UNITED NATIONS, April 21: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram termed new proposals to expand the 15-member UN Security Council as a step in the right direction.
In an interview with Dawn on Saturday following the unveiling of the report of the UN General Assembly's president, which seeks to temporarily enlarge the council while shelving the last plan, Mr Akram noted that the panel members who had prepared the report ‘excluded the possibility of new permanent members’.
Insisting that he would have to study the report in detail before making any substantive statement, Mr Akram said: “The report is notable in suggesting the way forward.”
Although a vast majority of U.N. members believe the 15-member Council is unrepresentative, dominated by big powers, a UN General Assembly report on Friday acknowledged that rivalries on who should have a seat have stymied solutions for decades.Pakistan and Italy led the Uniting for Consensus group opposed any expansion in the permanent slot.
Instead they suggested that the non-permanent membership be expanded thereby giving most of 192 members of the UN General Assembly a chance to serve on the elite group of decision makers.
The new report was requested by the 192-member Assembly, which assigned five “facilitators”, the ambassadors of Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Tunisia, who drew up proposals after three months of consultations.
Among the panel’s recommendations were a series of transitional arrangements, which would be reviewed periodically. This could include more temporary seats, semi-permanent seats and other variations short of a permanent set-up.
Another group of medium-sized countries, including Pakistan and Italy, have advocated an additional 10 non-permanent seats for various terms.
But unlike other UN reforms, compromise was nearly impossible as seats on the council meant winners and losers, with each candidate having drawn enough opposition to prevent any plan from gaining a two-thirds vote in the Assembly.
The last step in the process is a UN Charter change, which must be approved by national legislatures, and here the current five permanent members have veto power.
The United States has said it would go for ‘two or so’ more permanent members, without veto power, for a total of five or six additional seats. Specifically it supported the Japanese bid for the permanent seat.
“A significant number of member states tend to agree that their ideal solution may not be possible at this stage, and believe that it may be more reasonable to consider the best possible solution for now,” the report said.
The report observed that expansion of the council needs to be based on a country’s contribution to peace and security as well as an equitable geographical distribution.
