The failure of the United Nations - My failure is maybe, in retrospective, that I was not enough aggressive with the members of the Security Council.

In this remark Boutros Boutros-Ghali frames institutional failure at the United Nations as inseparable from the constraints—and choices—of its Secretary-General. By calling the UN’s failure “my failure,” he accepts personal responsibility while also pointing to the decisive power of the Security Council, whose permanent members can block action. The admission that he was “not enough aggressive” suggests regret about not pressing harder—politically, rhetorically, or procedurally—against member-state reluctance. The quote highlights a recurring tension in UN leadership: moral and diplomatic initiative versus the reality that enforcement and resources ultimately depend on sovereign states, especially the Council’s most powerful members.