is important that “we all use this power wisely and responsibly”.  Interests drive the practical choices of States, and this is entirely legitimate.  This kind of foreign policy is based on a realistic understanding of power, he explained.  Power defines the limits of what is possible for each State.  “However, values should underpin everything we do”, and “without them, foreign policy will ultimately run into a wall”.

The 193 members of the UN do not have to agree “on every minute detail of values, but we have to have a common understanding of the fundamentals”, he went on to say.  They include the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, the prohibition of the use of force and the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.  “Russia has no right to continue its aggression on Ukraine,” he stressed.  Israel has no right to violate international law in Palestine.  States have no right to use Sudanese or Congolese territories to fight proxy wars for their economic or strategic self-interest, he emphasized.

“Our values can divide us,” he said.  Fundamentally, however, they should unite people around the basic principles of humanity, the rule of law and the prohibition of aggression. The current direction is wrong in many ways, the President continued.  There are more wars than at any time since the Second World War.  The world is becoming increasingly divided, and so are societies, and the measures to deal with climate change and sustainable development are lagging behind.

In the Middle East, civilians in Gaza are experiencing immense suffering.  “The deepening humanitarian crisis has reached unbearable levels and represents a failure of the international system,” he told the Assembly.  At the same time, Hamas continues to hold the hostages it has taken, and many have already lost their lives.  An immediate ceasefire is needed in Gaza.  Safe and unhindered access to humanitarian aid must be granted.  “The hostages must be released,” he stressed.  He also condemned the particularly brutal violence in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar and Mali.  Civilian populations should not have to live with famine and displacement, he said.