UNITED NATIONS: The General Assembly of the United Nations has decided to continue intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) on expanding the Security Council during its upcoming 78th session.
The decision was made following positive momentum and measurable progress achieved during the current session. The extension aims to enhance transparency, inclusivity, and institutional memory within the reform process.
Csaba Koroi, the president of the 193-member Assembly, expressed satisfaction with the progress made, saying the IGN had engaged in constructive discussions on all five interlinked clusters of issues related to Security Council reform.
Pakistan’s Ambassador Munir Akram echoed Koroi’s assessment, highlighting the broadening areas of convergence and the reduction of divergences.
Full-scale negotiations on Security Council reform began in 2009, focusing on five key areas: categories of membership, the question of veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the council and its relationship with the General Assembly.
While there is general agreement on enlarging the council, member nations remain divided over the details.
The Group of Four (India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan), which seeks permanent seats on the Council, has been unyielding in its push for a 10-seat expansion, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.
Conversely, the Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group opposes additional permanent members and proposes a new category of longer-term non-permanent members with the possibility of re-election.
Currently, the Security Council consists of five permanent members (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States) and ten non-permanent members serving two-year terms.
Ambassador Akram emphasized the UfC’s commitment to reaching an agreement on the principles of reform in all five clusters to lay the groundwork for formulating a comprehensive text that would garner the widest possible acceptance among member states.
Akram underscored the importance of continuing the IGN process in the next session and cautioned against introducing new modalities or precipitate initiatives that could disrupt the reform process. He urged patience, reciprocal flexibility, and mutual accommodation as the key to breathing “new life” into the Security Council reform process.
He also emphasized that Security Council reform should not be used as a pretext for exacerbating global tensions or serving the interests of a few powerful nations.
