UN Reform

UNITED NATIONS

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE REFORM OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL 3/2

(proposed by Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, Canada, Korea, Pakistan, Austria, Mexico, Croatia, Columbia, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Bulgaria,Venezuela, Lithuania, Nicaragua)

General Assembly,

Recognizing the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security under the Charter of the United Nations,

Observing that today the international community is both more crowded and more complex and that there are nearly four times as many members of the United Nations as there was at the time of its founding,

Aware of the enormous changes that have taken place on the international arena since the founding of the United Nations,

Keeping in mind that in the world of today our opportunities and challenges are increasingly global, and that they demand global solutions,

Deeply convinced that the United Nations Security Council must modernise and do so urgently to be able to deal better with the complexities of international life,

Convinced that an enlargement of the Security Council is unavoidable if the Council is to be able to effectively meet the challenges of today's international relations,

Emphasizing that the responsibility of the Security Council is global and that its actions concerns all regions and countries of the world,

Fully believing that the representation in the membership of the Council should be geographical, enhancing all major regions,

Bearing in mind the crucial role of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, having to stand for election and thereby providing a particular measure of accountability and credibility,

Seeking to make the Security Council a more transparent and open institution to further the legitimacy of its work and decisions,

Deeply concerned about the inconsistency of the right to a veto by non-elected members of the Security Council in a world in which the principles of democracy are becoming more and more prevailing,

Saddened by the humanitarian consequences that have followed the Security Councils inability to act immediately in urgent situations due to the utilization of, or the possibility of a veto,

Noting that the effectiveness, credibility and legitimacy of the work of the Security Council depend on its representative character, on its ability to discharge its primary responsibility and in carrying out its duties on behalf of all members,

1. Advocates that permanent members remain the five indicated by article 23 of the Charter and that the current 10 non-permanent seats remain unchanged,

2. Further recommends the establishment of 10 new seats with frequent rotation and without veto power, subdivided among the geographic grounds:

3 to Asia and Oceania
2 to Latin America and the Caribbean
3 to Africa
1 to Europe
1 to Middle East

3. Further proclaims that on each of these 10 new seats 3 states would rotate, for a total of 30 States. Each of these States would serve one two-year term on the Council every six years. Furthermore, none of the 30 States could compete for the 10 current non-permanent seats.

4. Further recommends:

a) that all 30 States of the rotating membership would be chosen on the basis of objective criteria defined by the General Assembly, beginning with the ones listed in article 23 of the Charter, their contribution to the maintenance of international peace, contributions to other purposes of the Organisation, equitable geographic distribution,
b) all 30 States, due to rotate regularly, would be subject to regular election in the General Assembly, they would need to obtain two-thirds of the votes of General Assembly. Should the candidate not obtain needed votes by the third ballot, other countries from the same geographic group could then run according to the same procedure,
c) the list of the rotating states would be subject to periodical revisions every 10 years. This control mechanism would allow the General Assembly to periodically review the list and possibly replace countries with others that meet the proper requirements.

5. Reminds the Members States of the necessity of harmony in the number of the membership of permanent and non-permanent members, to assure the balance in the Council between the powerful and less powerful, between the non-elected and elected, and between the big and small, developed and developing.

6. Recognizing that an overwhelming number of Member States consider the use of veto in the Security Council anarchronistic and undemocratic, and have called for its elimination, requests:

a) the limitation on the use of veto, by urging the original permanent members of the Security
Council to limit the exercise of their veto power to actions taken under Chapter VII of the Charter;the country which will use the veto power (within the limitations) must give formal explanation (in words and in writing) on which grounds the veto has been used,
b) that the new rotating members of the Security Council shall have no provision of the veto power,

7. Recommends the following measures to enhance transparency and to strengthen the support and understanding of its decisions by the whole membership of the Organization:

a) regular monthly consultations between the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council, together with the Chairs of the Main Committees of the General Assembly and members of the Security Council,
b) the conduct of regular and substantive briefings by the President of the Security Council on informal consultations of the Security Council for all Member States,
c) the need for periodical review in order to evaluate the "performance" of the new members of the Security Council every 10 years; this review should appear automatically on the agenda of the General Assembly,
d) the invitation of non-members of the Security Council to participate in the informal consultations of the Security Council under Article 31 and 32 of the Charter,
e) the conduct of consultations between the members of the Security Council and the countries most affected by a decision of the Council,
f) giving the opportunity to concerned states and organizations to present their views during closed meetings of the Sanctions Committees on issues arising from implementation of sanctions regimes imposed by the Security Council,
g) improved consultations with troop-contributing countries and those directly involved in or affected by a dispute.

8. Further recommends the inclusion of a provision to Article 24 that the Security Council shall inform and consult all interested Member States on its work. Improved consultations between the Security Council and the general membership would give legitimacy to the Security Council's claim to act on behalf of the Organization as whole.