Foreign Minister criticizes selective use of basic rules of international relations

Minister for Foreign Affairs Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in her annual address to the United Nations General Assembly highlighted how the most basic rules of international relations were now being tested. „Not because we no longer know them. We do. But because increasingly, governments apply them selectively.“

„Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is a clear example,“ Minister Gunnarsdottir said.  „Russia invaded a sovereign neighbour, seeking to change borders by force and deny another nation the freedom to determine its future. Ukrainians have paid an unimaginable price. Behind every destroyed home is a family. Behind every casualty is someone who was loved.“

Minister Gunnarsdottir said Iceland's position remains clear. „Ukraine has the right to defend itself, to sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to a just and lasting peace on the basis of international law.

Our support for Ukraine defends a principle on which all our countries’ security depends: That no nation gets to decide the future of another.“

The same principle must apply everywhere. Including in the Middle East.

„In Gaza, we continue to witness repeated violations of the ceasefire and continued suffering among civilians, despite the adoption of the twenty-point Comprehensive Peace Plan and Security Council Resolution 2803. The suffering of Palestinian civilians cannot become background noise. Children are still being killed. Families are still losing their homes. Parents are still trying to keep their children alive. Again. And again. And again.

We cannot accept Gaza being repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt while the underlying cause remains unresolved.

In the West Bank, illegal settlement activity continues to expand. Palestinian civilians face settler violence, too often enabled by impunity, inflammatory rhetoric and permissive policies.“

Minister Gunnarsdottir said our objective remains clear: A viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, with both peoples able to live in security, dignity and peace.

What type of societies do we want to be?

Gunnarsdottir raised the battle now taking over globally over what kind of societies we want to be. „Across the world, authoritarianism and political extremism are gaining ground,“ she said. „We see attacks on democratic institutions, independent media, science and facts in public debate. Too often, these movements target groups whose rights supposedly matter less.

Women. LGBTQI+ people. Minorities. Migrants. People who look different, love differently or live differently. These are not abstract groups. They are our daughters and sons. Our friends. Our neighbours. Our colleagues.

I am deeply concerned by the growing backlash against gender equality and LGBTQI+ rights - including within my own region, Europe.

We hear that equality has gone too far. That diversity has gone too far. That some people demanding the freedom simply to be themselves somehow threaten the freedom of others.

I reject that completely. Human rights are not a zero-sum game. Giving a woman equal rights does not take rights away from a man. Allowing an LGBTQI+ person to live freely does not make anyone else less free. Quite the opposite.“

To read the full address: https://www.stjornarradid.is/raduneyti/utanrikisraduneytid/utanrikisradherra/stok-raeda-utanrikirradherra/2026-09-26-avarp-utanrikisradherra-a-81-allsherjarthingi-sameinudu-thjodanna/