Distinguished Co-Chairs,
I will make this intervention on behalf of Uniting for Consensus (UfC), a diverse, cross-regional, pro-reform, Group that comprises Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain, Türkiye and my own country, Italy.
I wish to thank you for convening this fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform for this 79th Session of the General Assembly and I wish to thank the Permanent Representative of Guyana for presenting on behalf of (CARICOM this model for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
We would also like to take this occasion to acknowledge the constructive contribution of Guyana as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2024-2025 period. Your participation has so far reflected a genuine commitment to multilateralism and to international peace and security and proved the invaluable role of elected members on the Council.
The CARICOM model represents a valuable effort to address the long-standing issues surrounding the Council’s composition and functioning. While we recognize the group for presenting a proposal addressing the five clusters of decision 62/557, UfC would like to make the following comments, which reflect UfC’s broader perspective on the matter of reform of the Security Council:
- First, while the proposal offers a framework for reform, it does not fully engage with many of the critical issues that have been raised by Member States over the years. It may therefore not fully capture the complexity of the challenges facing the Security Council today.
Notably, we believe that the proposed model can benefit from greater clarity regarding the format of the Security Council itself. The suggestion of expanding the size of the Council, without specifying the number of new permanent or non-permanent members, introduces a wide range of possibilities that makes it difficult to form a position on the proposal or the effectiveness and practicality of such an expansion.
- On categories of membership, we take this opportunity to reiterate that Uniting for Consensus does not support the creation of new permanent seats which would be, in our view, incompatible with the objective of enhancing the Council’s representation, accountability and effectiveness. However, Uniting for Consensus supports expanding exclusively the non-permanent members and extending the length of terms, which would increase the representation of all regions.
- On the veto, we welcome CARICOM’s proposal that until the veto is abolished, efforts must be made to limit its use. However, we do not agree with the notion that the veto, if retained, must be extended to new permanent members, as this would not address the core issue of ensuring the Security Council is more representative and accountable to all Member States. Extending the veto to new members would only perpetuate the status quo and limit the ability of the Council to function effectively and equitably. The veto prerogative constitutes a significant portion of why Council reform is deemed necessary today. New vetoes would also make any future reform of the Council even more difficult.
- We are pleased to see another emerging convergence on UfC’s proposal for a new non-permanent seat to be allocated exclusively to the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Small States. UfC supports the idea of reserving a seat for this category of Member States, to account for any potential imbalances that might affect these countries particularly. We would welcome hearing from CARICOM if in their model, as UfC has proposed, SIDS would also be able to run for either the seat reserved to the cross-regional grouping or for a seat within their regional group. We also believe that the model would be more representative if it addresses the issue of representation of other cross-regional groups, bearing in mind that the General Assembly recently agreed to continue discussions on the issue of representation of cross-regional groups, and identified Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Arab States and others, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
- The accountability mechanisms of the reformed Security Council should be robust and meaningful. We suggest that having the Council “give an account of its administration” only through reports to the General Assembly, based on Articles 15 and 24 of the Charter, is insufficient. The process of election and renewal of the Council’s membership provides a far more effective mechanism to ensure that the Council remains accountable to all Member States.
- On the proposal for a review of any decision taken to reform the Security Council within 10-15 years of the adoption and ratification of such a decision, we urge caution against piecemeal approaches and believe that the reform of the Security Council should be undertaken comprehensively and in a single, unified process, and achieved through the IGN.
- Finally, while we appreciate the recognition that reform must enjoy the broadest possible support from the Member States, we emphasize that this support must be achieved through the IGN, in accordance with General Assembly decision 62/557 and other relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly. We would therefore suggest to reference not only Resolution 53/30 of November 1998, which determines not to adopt any resolution or decision on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters, without the affirmative vote of at least two thirds of the Members of the General Assembly, but also subsequent Decision 62/557 of 2008, which stresses the importance of seeking a solution that can gather the widest possible political acceptance among Member States. We firmly believe that this should remain a central guiding principle as we move forward.
In conclusion, dear Chair, dear colleagues, we very much appreciate CARICOM’s efforts and commitment to this exercise. Like other proposals submitted, we believe it contributes to our discussions and paving the way for a meaningful reform of the Security Council based on the principles of transparency, effectiveness, democracy, accountability, and representativeness.
We encourage more Member States and negotiating groups to put forward reform models to be discussed in the IGN, to build greater convergence and work toward a unified model that will make the Security Council fit for constantly evolving global realities.
I thank you.
