UNITED NATIONS: UN Security Council reform is now at the centre of discussions at the General Assembly, and there is some progress in the reform process, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“Before, there was a committee that couldn't even issue papers and the documents would not move from one year to another”, he said on Tuesday at a news conference, referring to the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN).
“Now there is a committee working seriously. So I seem movement”, he said.
Although the IGN has failed to adopt a negotiating text that India has demanded to form the basis for discussion, its co-chairs have prepared “Elements Papers” broadly laying out the positions of various countries on reform, and points of divergence and convergence, and creating a record.
“The Council’s legitimacy, and efficiency is compromised by its current structure", Guterres said.
"The Security Council has a composition that doesn't correspond to the world of today, it corresponds to the world of 1945. And that creates not only a problem of legitimacy, but a problem of efficiency”, he said.
Guterres took some credit for the heightened interest in Council reform that he said “was completely taboo in the past”.
“One thing I can tell you is that I believe I am the first Secretary-General that talks all the time about the need to reform the Security Council”, he said.
One of the factors driving the momentum for reform is Africa’s claims for permanent seats because most of the peacekeeping operations mandated by the Council are in the continent.
“Several countries have recognised, for instance, even the P5 [the five permanent members], that Africa should have the right to have a permanent member”, Guterres said.
Another reform needed, Guterres said, was curbing the veto powers of the permanent members.
“The truth is that this item (Council reform) that was completely taboo in the past is now in the centre of the discussions of the General Assembly”, he said.