Cuba urges U.N. reform and stronger international law protections

Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Paria told the Assembly that current trends of intimidation and unilateralism threaten the United Nations' founding mission and democratic character, and he urged member states to recover the organization's role before it becomes "an unrealized dream."

He said the U.N. must be made "more democratic and effective and closer to its peoples," and appealed to member states to defend sovereign equality and the rule of international law. He invoked the 66-year history of previous speeches at the same forum and closed by quoting Fidel Castro to emphasize the need for resolve in defending multilateral institutions.

Rodriguez Paria framed his appeal as both a defense of small states and an argument that the U.N. is indispensable to preventing the law-of-the-jungle dynamics he criticized.