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Calls grow to overhaul the Security Council
World leaders used the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22 to renew calls for reforming the Security Council and expanding its permanent membership, arguing that the body has failed to produce meaningful solutions to the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict between the United States and Iran.
The U.N. has 193 member states, but its most powerful body consists of 15 countries. Ten rotating members serve limited terms, while the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain hold permanent seats and can veto resolutions.
The Wall Street Journal reported that this year’s wars have given new momentum to a long-standing effort by some leaders to reduce the five permanent members’ dominance of the international organization.
Turkey and Brazil challenge five-nation dominance
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a system in which the will of more than 190 countries appears subject to the whims of five nations cannot be considered fair or fully credible. He repeated his call to reform the council under the principle that “the world is bigger than five.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said countries were being held hostage by a Security Council that had failed to perform its role or take action. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who is set to leave office at the end of the year, called for a strong and effective institution that reflects today’s global economy and the changing importance of nations rather than the balance of power established 80 years ago.
Permanent members show little appetite for surrendering power
Although most U.N. members support reform, the five permanent members appear unwilling to give up their existing authority. French President Emmanuel Macron, while warning that control of artificial intelligence could become concentrated in a small number of countries, criticized the idea that only the United States and China should make major global decisions.
President Donald Trump focused less on the permanent members’ role and more on defending U.S. policy. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump described the decision to go to war with Iran as unavoidable and part of an effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
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