Pakistan rejects new permanent seats in UN Security Council reform push

• Permanent representative Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad warns expansion of permanent membership will deepen dysfunction

• Says new permanency violates sovereign equality principle, backing elected, non-permanent seats under ‘Reform for All’ vision

 UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Friday reaffirmed its firm opposition to the addition of new permanent members to the United Nations Security Council, warning that such a move would further deepen dysfunction in the 15-member body and undermine the principle of sovereign equality.

Speaking during a resumed session of the long-running Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, said the push for individual permanent membership runs counter to the very principles underpinning the reform process.

As a member of the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said Pakistan supports the expansion of only non-permanent, elected seats to strengthen democratic representation and uphold the principle of “Reform for All – Privilege for None.”

Full-scale negotiations on reforming the United Nations Security Council began in the General Assembly in February 2009, focusing on five core areas: categories of membership, the veto question, regional representation, the size of an expanded Council, and its working methods and relationship with the General Assembly.

Progress on restructuring the Council remains stalled as the G-4 countries—India, Brazil, Germany and Japan—continue to seek permanent seats, while the Italy–Pakistan-led UfC group opposes the creation of any new permanent members, arguing that it would generate “new centres of privilege.”

As a compromise, UfC has proposed a new category of members—distinct from permanent membership—with longer terms and the possibility of re-election.

The Security Council currently comprises five permanent members—Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States—and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. The IGN framework aims to make the Council more representative, effective and accountable.

In his remarks, Ambassador Asim Ahmad stressed that campaigns for individual permanent membership cannot form the basis of reform governed by agreed principles. He noted that an overwhelming majority of UN member states recognise that permanent membership and the veto lie at the heart of the Council’s repeated paralysis and inaction.

“This is not a peripheral concern; it is the central fault line that undermines the Council’s credibility and effectiveness,” he said.

“At a time when the multilateral system is under extreme stress and calls are growing for a UN that is fit for purpose, demands for special privileges must have no place in these discussions,” the envoy added.

Reiterating Pakistan’s “consistent” stance, he said new permanent members would not dilute the disproportionate influence of the existing permanent members but would instead risk entrenching and expanding it.

“Two wrongs cannot make a right, and a larger oligarchy is no antidote to an elite power club,” he remarked, adding that even an expanded circle of permanence would remain closed. “It is no surprise that some of the P-5 are content with expanding this club, largely to safeguard their own outdated status in today’s Council.”

Pakistan, he said, believes the most effective way to balance the unequal power of the five permanent members is through a more democratic and accountable approach, including a meaningful increase in elected, non-permanent members. This, he explained, would shift the internal balance of an enlarged Council towards the wider membership and ensure that the majority required for adopting resolutions rests primarily with elected members—enhancing transparency, inclusivity and accountability while preserving sovereign equality.

In this context, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said Pakistan fully understands and respects Africa’s demand for permanent seats, noting that it is articulated on behalf of the entire continent and is therefore fundamentally different from divisive proposals seeking permanent membership for individual states.

“Any viable concept must ensure genuine rotation and fair regional representation,” he said, underscoring the need to address the concerns of under-represented regions and to accommodate sub-regional and cross-regional groupings, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the OIC, as envisaged in the UN’s Pact for the Future.

“Flexibility is the key word,” he observed, referring to the reform debate. “We hear it often, yet there are those who remain fixated. They call for negotiations but refuse to move. Convergences necessary for any consolidated model simply cannot be achieved without flexibility.”