UNITED NATIONS member states yesterday took a new step towards reforming the body’s powerful security council but diplomats in New York cautioned that a three-decade-old reform debate is far from over.
The 192 countries represented in the UN’s general assembly held informal talks yesterday to launch negotiations about expanding the 15-member security council to reflect geopolitical changes since the body was established after the end of the second World War.
Diplomats hailed the move from consultations to negotiations as important, but acknowledged deep differences over how the new security council should look.
“This is a historic day,” said Afghanistan’s UN ambassador Zahir Tanin, who will chair the negotiations. “Things are going to be different this time.”
The council has 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms and five permanent members with veto power – the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain.
Most member states agree on the need to expand the council to reflect the rise of countries such as India and Brazil, and the economic importance of Germany and Japan, and to give the body a better regional balance.
In 2005, the general assembly failed to agree on reform as three main groups pushed rival plans to expand the security council.
The Group of Four – Brazil, Germany, India and Japan – want to expand the council’s membership to 25, with the creation of six new permanent seats without veto power for at least 15 years, and four new non-permanent seats.
“Uniting for Consensus” – a group led by Italy and Pakistan – also wants to expand the council to 25 but with 10 new non-permanent members and no new permanent members. The African Group wants to expand the council to 26 – with seven new non-permanent seats and two permanent, veto-holding seats reserved for African countries.
Ireland is not aligned with any of the rival reform plans, although the Government believes any increase in the size of the security council should be regionally balanced and not reduce the chance of smaller countries to win a non-permanent place on the council.
Ireland, which favours abolishing the veto power of the current five permanent members of the council, opposes any new permanent members being given the power of veto.
The new US administration has signalled a warmer embrace of the UN, but Washington has yet to indicate where it stands on reforming the security council.
The move towards formal negotiations follows the conclusion after 16 years of an Open-Ended Working Group on security council reform, and diplomats warned yesterday against expectations of a swift agreement.
Germany’s UN ambassador, Thomas Matussek, warned, however, further delays in reform could undermine the UN’s authority to deal with global challenges: “If this drags on for more and more, the focus will shift to groups like G8, G20, what have you, and that will really weaken the institution, and all of us.”
At a security council debate on East Timor yesterday, Irish Ambassador Paul Kavanagh noted Dame Nuala O’Loan is heading the Government’s new conflict-resolution initiative to the country, which voted to become independent in 1999. “My Government’s conflict-resolution initiative has a specific focus on lesson-sharing from the Northern Ireland peace process,” he said. “The experiences and insights brought to bear by Special Envoy O’Loan, drawn from her former role as Northern Ireland’s first Police Ombudsman during a critical transition period, are a particularly valuable asset regarding . . . Timor-Leste’s own transition to the full resumption of policing powers.”