The United Nations is essential for the functioning of small countries around the world, countries like Mongolia, according to the Mongolian ambassador to the United Nations.
Ambassador Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan represents a country which is as big as Germany, France, Britain and Italy combined, but with a population only slightly larger than Utah’s.
“We at the United Nations believe in the importance of smaller states in terms of international relations,” Enkhsaikhan began. “Most world problems are found in small states.”
Mongolia’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations gave a lecture on the state of affairs between small countries and world politics in the 21st century at the Hinckley Institute of Politics Tuesday.
Enkhsaikhan focused primarily on Mongolia’s role in the United Nations, but observed that similar smaller countries are equally as important.
“Small countries constitute three-fourths of U.N. membership, and each one gets an equal vote-whether it’s the United States, Haiti or Mongolia,” Enkhsaikhan said. “Small countries matter.”
The United Nations is essential for the functioning of small countries around the world, the ambassador noted. “If there was no United Nations, I think small countries would demand such an organization be established,” he said.
In light of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the ambassador had several observations about the future of the country.
“We small countries at the United Nations believe one of the most important issues for Afghanistan is access to the sea,” he said. One of the country’s most significant contributions to the United Nations in recent years came in 1998, when it adopted a resolution giving women in rural areas of Muslim countries the same rights as men. “Hopefully this resolution will help the women of Afghanistan,” Enkhsaikhan said.
Like many other small countries in the United Nations, Mongolia is not a military power, “so we believe in the power of ideas.” As a result, Mongolia led the way in forging a new set of rules to define international negotiations. “Smaller countries believe might and power should not be what defines international negotiations,” he said.
Of all the achievements and contributions Mongolia has made to the United Nations, the ambassador seemed most proud of one in particular: the elimination of nuclear weapons in the country.
“That was a big accomplishment for Mongolia and other small countries as well. Other small countries can now declare themselves nuclear-weapon free because of Mongolia,” he said.