UN set to resume talks on Security Council reforms

General Assembly president appoints two co-chairs for inter-governmental negotiations from 25th

UNITED NATIONS:

The long-running inter-governmental negotiations (IGN) aimed at reforming the UN Security Council (UNSC) will resume on January 25 to build on the work done in the previous meetings, General Assembly (UNGA) President Volkan Bozkir has said.

Progress in the negotiations was held up after India, Brazil, Germany and Japan—known as ‘Group of Four’—remained inflexible in their push for permanent seats in an expanded UNSC, while opponents insist that additional permanent members would not make the 15-member body more effective.

Answering a question at a press conference at UN headquarters on Friday, Bozkir, a Turkish diplomat, said that since September 2020, when he assumed the presidentship of the 193-member UNGA, he has held negotiations with almost every group involved in the reform process.

Following his discussions, he said, he has appointed two co-chairs for the IGN process—the Permanent Representatives Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani of Qatar and Joanna Wronecka of Poland— to run the negotiations.

“Of course, it’s a very complex challenge that is closely linked to one of the main pillars of our organisation, which is peace and security,” Bozkir said. “There’s no doubt that the membership of the Security Council as well as working methods must reflect the realities of the 21st century.”

According to the UNGA president, the IGN process is driven the member states. “I believe that dialogue among member states is the most effective way to bring the reform process forward. The meetings [later this] month will also give some lights on what we will be able to do in the following months.”

Full-scale negotiations to reform the UNSC began in February 2009 with focus on several key areas, including the question of veto, regional representation, membership, working methods of the UNSC and its relationship with the General Assembly.

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Despite a general agreement on enlarging the UNSC, member states remained sharply divided over the details. The G-4 countries have shown no flexibility in their campaign to expand the UNSC by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.

On the other hand, the Italy and Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group firmly opposes any additional permanent members, saying that such a move will not make the body more effective, rather it will undermine the fundamental principle of democracy that is based on periodic elections.

“The UfC’s proposal reflects the most suitable basis for an agreement on comprehensive reforms,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram has said during a General Assembly debate on the Security Council reform in November.

The UfC proposal, he had added, was also flexible and through variable arrangements, could accommodate the aspirations and interests of a majority of the UN membership, including African and other regional groups such as the Arab Group and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The UNSC currently comprises five permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – and 10 non-permanent members. “If the UfC proposal is approved, it will obtain the largest possible support in the General Assembly and the essential ratification of all the five permanent members,” the Pakistan envoy had said.