Too many differences of opinion have led many member states to demand a reform of the United Nations Security Council.
General view of a session of the United Nations Security Council. Photo: THX
Recently, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was time to reform the United Nations Security Council (UN) to fit "the reality of today's world".
“In the face of economic shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the system failed to fulfill its core function as a global safety net,” Guterres said.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron also called for reform of the UN Security Council, expanding new permanent members to increase representation of the international community. "I want to reform the Security Council to be more representative, this body needs to welcome more new permanent members to be able to play its full role, as well as to limit its limitations," the French leader said. abuse of veto power”.
A number of other countries, including the US, Japan and Germany, also support reform of the UN Security Council. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said US President Joe Biden plans to push for a reform of the UN Security Council to ensure effectiveness.
Sharing the same view, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio also called for reform of the UN Security Council and urged the world to reaffirm the importance of a rules-based international order. Kishida also urged world leaders to take advantage of the UN Summit on the Future, scheduled for 2024, to kick off comprehensive discussions on UN reform.
Currently, the UN Security Council consists of 15 member countries, including 5 permanent members (group P5) and 10 non-permanent member countries (group E10) elected by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term on the basis of geographically equitable distribution and taking into account the contributions of these countries to the principles and purposes of the United Nations. However, the five permanent members of the US, UK, Russia, France and China retain veto power, allowing them to block the passage of any of the resolutions. It is this factor that recently many resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, sanctions on China, North Korea or resolutions related to Syria and Iraq... have not been passed.
This is noted in the 2022 UN Security Council report when 276 public meetings were convened (more than 246 meetings in 2021) but only 7 statements of the UN Security Council president were approved. This is far less than the 24 presidential statements passed in 2021.
The above indicators also show that the role of cohesion between the P5 group and developing countries outside the UN Security Council, which is assigned to 10 rotating members with two-year terms (group E10), is also getting worse. effective.
Therefore, many countries have suggested that it is necessary to expand the UN Security Council to enhance fair representation among regions, especially Africa, Asia, Latin America and developing countries. However, how to expand membership, which country will be selected is still a matter of debate.
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There are two potential reforms, one is to expand the members of the UN Security Council from 15 to 25. The second is to give priority to the permanent representative from Africa. This idea received the consensus of all members of the P5 group as well as from the United Nations General Assembly.
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Synthetic HN
