ISTANBUL

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for UN reform on Sunday, stating before the General Assembly that the Security Council is "clearly no longer fit" to address contemporary challenges.

"Placing the fate of the world’s security in the hands of a select few when it is the vast majority who bear the brunt of these threats is unjust, unfair and unsustainable," Ramaphosa said at the UN’s Summit of the Future in New York.

Highlighting ongoing wars, conflicts, and climate change, he stressed that the Security Council’s structure “does not represent all countries” and fails to consider diverse viewpoints.

Ramaphosa described the Pact for the Future, adopted by the General Assembly, as a chance to "reinvigorate the multilateral system" and fulfill promises to reform global governance, including the Security Council and international financial institutions. He also urged support for Africa’s developmental agenda, known as Agenda 2063.

He emphasized that the pact "must involve strengthening multilateral action for sustained peace."

"We must pursue the attainment of just and sustainable peace based on international law," said Ramaphosa, whose government took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide over Tel Aviv’s indiscriminate offensive on the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza since Oct. 7 last year.