Security Council Reform

By Jakob S. Lund, 30 september 2009

During the opening week of the 64th General Assembly, several of the world’s leaders raised the issue of Security Council reform but few said anything new. Seen through the most positive lens, the fact that so many countries spent some of their 15 allotted minutes to bring up SC reform could signify a readiness to tackle the issue over the coming year.

Due to President Barack Obama’s first appearance at the UN General Assembly, the opening session of the 64th GA was widely anticipated. It was, however, another leader addressing the GA for the first time, Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi, who ended up taking most of the attention with his 94-minutes deliberation on issues ranging from the murder of John F. Kennedy to UN Security Council Reform. While Obama was rather vague on the matter of reform, stating only that developed nations must be ready to “give more nations a greater voice” in international institutions, Gaddafi was very concrete in his discontent with the composition of the Security Council – or as he dubbed it: the Terror Council. The Council holds no legitimacy, Gaddafi said, as long as only a handful of powerful countries hold permanent seats. He proposed that Africa must be given permanent seats in the Council and further that the Council should consist of 190 members. It was not clear whether this number was a close estimate of the total number of UN Members States (192) or whether Gaddafi intends to keep out two Member States of the envisioned reformed Council.

Permanence: a matter of fairness

While some dismissed Gaddafi’s comments as rambling, others made points similar to his. French President Sarkozy said that: “it is unacceptable that Africa does not have a permanent member on the Security Council.” Much in line with what the G4 has proposed, Sarkozy specifically mentioned Brazil, Japan, Germany and India as candidates for a reformed Council. Bhutan and Barbados, among others, echoed this support for permanent membership for the G4 and two African nations. While not pointing to any specific countries, Slovenia stated that there is “broad support” for expansion in both permanent and non-permanent membership. The President of the 64th General Assembly, H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, joined his President in pointing to the lack of permanent seats for any of the 53 nations of Africa.

Silvio Berlusconi, President of Italy, reiterated Italy’s stance that adding additional permanent seats to the Council’s membership would: “simply increase the sense of exclusion of all the countries that contribute actively to international peace and security and of the new countries that in the future could assume growing responsibilities.”

Bosnia, Croatia, Poland and other East European states called for reform of the Council and voiced their opinion that there should be at least one more non-permanent seat for Eastern European countries in a reformed Council. Bosnia asked the GA to take into consideration the number of countries from the eastern European group, which has “more than doubled” in the last two decades.

Needed: Action

In line with the general debate on Security Council Reform, some countries focused their remarks regarding SC reform on working methods and relations between the GA and the SC. Algeria may have been the most ambitious of the proponents of more comprehensive reform efforts with its suggestion of revitalizing the GA, reforming the Security Council, reinforcing the role of ECOSOC, integrating the aspirations of developing countries, and seeking new working methods “more suited to today’s needs.” Others, although less optimistic, echoed the call for revitalization of the GA (Mozambique and others) and a closer relationship between the Council and all Member States (Mexico).

Though Security Council reform was mentioned by several of the speakers, many were less than specific as to how the reform process should go forward. Several speakers urged the GA to act swiftly on reform issues. Bosnia stated that: “further delay in the reform of the Security Council will undermine the credibility of this body,” while Finland stated that it: “actively participates in the efforts to make [the Council] more representative and efficient.” Russia’s President Medvedev commented that reform of the Council is necessary to increase its efficiency, adding that reform is "an important step to renew the organization."

Very Little News Under the New York Sun

Those who have been following the deliberations on Security Council reform heard very little that had not been expressed ad nauseam in earlier deliberations. The delineations between the different groupings in the GA are well-known and the challenge of this year’s GA will be to untangle the most inflexible of these. As described in an earlier analysis (link), the 63rd GA ended with an agreement to continue intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform, and Member States’ willingness to reach a solution will be tested when these negotiations start over the next months. Those who wish to see the reform of the Council move forward during this 64th GA may, if nothing else, be content with the number of Member States that brought up SC reform during their allotted 15 minutes.