The Situation in Ukraine: Threats to international peace and security

Ambassador Harold Agyeman
Permanent Representative
Ghana Permanent Mission to the United Nations
March 11, 2022, Security Council Chamber
New York City

 
The Situation in Ukraine: Threats to international peace and security
 

Madam President,
Let me begin by thanking the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu and the USG for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo for their briefings to the Council this morning. I also welcome the participation in this meeting of the representative of Ukraine.
 
Madam President,
Ghana has taken due and careful note of the briefings and the remarks of delegations that have spoken before us. We believe that on account of the information before us, a conclusive determination of Ukraine’s biological programmes can only be made after further assessment by relevant institutions such as the World Health Organisation to establish the situation of the biological laboratories under consideration and the state of infectious disease research that were being undertaken therein.
 
It is in this regard that we urge the parties to respect the call for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire and for the Russian Federation to withdraw all its invading troops from the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, bearing in mind the incalculable consequences that an accidental or deliberate release of chemical or biological agents in the conflict theatre
could have on the populations in and around Ukraine; but also on global stability and an already fragile security environment.

The weaponization of chemical or biological agents in the war in Ukraine or anywhere else, would be wrong and that should not even be contemplated. As a state party to the Biological Weapons Convention, we believe that the call for a verification regime for the BWC continues to be valid, and that such an addition could be done in a manner that is reasonable and sensible, especially in light of recent global developments, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Ghana remains deeply concerned about the escalation of military bombardments in several cities of Ukraine which have given rise to a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, described by many as the worst in Europe since the end of the Second World War. We are also concerned by the transmission of the shocks of the war in Ukraine within the global economy and the disproportionate impact that developing countries and small economies are having to bear on account of this war, many of whom are already caught in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and contend with the deaths of several thousand from the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, beyond the scope of global attention. International solidarity is therefore important even as we maintain global cohesion and stability.
 
We remind the warring parties of their obligation to respect and comply with their commitments under international law, international humanitarian law and human rights laws. In particular, we call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers in Ukraine in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in the Time of War.
 
Madam President,
In concluding, let me recall Ghana’s long held view that the possession or proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, including chemical and biological weapons, neither assures international peace nor national security. We all therefore have a responsibility to ensure that we eliminate such weapons from the present civilization we are seeking to build.
 
I thank you for the kind attention.