Global Policy Forum

UN member states proved again that reshaping the Security Council remains the most divisive issue on the UN's reform agenda even as many countries called for stepped up efforts to try to reach a consensus. The deep divisions that forced the 192-member world body to shelve three rival resolutions to expand the 15-member council last year were clearly evident Thursday on the first day of a General Assembly meeting on reforming the UN's most powerful body.

There is strong support for enlarging the Security Council to reflect the world today rather than the global power structure after World War II when the United Nations was created. But all previous attempts have failed because national and regional rivalries blocked agreement on the size and composition of an expanded council.

The Security Council currently has 10 members elected for two-year terms and five permanent members with veto power - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. Germany's new UN Ambassador Thomas Matussek said the time has come to transform 15 years of discussion on council reform into a "decision for action."

"A United Nations that claims to have reformed itself without having brought the Security Council into the 21st century will continue to lose authority and credibility in the world," he warned. "Whatever the differences of opinion may be, there is overwhelming agreement that this reform is necessary and that we need a decision soon."

Germany was part of the so-called Group of Four - along with Japan, Brazil and India - that aspire to permanent seats without veto rights on an expanded council with 25 members, though Matussek said it was open to possible amendments to broaden its base of support. Japan still cooperates with the group, but has also been acting independently. Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima called Security Council expansion "the key unfinished institutional reform which we must now be ready to assault for a solution."

Despite differences on the size and scope of expansion, he said, "we are determined to continue our efforts, believing that the time is approaching to restart the process of serious negotiations with a view to reaching a solution."

The African Union, whose 53 members argue that their continent is the only one without a permanent seat on the council, wants to add 11 new seats - six permanent seats including two for Africa with veto power, and five non-permanent seats. "The time is ripe to act decisively on Security Council reform." said Nigeria's deputy UN Ambassador Simeon Adekanye. Giving Africa permanent seats would increase the council's "stature and credibility as well as ensure that its decisions attract wider support of the international community," he said. Uganda's UN Ambassador Francis Butagira said Africa's new permanent members should have veto power just like the current permanent members - but he said "we would strive to abolish the veto" to make the council "truly democratic."

"In the meantime, let us tackle a less problematic issue, that is, expansion of category of non-permanent members," he said. "I believe that could be done."

A group of middle-ranking countries, including Italy and Pakistan, who call themselves Uniting for Consensus, want a 25-member council with 10 new non-permanent seats. Italy's UN Ambassador Marcello Spatafora appealed to all members "to finally engage in negotiations with a constructive and flexible approach" - and to seriously consider an incremental reform based on the equality of all UN member states instead of a major overhaul. Pakistan's deputy UN Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the new "power realities" in the world are not just the emergence of four or five new powers. He argued that more than a score of states are in a position politically, militarily and economically "to contribute more fully and actively to the maintenance of international peace and security."

The Uniting for Consensus proposal "seeks to promote the common interest, not the national interests of a few states," Chaudhry said. Another proposal is also before the General Assembly - from Switzerland, Costa Rica, Jordan, Singapore and Liechtenstein - focusing on making the Security Council's working methods and decision-making more open and transparent.

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