UNSC expansion must not create “historical injustice”

UNITED NATIONS:

Pakistan has reiterated its opposition to adding new permanent members to the UN Security Council, stressing that any increase in permanent seats would worsen the paralysis of the 15-member body and prevent the majority of small and medium-sized states from serving on it.

“Enlargement of the Security Council should promote ‘fair representation’, not create new historical injustice,” Ambassador Munir Akram told delegates at the deadlocked Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) to reform the council on Thursday.

The Pakistani envoy was participating in a discussion on a proposal called “Model L69” by a group of Asian, African, Latin American, Caribbean and Pacific Island states aimed at restructuring the council.

The group supports the expansion of the council, in both permanent (six additional seats, bringing the total to 11) and non-permanent (five additional seats, bringing the total to 15) categories of members, with fair geographic representation.

The group presented a paper, L69, in 2007–08 that served as the impetus for the IGN process.
“Our fundamental problem with the L69 model is the proposed expansion of permanent seats,” said Ambassador Akram, pointing out that permanent membership was the reason for the fits of paralysis in the Security Council.

“The problem cannot be the solution,” added the Pakistani envoy.

Full-scale negotiations on Security Council reform began at the General Assembly in February 2009 in five key areas — membership categories, the veto issue, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Security Council, and the working methods of the Council and in relation to the General Assembly.

Despite general agreement to expand the council as part of the UN reform process, member states remain divided on the details as diplomats representing different groups push for their respective proposals.

India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — known as the Group of Four — are vying for permanent seats as they seek to expand the council by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.

On the other hand, the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group led by Italy and Pakistan proposed a new category of members—not permanent members—with longer terms and the possibility of re-election.

The Security Council currently consists of five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and 10 non-permanent members who are elected for two years.

Opposing the “L69 Model” which, among other things, seeks more permanent members on the council, Ambassador Akram suggested that any country wishing for a more frequent presence in the UNSC should do so through a democratic process of periodic elections by the General Assembly.

“The model would create more permanent seats (hosted by six states) but create only five non-permanent seats available to the remaining 182 countries not included in the 11 old and new ‘permanent’ members,” he noted.
Noting that one of the elements of Model L69 seeks to remove issues from the UNSC agenda after a certain period of time, Ambassador Akram said this could reward those states that manage to block formal discussions of these issues.

“What needs to be reviewed is whether the dispute/conflict has been resolved or not,” he said. “If it has, the Security Council can decide to remove the item. But, if not, the Security Council should not adopt a resolution or, whenever there is a Council resolution, act under Article 25 to ensure its implementation.’

In conclusion, Ambassador Akram highlighted the UfC proposal, saying it provides the most realistic way to make the Security Council more representative and accountable to the general membership of the United Nations.