Latvia's UN ambassador: a Security Council seat gives Latvia real weight, but two years won't fix the world
Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, Latvia's permanent representative to the UN, explains in an interview what Latvia can achieve on the UN Security Council, where it serves as a non-permanent member in 2026–2027. She says the council's divisions reflect rifts among the major powers.
Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, Latvia's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, has told the magazine SestDiena what Latvia can achieve on the UN Security Council (SC), the UN body that decides on peace and security worldwide. Latvia was elected to the council on 3 June 2025 for a term from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, and in November it will hold the council's presidency. The ambassador calls the membership an opportunity unlike any before in Latvian diplomatic history.
What the UN can and cannot do
Pavļuta-Deslandes notes that the UN is much broader than the Security Council: it has 193 member states, and its system also includes UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP. The council has 15 members – five permanent ones with veto power (the US, Britain, France, China and Russia) and ten elected ones. In her words, the UN Charter bars changing borders by force, and international law serves as a safeguard against the arbitrary actions of major powers. Russia, as a permanent member, is violating the Charter.
She argues that the council's inability to agree is a consequence of the major powers' differing positions, not a cause. These disagreements concern Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict, yet the council has more than 60 issues on its agenda and reaches decisions on most of them. Amending the Charter would require the consent of all five permanent members, which she finds hard to imagine.
Latvia's experience on the council
Latvia began work in January after half a year of preparation; for the last three months it attended sessions as an observer. The invasion of Venezuela began in its first week, though the issue had not been on the agenda, and a first meeting was called on the Monday.
The ambassador recounts that in May Russia stated that the Baltic states were allowing Ukraine to use their airspace for attacks and made threats. Latvia rejected this at a council session, and the US backed Latvia's position and confirmed that NATO's Article 5 remains in force. In her view, a small country on the council gets a chance to have major powers take notice of its views.
