When Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev took the tribune at the United Nations General Assembly, he did not merely recount his country’s achievements; he issued a challenge to the international community. His words - “Let us together build a world without double standards, where justice is not selective, the rule of law is respected, and peace is achieved not through words alone, but through actions” - captured both the frustration and the hope of smaller nations long subjected to selective morality in world affairs.

This statement was more than a flourish. It came at the conclusion of a speech that traced Azerbaijan’s journey from decades of occupation and war to peace, reconstruction, and international partnership. At each stage, President Aliyev’s appeal to the world rested on one principle: international law must not only exist on paper, it must be upheld in practice.

“For many years, I spoke from this tribune about the tragedies of aggression, occupation, and injustice experienced by Azerbaijan.”

With these words, Aliyev reminded the UN of its own shortcomings. For nearly three decades, Azerbaijan was vocal about the occupation of its territories by Armenia. Four Security Council resolutions demanded Armenia’s withdrawal, yet they remained unenforced. This was not merely an Azerbaijani grievance; it was a glaring example of how international institutions can allow law to be flouted with impunity.

Aliyev’s framing matters because it highlights the asymmetry in how the UN and its most powerful members treat different conflicts. In some cases, sanctions and interventions follow swiftly. In others, such as Azerbaijan’s plight, silence and inertia prevail. By invoking this history, the head of state exposed a structural weakness in global governance: when justice is selective, law itself loses legitimacy.

“In 2020, after almost 30 years of ineffective negotiations, Azerbaijan was forced to exercise its legitimate right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.”

This passage was a reminder that........

© AzerNews