{"id":21077,"date":"2024-01-31T18:39:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T13:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=21077"},"modified":"2025-09-23T17:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:20:25","slug":"un-security-council-reform-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/31-01-2024\/un-security-council-reform-2","title":{"rendered":"UN Security Council Reform\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Agreements Involving India &amp;\/or Affecting India\u2019s Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>More than three decades after the debate first started over fundamental reforms at the United Nations (UN), the issue appears to have resurfaced afresh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>United Nations Security Council (UNSC)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is <strong>one of the UN\u2019s six main organs<\/strong> and is aimed at maintaining international peace and security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It held its first session on 17th January 1946 in Westminster, London.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Headquarters: New York City.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Membership: <\/strong>The Council is composed of 15 Members:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Permanent members with veto power: <\/strong>China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>More than 50 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UNSC elections:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each year the General Assembly<strong> elects five non-permanent members <\/strong>(out of 10 in total)<strong> for a two-year term<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>10 non-permanent seats<\/strong> are distributed<strong> on a regional basis<\/strong> as follows:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Five for African and Asian States.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One for the Eastern European States.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two for the Latin American and Caribbean States;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two for Western European and other States<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To be elected to the Council, candidate countries<strong> need a two-thirds majority of ballots of the Member States<\/strong> that are present and voting in the Assembly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UNSC elections were traditionally held in the General Assembly hall with each of the 193 member states<strong> casting its vote in a secret ballot<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses five key issues:&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Categories of membership,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The question of the veto held by the five permanent members,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Regional representation,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Security Council-General Assembly relationship.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Need for UN Reforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Non-representative Council membership: <\/strong>When the UN was founded in 1945, the Council consisted of 11 members out of a total UN membership of 51 countries; in other words, some 22% of the member states were on the Security Council.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Today, there are 193 member-states of the UN, and only 15 members of the Council \u2014 fewer than 8%.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>So, many more countries, both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of the membership, do not feel adequately represented on the body.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Continuing privilege: <\/strong>Politically, it is untenable that the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) enjoy their position, and the privilege of a veto over any Council resolution or decision, <strong>merely by virtue of having won the position 76 years ago<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Im-balance of Power: <\/strong>The composition of the Council also gives <strong>undue weightage to the balance of power <\/strong>of <strong>those days<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Europe<\/strong>, for instance, which accounts for barely 5% of the world\u2019s population, still controls 33% of the seats in any given year (and that does not count Russia, another European power).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>More financial contribution of non permanent members: <\/strong>There are countries whose financial contributions to the UN outweigh those of four of the five permanent members.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For example, Japan and Germany have for decades been the second and third largest contributors to the UN budget.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unchecked conflicts: <\/strong>It has been criticised that Conflicts like those in Sudan, Syria, Myanmar go largely unchecked at the UN.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some countries and non-state actors benefit from the conflict economy. They launder money, sell arms, supply fuel and exploit natural resources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Whereas in the past the UN has played an important role in international diplomacy over the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the Middle East.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unable to discharge basic functions: <\/strong>The Security Council cannot discharge its basic function as one of the permanent members of the Security Council attacked its neighbour.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Security Council should be the body to take action against the aggression. But because of the veto power, the Security Council cannot act.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The recent example being Russia\u2019s:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN, attacked Ukraine in February 2022.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Russia has vetoed UNSC resolutions on Ukraine.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Russia also voted against a resolution in the UNGA which called on countries not to recognise the four regions of Ukraine that Russia has claimed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s contribution &amp; representation: <\/strong>Opportunities are also denied to other states such as India, which by its sheer <strong>size of population, share of the world economy, or contributions in kind to the UN<\/strong> (through participation in peacekeeping operations, for example) have helped shape the evolution of world affairs in the seven decades since the organisation was born.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges of UN reforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Demanding reforms is not beneficial for \u2018all\u2019: <\/strong>The reform demanding states perceive that they <strong>deserve a place on the Security Council<\/strong>, and especially the countries which believe<strong> their status in the world<\/strong> ought to be recognised as being in no way inferior to the existing permanent members.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>But, there are several who know they will not benefit from any reform.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For example, <strong>the small countries<\/strong> that make up more than half the UN\u2019s membership accept that reality and are content to compete occasionally for a two-year non-permanent seat on the Council.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Difficulties in bringing amendments: <\/strong>Part of the problem is the bar to amending the UN Charter has been set rather high.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any amendment requires a two-thirds majority of the overall membership, in other words 129 of the 193 states in the General Assembly, and would further have to be ratified by two-thirds of the member states.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The only possibility that has any chance of passing is that will\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Either<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Persuade two-thirds of the UN member-states to support it and not attract the opposition of any of the existing permanent five&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>OR&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even that of a powerful U.S. Senator who could block ratification in Washington.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As the debate keeps going round in circles for decades, gridlock continues in the Security Council.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UN is the only global system we have that brings all countries together on a common platform &amp; we can not afford to let it fade into ineffectiveness and irrelevance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Daily Mains Question<\/strong><br><strong>[Q]<\/strong> The Security Council is clearly ripe for reform to bring it into the second quarter of the 21st century. Analyse.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Daily-Editorial-Analysis-31-01-2024-1.pdf\">Download PDF<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus: GS2\/Agreements Involving India &#038;\/or Affecting India\u2019s Interests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21077"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21103,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21077\/revisions\/21103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}