Necva Tastan Sevinc
30 October 2025•Update: 30 October 2025
ISTANBUL
France and Spain renewed on Thursday calls to restrict the use of veto powers at the UN Security Council, saying the mechanism has repeatedly blocked global action in the face of humanitarian crises such as the one in Gaza.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the council must be reformed to reflect today’s geopolitical realities and restore legitimacy to its decisions.
“We want to make sure that two seats of the permanent Security Council are given to Africa, that Japan, Germany, and Brazil can have a seat … to make decisions more legitimate,” he said at the Paris Peace Forum.
Barrot added that France has been working “for years” with Mexico to promote an initiative limiting the right of veto in cases of atrocities, a proposal now supported by more than 20 countries.
“We were unable to reach a joint commitment on Gaza,” he said, adding that the Security Council should assume “moral and political responsibility” for upholding international law.
“That’s why we’re pleading so hard in favor of Security Council reform, to unlock decisions that are blocked by veto when basic human rights are affected,” he stressed.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares echoed Barrot’s remarks, saying Spain’s position is consistent “whether it’s in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan or the Sahel.”
“We defend international law, international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians,” he said.
Albares described UNRWA as an “indispensable UN body,” noting that “the lives of six million Palestinians in the Middle East depend on it.”
He said humanitarian assistance “must reach the Gaza Strip without obstacles” and that those responsible for attacks on aid workers “must be held accountable.”
“We must recall that the rulings of the International Court of Justice are binding for everyone in the United Nations, including the state of Israel,” Albares said.
“Israel cannot have a right of veto,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mirjana Spoljaric-Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned that the ongoing humanitarian operation in Gaza remains “highly complex, sensitive, and dangerous.”
“The ceasefire must hold, millions of lives hang in the balance,” she said.
“If hostilities resume, there is no resilience left for the people," she further added.
Spoljaric-Egger cautioned that ignoring international law in Gaza and Sudan sends “a signal to 450 armed groups and non-state actors that everything is allowed,” warning that their power is being amplified by new technologies.
