UN: The current make-up of the UN Security Council reflected the world of 1945, when the international organisation was founded, and not the world of the 21st century, former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun told the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin this week.
Mr Panyarachun chaired the UN's High-Level Panel on "Threats, Challenges and Change" which made a series of reform recommendations late last year.
Speaking at an IEA conference on UN reform on Thursday, he said the effectiveness of the council depended on its legitimacy in the eyes of the member states, which were under an obligation to comply with its resolutions.
"So we must reform the council to include member states which contribute the most financially, militarily and diplomatically, and also allow a broader, more representative membership so that the council is seen to be more democratic," Mr Panyarachun said.
However, he warned that council reform would only work if member states "forge a new consensus on security, development and human rights".
The agenda for the special UN summit in September inspired hope that this new consensus could be reached, one in which "the concerns of North, South, East, West, powerful and poor can all be addressed effectively and equitably".
The stage was set for historic decisions, and the September summit would be attended by nearly 180 heads of state and government.
Mr Panyarachun said: "We live in a world unforeseen in 1945, when the UN was formed. Collective security was then considered a question of states, borders and battalions. Today that understanding must be broadened in light of a new constellation of threats, interdependence and expectations of states' responsibilities."
Today's major threats transcended borders.
"We simply cannot afford to choose among the threats we face. In an interdependent world, threats increasingly have a system-wide impact."
