Ukraine proposes new UN body tasked with ecological protection

A new United Nations entity that has authority for ecological protection around the world should be set up, Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko told the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly today.

Ukraine puts forward an initiative to develop a framework binding agreement – [the] World Environmental Constitution – and to establish a system of a single structure for ecological protection with relevant authority and mechanisms of work in the UN,” Mr. Yushchenko said.

He told world leaders gathered for the debate at UN Headquarters in New York that the initiative is part of Ukraine’s call “for a more active global cooperation in the sphere of ecology.”

The President noted that strategies for protecting the environment should be linked to international attempts to resolve the global food crisis caused by the recent spike in the price of many staples and also to efforts to develop a more “effective and just energy policy.”

Turning to the recent conflict in Georgia between Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian forces, he said that Ukraine “vigorously denounces violation of the territorial integrity and inviolability of the Georgian borders and armed annexation of its territory.

“Ukraine does not recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” he added.

Mr. Yushchenko called for the Security Council’s role, stressing that “we need its balanced decisions and effective actions.”