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Reform of the United Nations Security Council

Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses five key issues: categories of membership, the question of the veto held by the five permanent members, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and the Security Council-General Assembly relationship. The Member States, regional groups and other Member State interest groupings developed different positions and proposals on how to move forward on this contested issue.[1]

Any reform of the Security Council would require the agreement of at least two-thirds of UN member states in a vote in the General Assembly and must be ratified by two-thirds of Member States. All of the permanent members of the UNSC (which have veto rights) must also agree.[2]


According to critics, the five permanent member states, France, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China, have abused their power by vetoing resolutions that could benefit member states but go against political views of the P5 (permanent five member states). The main argument is that it is undemocratic and the power is imbalanced to the permanent member states, countries picked at the end of World War II during the creation of the UN in 1945.[3]

General Assembly Task Force[edit]

The General Assembly Task Force on Security Council Reform[13] has delivered a report (on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council) recommending a compromise solution for entering intergovernmental negotiations on reform.[14]


The report builds on existing transitional/intermediary approaches to suggest a "timeline perspective". The "timeline perspective" suggests that Member States begin by identifying the negotiables to be included in short-term intergovernmental negotiations. Crucial to the "timeline perspective" is the scheduling of a mandatory review conference—a forum for discussing changes to any reforms achieved in the near-term, and for revisiting negotiables that cannot be agreed upon now.[15]

Plan A calls for creating six new permanent members, plus three new nonpermanent members for a total of 24 seats in the council.

[18]

Plan B calls for creating eight new seats in a new class of members, who would serve for four years, subject to renewal, plus one nonpermanent seat, also for a total of 24.

Overall positions on reforming the Security Council[edit]

Brazil[edit]

As stated by then President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the General Debate of the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly:[191]

Banerjee, Ajit M.; Sharma, Murari R. (2007). Reinventing the United Nations. Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.  978-8120332829.

ISBN

Bardo Fassbender, UN Security Council Reform and the Right of Veto: A Constitutional Perspective, Kluwer Law International, The Hague / London / Boston, 1998.  90-411-0592-1.

ISBN

Bardo Fassbender, 'Pressure for Security Council Reform', in: David M. Malone (ed.), The UN Security Council: From the Cold War to the 21st Century, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, Colorado, and London, 2004, pp. 341–355.

Bardo Fassbender, 'The Security Council: Progress is Possible but Unlikely', in: Antonio Cassese (ed.), Realizing Utopia: The Future of International Law, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 52–60.

Drifte, R. (1999). Japan's Quest for a Permanent Security-Council Seat: A Matter of Pride or Justice?. Palgrave Macmillan.  978-0333699386.

ISBN

The Voting Procedure in the United Nations Security Council, 1991, ISBN 3-900704-10-4

Hans Köchler

The United Nations and International Democracy. The Quest for UN Reform, 1997, ISBN 3-900704-16-3

Hans Köchler

Hassler, Sabine (2012). Reforming the UN Security Council Membership: The illusion of representativeness. Routledge.  978-0415505901.

ISBN

McDonald, Kara C.; Patrick, Stewart M.: , Council on Foreign Relations, 2010.

UN Security Council Enlargement and U.S. Interests

Malone, D & Mahbubani, K: , UN World Chronicle, 30 March 2004.

"The UN Security Council – from the Cold War to the 21st Century"

Nadin, Peter (2016). UN Security Council Reform (Global Institutions). Routledge.  978-1138920224.

ISBN

Runjic, Ljubo, , Brazilian Journal of International Law, v. 14, n. 2, 2017.

Reform of the United Nations Security Council: The Emperor Has No Clothes

(in French)

The different projects of reform (G4, Africa Union, United for consensus; 2006)

—Independent policy research organization offering documentation and in-depth analysis on ongoing reform processes

Center for UN Reform