In the next article in the series, an alternative vision of the Council will be articulated based on a new set of working methods.Peter Nadin is an independent researcher based in Sydney, Australia. The paper explores how the Security Council has reacted to the changing global order in terms of institutional reform and its working methods. In this regard, IBSA countries remain concerned with the slow pace of Inter-Governmental negotiations on UN Security Council reform, which have not produced tangible progress in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He welcomed the decision to move forward with intergovernmental negotiations, adding that it will build on the series of informal meetings held during the Assembly’s seventy-third session. Alongside the P5, 10 countries representing different regions of the world sit on the council for two-year terms.
Though geopolitics have changed drastically, the Council has changed relatively little since 1945, when wartime victors crafted a Charter in their interest and awarded "permanent" veto-wielding Council seats for themselves.
He underscored the importance of reaching a compromise that could be acceptable to all Member States. Despite holding several meetings each spring in which member states discussed topics that included categories of membership, proposals for enlargement of the Council, and the role of the chair in this process, no text obtained the support of all member states.Copyright © 2020 Security Council ReportA further challenge in this lengthy informal process has been the lack of official records of the IGN meetings.
While the intergovernmental negotiations process certainly has inherent flaws, only increased engagement will create the necessary conditions to build convergence among all States. Yet, established and rising powers are not disengaging. The expectation was that permanent members would contribute more to the maintenance of international peace and security.It is clear that aspirant countries understand the value of permanent membership, each has an interest in their own election and each uses the rhetoric of representativeness in support of their claims.
This is the third article in a series aimed at providing readers with an understanding of the UN Security Council. In September, the Security Council will receive a comprehensive briefing on the reform of UN peacekeeping from the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, which will be followed by a debate. 28 May 2019. It included submissions from 120 member states on their positions and six letters from groups and member states that did not want their proposals in the text itself due to fundamental differences of approach. Any change in the Charter, which would be needed to change the membership structure, must be ratified by the P5, several of whom have publicly supported some reform proposals but who have not had to take a decision because of the lack of a shared position among the wider membership.In 2015, Jamaica as chair of the IGN presented the “Framework Document” outlining the pillars of the proposed reform. One view is that the principles of reform must be fully accepted, creating a negotiating text.
Formal discussion about reforming the Security Council … In 1963, the way forward looked clear, and non-permanent Council seats could be added. It is “absolutely untenable” that a permanent member has a privilege to exercise veto right during consideration of situations in which that member is directly involved. The IGN tends to hold its meetings during the spring segment of each session, between approximately February and May.
This is the third article in a series aimed at providing readers with an understanding of the UN Security Council. Another view is that this process should follow the practice of other UN processes, in which a negotiating text is used to reach compromise on different positions.Obviously, the support of the Security Council’s permanent members (P5) will ultimately be required for Security Council reform.
More broadly, no tangible progress has been made in a decade, as the process has yet to fulfill its goal to starting real negotiations.