NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24— President William Ruto has warned that inconsistent application of international law and unequal power within the United Nations are eroding trust in the multilateral system, urging countries to confront what he described as a widening gap between the principles of sovereign equality and the way global institutions operate.

📻 Breaking It Down

Addressing the General Debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Ruto said the credibility of the international system depends not only on the rules it adopts but on whether those rules are applied consistently.

“International law cannot be invoked loudly in one crisis, cautiously in another and disregarded when convenient,” Ruto said.

“Trust cannot be restored by declaration. It must be earned by consistency.”

📌 What You Need to Know

The Kenyan president placed the issue at the centre of a broader critique of the post-Second World War global order, arguing that institutions created in 1945 no longer adequately reflect today’s geopolitical realities.

He said the credibility of collective security was being weakened as conflicts multiplied while international responses remained uneven.

Ruto cited what he said were 65 state-based armed conflicts last year, including 13 at war scale, with nearly 250,000 people killed in organised violence.

He said interstate conflicts had doubled for a second consecutive year and quadrupled in two years, from two to eight.

“Disputes are increasingly frozen, deferred or decided by force,” he said, warning that conflicts stretching from Europe and the Middle East to the Sahel and Horn of Africa were exposing failures in collective security.

His criticism extended to the structure of the Security Council, where five permanent members- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — hold veto power.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya