The General Assembly cannot force the Russian Federation to comply with the norms of international law
The UN General Assembly has no means to force Russia to comply with the UN Charter and the norms of international law. This was stated by the Chairman of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, during a press conference in New York on September 9, as reported by Ukrinform.
“We act with conviction based on our values and principles, and we hope that all UN member states will abide by the obligations they undertook when joining the UN, one of which, of course, is respect for the territorial integrity of other states “, — noted Francis, answering the question of whether the General Assembly managed to do enough for Russia to stop the war against Ukraine and start observing international law.
Francis also emphasized that the organization expects Russia to fulfill its international obligations, but admitted that the General Assembly does not have the power to enforce it.
In December 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported that the UN General Assembly adopted an updated resolution condemning Russia’s serious violations of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
It should be noted that in April 2023, UN Secretary General António Guterres sharply condemned the full-scale invasion of Russia at a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov.
