New bid but little hope to reform UN Security Council
A flurry of world leaders have appealed again to the US to reform the Security Council, reviving a bid launched 15 years back.
But likelihood of transforming the world’s body most effective institution have emerged as near to zero by most experts, who see little incentive from today’s Permanent Five to let others in.
Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States hold veto-wielding long term seats at the Security Council, an arrangement that reflects the geopolitical dynamics at the time of the UN’s creation in the aftermath of World War II.
A coalition of four nations - Brazil, Germany, India and Japan - on Wednesday renewed its campaign for inclusion.
Adding the “G4” would ensure that the Security Council incorporate Europe’s biggest economy (Germany), the world’s second greatest developed economy and major UN contributor (Japan), the world’s second most populous nation (India) and the most populous nation in Latin America (Brazil).
“The world of today is quite different from what it had been when the US was created 75 years back,” their four foreign ministers said in a joint statement after talks by videoconference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, held practically this year as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Only if we have the ability to reform the Security Council will we stop it from becoming obsolete,” they said.
- Who would like to lose power? -
But to add more nations, the Permanent Five would dilute their own status.
The probability of Security Council reform “are next to none,” said Andrew Bacevich, professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University.
“And associated with that the reform proposal, which in lots of respects makes great sense, calls after the Permanent Five countries to reduce their power, he said.
“I can’t imagine why any of them would find that prospect agreeable.”
The United States has backed a seat for close ally Japan, and former president Barack Obama on a visit to India announced support for New Delhi’s bid.
But the United States is hardly pressing for an expansion, and showed hesitation in 2005 amid tensions with Germany over the Iraq invasion.
With Britain’s exit from europe, France may be the only EU nation with a Security Council veto.
But France officially backs the bid by the four nations including Germany, in addition to an expanded African presence, and unlike Russia, america and China seeks to limit the usage of the veto to questions involving mass atrocities.
- ‘Best reflection’ -
Leaders from around the world called at the UN General Assembly for a more representative Security Council.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Africa would have to be better represented to be able “to collectively resolve a number of the world’s most protracted conflicts.”
In 2005, African nations adopted a common platform to seek two long term seats on the Security Council but discussions have failed to determine which countries those will be.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco called for a Security Council “that is the best reflection of peoples, nations and continents,” while President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo called for a body that is “more transparent, more democratic and more representative.”
President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, a nation without standing army, said that the top UN body ought to be rechristened the “Human Security Council,” deploring the way the world’s major arms exporters were represented.
The (Human) Security Council must be “capable of overcoming the major internal divisions to interact with one sole voice,” he said.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera similarly said that the Security Council “is no longer giving an answer to the needs and challenges of our time.”
