Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar used her speech at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23 to express a strong criticism of global inaction, accusing world powers of complicity in the atrocities taking place and warning that the international system is in danger of collapsing under the weight of hypocrisy and vested interests.
She stated that the world cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Gaza.
"We did not stop the Holocaust, we did not stop the genocide in Rwanda, we did not stop the genocide in Srebrenica. We must stop the genocide in Gaza. There are no more excuses, none!" – said Pirc Musar, calling on world leaders to finally choose the right side of history.
From the beginning of her speech, the Slovenian president emphasized that the vision and hopes that were placed on the creation of the United Nations – as a symbol of a new era of peace and cooperation – have not been realized, and, according to her, the situation has even worsened.
She took aim at the Security Council, accusing its five permanent members of betraying their role as peacekeepers. Instead of leading, she said, some of them are pursuing narrow national agendas, paralyzing the Council and leaving the world to its fate.
International law, Pirc Musar warned, risks losing meaning. Conventions aimed at preventing genocide are in danger of being reduced to empty words, while the independence of international judges is "under attack."
She went further, indirectly criticizing US measures against judges at the International Criminal Court, as well as the selective funding of UN agencies.
According to her, these actions undermine multilateralism:
"Any such action erodes support for a system that is not built for the powerful few, but for the good of all."
The Slovenian president also accused global leaders of failing their citizens and future generations. If leaders can only offer “terrorism, conflict, pollution, fear, inequality and war,” she warned, they are not passive spectators, but “complicit in crimes against civilization and our planet.”
However, her speech was not just criticism – it also included concrete proposals for reform:
a radical transformation of the Security Council,
systemic gender equality that should begin with the election of a woman as UN Secretary-General,
and the creation of a Global Future Forum that would defend multilateralism and the Pact for the Future, adopted last year.
Its main message was clear and confronting: the world's greatest powers are turning a blind eye to genocide and destroying the rule of international law.
