In a city known for its private members clubs battling for exclusivity, one gilded room in Manhattan reigns supreme: a powerful club of countries within the United Nations headquarters that has resisted adding a new member for nearly eight decades. <\/p>\n
The UN Security Council has been dominated by just five countries (the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom) since its inception from the ashes of World War II, when much of the world was still under colonial rule. <\/p>\n
Today, countries around the world get to take turns in the council as non-permanent members, but no country in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America or the Caribbean has the permanent members\u2019 crucial veto power. <\/p>\n
The veto allows permanent members, known as the P5, to block any resolution, ranging from peacekeeping missions to sanctions, in defense of their national interests and foreign policy decisions. <\/p>\n
But there is a renewed push to reform this colonial-era world order. <\/p>\n
As world leaders prepare to return to the UN headquarters for the annual General Assembly this September, Sierra Leone\u2019s President Julius Maada Bio has reiterated Africa\u2019s longstanding pitch to reform the council, including two new permanent member spots for African countries. <\/p>\n
African issues take up nearly 50% of the council\u2019s daily business, and the bulk of its resolutions concerning peace and security. The continent is also home to more than a quarter of UN member states and more than a billion people but remains \u201cgrossly underrepresented in this vital organ of the UN,\u201d Bio told a high-level meeting in August. Sierra Leone represents the African Group at the United Nations, comprised of the 54 countries from the continent. <\/p>\n
The council, responsible for maintaining global peace and security, has the power to deploy peacekeeping missions, authorize the use of force, impose sanctions, and pass resolutions \u2013 many of which have enjoyed great effectiveness despite high-profile deadlocks on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. <\/p>\n
More than a dozen peer-reviewed studies have found that the bulk of UN peace-keeping missions have helped curb violence and reduce conflict in countries such as Sierra Leone. <\/p>\n
The yearslong push to reform the UN\u2019s most powerful body is gaining political momentum: US President Joe Biden even made the case for permanent seats for Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean during a speech to the UN in 2022. Some diplomats are optimistic that September\u2019s general debate \u2013 when national leaders address the assembly and which the UN hopes will be used as a critical moment to reflect on the future of the multilateral system \u2013 will see consensus around a roadmap for Security Council reform. <\/p>\n
The summit\u2019s draft document, \u2018Pact for the Future,\u2019 acknowledges the need to fix the \u201chistorical injustice against Africa as a priority\u201d and Africa\u2019s special status in negotiations going forward. <\/p>\n
While September is unlikely to bring an expansion of the council, \u201cwe might see a track, a blueprint on how to get the expansion done in reasonable time,\u201d according to Marschik. On Tuesday, the General Assembly adopted an oral decision reaffirming its central role concerning council reform, and voted to include the issue in the upcoming session\u2019s agenda. <\/p>\n
Deep divisions among the permanent members have led to growing frustration with the Security Council\u2019s inability to stem the world\u2019s biggest problems, from bloody conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, to the threat of nuclear weapons and climate change. <\/p>\n
France and the United Kingdom have limited their use of veto power since 1989. But the post-Cold-War years have seen the US, Russia, and China use the chamber to \u201cexonerate their allies and shield themselves from the consequences of their unpopular foreign policy decisions,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Sierra Leone\u2019s foreign minister believes more equity in the council would help break the gridlock and lend it more credibility. <\/p>\n
He added that in \u201ca world that is more diverse, that is more globalized, interconnected, there is need for the council to be democratized for representation based on geography.\u201d <\/p>\n
Beyond the five veto-wielding powers, there are ten non-permanent seats, three of which go to Africa, on the council. The non-permanent seats don\u2019t have veto powers, and they are elected by region by the General Assembly for a two-year term. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s agreement among the council\u2019s permanent members and diplomats in the halls of the UN\u2019s iconic midtown Manhattan complex that it is time to evolve. But rivalries and national interests among the UN\u2019s 193 member states have blocked attempts to change as they struggle to agree on which countries to include, the scale of the enlargement of permanent and non-permanent members; and what their powers on the council will look like. <\/p>\n
Brazil and India, for example, would like permanent spots on the council, a prospect that would not go down well with India\u2019s longtime rivals, Pakistan and China, or Argentina and Mexico in Brazil\u2019s case, said one UN diplomat. <\/p>\n
Beyond the African Union push for two permanent and an additional two non-permanent seats on the council, there are at least five other constellations of UN member states that have their own separate ideas on what reform should look like. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s \u201cmore political momentum to this, but it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re necessarily any step closer to achieving reform,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
But what could work is \u201clowercase reform,\u201d say experts and diplomats, who point to a 2022 initiative tabled by Liechtenstein that was adopted by the General Assembly. It mandates that any veto case by the P5 be debated in the General Assembly. While the process cannot overturn a veto, it raises the political cost of the P5 exercising their unilateral power. <\/p>\n
Enlargement is possible, say advocates, pointing to 1963 when the council was enlarged from 10 to 15 member states. \u201cSo maybe, on the other hand, maybe this is an opportunity,\u201d said a senior diplomat at the UN. \u201cI think the fact that people are talking about it, means there\u2019s more traction,\u201d the diplomat added. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re a long way away from real, operationalized Security Council reform.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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