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ON THE OCCASION OF THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 77TH SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

by the former UN system staff members signing below

In a couple of weeks the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly will be opening, with world leaders flocking to New York for the “General Debate” highlevel segment. With the military confrontation in Ukraine now in its seventh month with no end to the destruction, killing and suffering in sight, the expectation is that world leaders will refer to it in their speeches.

We appeal that this occasion be used productively, in addition to reasserting the values of the UN Charter, the principles of nonaggression and of the peaceful resolution of disputes, to actually advance efforts to end the fighting and set in motion a negotiation process. Such a process could gradually allow for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in the broader context of regional and global peace and security.

The authors of this appeal, former UN civil servants from many corners of the globe, constantly inspired by the UN Charter and its vision of a peaceful, prosperous and just world, expect the UN to do more to assist the parties in ending the war and finding a peaceful, just and lasting solution to their differences. We are encouraged by the success of UNled negotiations that have enabled the resumption of exports of Ukrainian grains and facilitate the export of Russian grains and fertilizers, so that a major famine can be averted, especially in the poorest countries. We are also encouraged by the involvement of the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in avoiding a catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The UN and its SecretaryGeneral need to capitalize on these functional arrangements and pursue political channels of communication in parallel, so as to secure a ceasefire and get a negotiation process started the soonest possible.

As the interests of Russia, as well as those of Ukraine’s main supporters, namely the US and the EU, extend way beyond this conflict and have geopolitical dimensions, we urge that a negotiating mechanism be created to address related concerns from all sides. We therefore urge UN SecretaryGeneral Guterres, with the support of world leaders, to convene an international contact group of key countries and to appoint a special envoy, thus facilitating the discussion of these divergent interests and making it possible for them to be overcome through compromise and mutual guarantees.

The countries which are party to this conflict are members of the United Nations, and are thus committed to the UN Charter’s core principle of settling international conflicts by peaceful means (Chapter VI of the UN Charter) or, if that fails, by collective action led by the Security Council (Chapter VII). Membership in regional organisations and/or military alliances does not render the above principles invalid. As for unilateral action by Permanent Members of the Security Council to block decisions from being taken, the Veto Initiative by Liechtenstein or the application of provision 27.3 of the Charter shows the way forward
for such situations in future.

While looking up to the UN SecretaryGeneral to deliver on the above, we request that all those who hold high office in countries and international organizations, and thus have the power to change the course of events, act in that direction immediately. This would give real meaning and usefulness to this year’s world leaders’ gathering in New York. We cannot rewrite the past, but we can write the future for a world, where all people can live decent lives in peace, free of fear and want. Economic and technological competition may continue, the same applies for political interests and concerns. But war has to end, if we want to avoid situations where attempted winnertakesall approaches more often than not lead to having only losers in the end.

7 September 2022

List of signatories as follows:

1 ABUNUWAR Abdul Muniem
2
AGUILAR Pilar
3
AKOPYAN David
4
AMODEO Margherita
5
ANDERSEN Terje
6
ANGELO J.Victor
7
ASKWITH Michael
8
BÁEZ Julio A
9
BANERJEE Ajit M
10
BEIGBEDER Yves
11
BERLINGHOF Barbara
12
BETTELLI Paola
13
BHALLA Karunesh
14
BIELLIK Robin
15
BODDEN Vernett
16
BORCHARDT Katharina
17
BREINES Ingeborg
18
BURBIDGE Robert
19
BURLEY John
20
CAILLIEZ Elize
21
CARRASCOBATTIN Lucia
22
CHATURVEDI Suvira
23
CHAVEZ MaríaLuisa
24
CLAYCOMB Paula
25
COHEN Robert
26
COOK MAUDE Denise
27
COPPENS Bertrand
28
COSTAESNARD Aurora Lola
29
DAHL Arthur
30
DAMEN Conradus
31
DAVIS Gary E
32
DE LA FUENTE Brenda
33
DE VITA Maria Gabriella
34
DE ZAYAS Alfred
35
DICK Alain
36
DJIBO Boubacar
37
DONINI Antonio
38
EVANGELISTA Douglas
39
FLORES Gilberto
40
FOXPRZEWORSKI Joanne
41
FRANCAIS Ariel
42
FREEMAN Carl
43
GANIATSOS Thomas
44
GARCIA MENDEZ Emilio
45
GARDNER Douglas
46
GELDOF Lynn
47
GIBBONS Elizabeth
48
GORLICK Brian
49
GRANT Elizabeth
50
GRIEGER Wolfgang
51
GROSE Kevin
52
GUINDO Adama
53
GULUMA Esther
54
GURNEY Michael
55
GURUN Sema
56
HADJHAMMOU Nadir
57
HALLIDAY Denis J.
58
HARRISON Richard
59
HEYN Michael
60
HIGHAM Andrew
61
HIJAB Nadia
62
HOEFFEL Paul
63
INGRAM Joseph
64
JENSEN Tomas
65
JOSEPH Carol
66
KAHANE Matthew
67
KAHLON Himmet
68
KAKUCSKA Peter
69
KANNINEN Tapio
70
KLECKNER Simone
71
KOEHLER Gabriele
72
KOLLIES Ute
73
KOSTAKOS Georgios
74
KRONFOL Fouad
75
LANDON Carole
76
LECOMTE DU NOUY Patricia
77
LEE Donald
78
LEITNER Kerstin
79
LEWIS Gary
80
MALDONADO Maria Delia
81
MALHOTRA Kamal
82
MANUEL Susan
83
MARTIN Mary
84
MARTINEZ Theresa
85
MENON Saraswathi
86
MEYLAHN Angela
87
MIMICOPOULOS Michael
88
MOLINIER Cécile
89
MOUSOURIS Sotiris
90
MURRAY Gillian
91
NELSON Janet
92
NILAND Norah
93
NORTON Christine
94
OCKWELL Ron
95
OLVER Richard
96
OSORIO Maria Clara
97
PÉREZ DEL CASTILLO Gonzalo
98
REYNOLDS Phil
99
RICKARDMARTIN Loraine
100
RIDDLE Margaret
101
ROBERFROID Andre
102
RUSSELL Andrew
103
RYAN Jordan
104
SACKSTEIN Edward
105
SCHUMANN Peter
106
SEVAN Benon
107
SIERRA Enrique
108
SKURATOWICZ Jerzy
109
SLUTKIN Gary
110
SUZUKI Rie
111
SWIETERING Jan
112
SZAL Richard
113
TABLANTE Zenaida
114
TAKASE Chikako
115
TAMAGNINI Andrea
116
THALMANN AnneMarie
117
TOLMIE Ellen
118
TORTORA Manuela
119
TOSO Francesca
120
URSINO Steven
121
VAN DRUNEN Jiddo
122
VANDEMOORTELE Jan
123
VANDEWEERD Veerle
124
VAZQUEZ Lilia
125
WEISBROT Barada
126
WILLIAMS Michael
127
ZHAGORA Vladimir
128
ZVEKIC Ugljesa

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