President Javier Milei branded the United Nations a “failing organisation” of “international bureaucrats” on Tuesday as he accused the multilateral body of betraying its founding principles.
In his first appearance at a UN General Assembly, the Argentine head of state stated that he was in New York to warn “what will happen if the United Nations continues with collectivist policies.”
Milei, 53, accused the UN of imposing “socialist” and “ideological policies” on its member states and turning its back on freedom.
“It has become a leviathan with multiple tentacles that seeks to decide not only what each nation state should do, but also how all the citizens of the world should live,” said the President.
“The adoption of this agenda is fully in line with privileged interests and looks beyond the principles that were set out in the universal declaration of human rights,” argued the President.
He also accused the United Nations of backing the Covid-19 lockdowns that began in 2020, describing them as a “crime against humanity.”
Milei further complained that “they have allowed bloody dictatorships such as Cuba and Venezuela to enter the Human Rights Council without the slightest reproach.”
The economist went on to argue that his nation is showing the UN the “path of liberty and freedom.”
“Argentina is going through a profound process of change … we still have time to take another direction,” he urged.
His government would no longer “support any policy that restricts trade or freedom of the rights of individuals.”
“Argentina will abandon its position of historic neutrality and be at the vanguard of the fight for freedom,” he concluded.
Milei, whose name was mispronounced by UN officials when announcing the speech, highlighted his status as a political outsider in the opening of his 10-minute speech.
“I am not a politician, I am an economist, a liberal-libertarian economist,” said the La Libertad Avanza leader, who said he had been “honoured with the office of president in the face of the resounding failure of more than a century of collectivist policies that destroyed our country.”
The UN must lead this paradigm shift, he said, outlining the necessary principles to achieve the goal. First, the principle of a core mandate means the central mission of the United Nations is to preserve international peace and security; everything else must be viewed as complementary. Second, the principle of international subsidiarity means the UN must tackle an issue solely when it is clear that the problem exceeds the national capacity for action. Third, the principle of normative simplification and streamlining means that peace is not only the absence of conflict; it requires prosperous societies.
He reiterated claims of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands*, South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas that continue to be illegally occupied, calling on the United Kingdom to resume bilateral negotiations. He demanded the immediate release of Nahuel Gallo, an Argentine citizen who was abducted and is being detained arbitrarily in Venezuela without charge. He also called for the immediate release of the hostages in Gaza.
After highlighting the UN’s “remarkable success” in ensuring global peace since its establishment in 1945 (“Credit where credit is due,” Milei remarked), the Argentine leader then launched into a speech liberally laced with criticism of the multilateral body.
