Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for reforming the U.N. Security Council to ensure fair representation for all regions and abolishing the permanent members' veto power.
"We need to reform the Security Council so that all of the regions in the world have fair representation, and so that we can do away with the right of veto of the permanent members," Sanchez said, addressing the U.N. General Assembly.
Because as the U.N. Charter sets out, "no country should be a judge in its own case, no matter how powerful they are," he added.
He warned that the principles underpinning the international system were increasingly being challenged.
Peace, sustainability and equal opportunities are "being attacked" by political actors and governments seeking to take the world back to a "dark past," he said.
"I don't need to point them out. We all know who they are and what their modus operandi is."
Sanchez also outlined Spain's actions in response to conflicts, saying Madrid had done "everything possible" to oppose actions running counter to the U.N. Charter.
He cited sanctions against Russia as well as an arms embargo on the Israeli government.
He also reiterated Spain's "unequivocal" condemnation of the "genocide that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is still perpetrating in Gaza."
Sanchez argued that multilateralism remains the best way to manage global interdependence and called for renewed trust in the U.N. and efforts to strengthen the organization.
The Spanish leader accused forces hostile to multilateralism of deliberately seeking to weaken international institutions, describing what he called a "planned and coordinated demolition attempt."
He said such actors first question international rules, then break them, cut contributions to multilateral organizations and obstruct their work before portraying them as ineffective.
"They start by questioning the rules, then they break them, knowing well that nobody will dare to hold them accountable. They cut their contributions to multilateral bodies like this one (the U.N.)." he said.
"They obstruct these organizations' ability to act, so then write them off as useless entities that we can do without," he added.
Despite those pressures, Sanchez urged countries to "ramp up our trust" in the U.N. and strengthen the organization so that it can play "the same key role it played last century." However, he acknowledged that such strengthening would "not be easy."
Turning to the U.N.'s leadership, Sanchez called for the next secretary-general to be a woman from Latin America, noting that all nine people to hold the post have been men.
"The time has come for a woman from Latin America to become United Nations Secretary-General," he said, describing it as a "historic debt that we must settle."
Sanchez also addressed the irregular migration crisis in the Spanish city of Ceuta, saying Spain would resist the temptation to "turn migrants into the enemy" or break the law and would instead respond while respecting human rights.
"Spain does not choose the easy route," he said. "We always choose the fairest route, and I also want to recognize that the world knows this."
Around 72,000 people irregularly crossed from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30-31, according to the Spanish government’s official estimate.
According to the latest government estimates, more than 3,000 migrants, including several hundred minors, are still living on the streets of Spain's North African enclave.
While temporary accommodation facilities have been established, authorities say up to 200 people voluntarily return to Morocco each day.
