The General Assembly launched negotiations on Thursday aimed at reforming the powerful UN Security Council after nearly 30 years of efforts mired by national and regional rivalries.
Representatives of the 192 member states met informally behind closed doors to listen to the timetable for talks on five key issues, including the size, composition and power of an expanded council.
“This is a historic day in the United Nations,” Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said. “Finally, today, we are about to enter into the substance of this reform.”
There is widespread support for revamping the UN’s most powerful organ to reflect current global realities rather than the international power structure after World War II when the UN was created. But all previous attempts, starting in 1979, have failed because rivalries between countries and regions blocked agreement on how to expand the council.
The Security Council, which is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, has 15 seats. Ten are filled by non-permanent members elected for two-year terms that come from all regions of the world, and there five permanent members with veto power whose support is essential for any reform to be adopted — the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.
In 2005, world leaders called for the council to be “more broadly representative, efficient and transparent.” The General Assembly’s last session, which ended in September, asked the current session to start intergovernmental negotiations on council reform by next Saturday.
German Ambassador Thomas Matussek, whose country is seeking a permanent seat as a reflection of its economic might, said prospects for compromise “are better than they were before, because against the backdrop of the international financial and economic crisis everybody talks about global governance.”
The question, he said, is whether countries want the world to be run by small groups of economically and politically powerful nations or “by the only legitimate global institution that we have, and that is the UN.”
Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, whose country recently hosted a ministerial meeting of 80 countries to discuss remaking the council, said that “everybody feels the pressure of the international situation — be it in the peace and security [area], be it in the financial aspect.”
But Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui (張業遂) said he viewed the negotiations as a continuation of talks in the assembly’s working group.
“The problems remain,” he said. “We have to see how people present their views in this new forum.”
D’Escoto said the first negotiations on March 4 will tackle the different categories of Security Council membership. That session will be followed by meetings on the veto and regional representation later next month.
The size of an enlarged council and its working methods as well as the relationship between the council and the General Assembly will be up for consideration in April. A second round of negotiations is scheduled for May.
Calling Thursday’s launch of negotiations “a significant event,” British Ambassador John Sawers said “the need for change is great.”
“The current climate of economic instability has highlighted the need for strong, representative and effective international organizations,” he said.
But Sawers cautioned that in undertaking reforms, “we have to ensure that this council remains capable of taking the effective action necessary to confront today’s security challenges.”
US Ambassador Susan Rice echoed this view, saying President Barack Obama’s administration supports council expansion “in a way that will not diminish its effectiveness or its efficiency.”
“We will make a serious, deliberate effort, working with partners and allies, to find a way forward that enhances the ability of the Security Council to carry out its mandate and effectively meet the challenges of the new century,” she said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia