Kyiv Security Compact as a security model for NATO partners

Serhii Bykov, Political Consultant

The UN Charter begins with the words, "We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…" But is the UN resolute enough to respond to modern security threats? The Russian-Ukrainian war has finally proven that the post-World War II architecture of international security has become exhausted. A country that holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and has corresponding privileges has waged a genocidal war, involving decapitation, the execution of civilians, and the deportation of children. Moreover, there are no mechanisms in the UN to strip a Permanent Member of the Security Council of its privileges. This means that the aggressor can block all attempts to stop it. What worked in the past no longer works.

Criticism of the UN's ability to adequately respond to modern threats is voiced even by former top officials of the organization. Leaving the post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2018, Zeid Raad Al Hussein predicted a collapse of the UN if the Security Council was not reformed. He criticized the injustice of having 5 out of 15 Security Council members who can unilaterally reject joint decisions: " When they cooperate things can move; when they don’t everything becomes stuck and the organisation, in general, becomes so marginal to the resolution of these sorts of horrific conflicts that we see". This is exactly what we are witnessing today.

A key mechanism for ensuring security is defense alliances, with NATO being one of the most important. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, wrote in his book "World Order" that NATO is a key organization that guarantees security for its members