UN Security Council reform ‘absolutely essential’, says Guterres

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has underscored the need to expand UN Security Council membership to curb the impunity of veto-wielding “superpowers”.

Guterres stated this while addressing the press on the final day of his official visit to Japan, which is marking 70 years of cooperation with the UN.

He reiterated his long-standing call to reform outdated international institutions.

“The global problem-solving architecture, in particular, the UN Security Council and global financial institutions, are not as effective as they need to be at this challenging moment,” he said.

The UN Security Council is comprised of five permanent members – China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia, who possess the right of veto.

The Council is also comprised of 10 non-permanent members who are elected for two-year terms and wield no veto.

He stressed that “the most important reform that needs to be established is the reform of the UN Security Council.”

He called for expanding the number of permanent members, noting that only one Asian country is included when the continent contains half the world’s population.

He also expressed concerns that no African or Latin American countries are represented.

“This is a serious problem of legitimacy and of ineffectiveness, and it is absolutely essential to increase the number of Permanent Members and to increase the number of non-Permanent Members.

“This is to make the Security Council correspond to today’s world, to the realities of today’s world,” he said.

Guterres further underlined the need for “a multilateral system that is more fair, more able to continue to defend international law and hold countries accountable to it.”

The UN chief highlighted the importance of partnership in a world “rocked by conflicts, climate chaos and inequality.”

The Secretary-General regretted that mistrust and geopolitical divisions are blocking effective solutions.

“Countries are flouting international law with impunity,” he said.

The UN chief pointed to the behaviour of superpowers that violate international law, that sometimes create conflicts and use their veto power in the Security Council to guarantee their impunity.

According to him, this makes it “very difficult for the Secretariat of the United Nations to be able to contain the dramatic increase in the number of conflicts around the world,” he said.

“(Because) when the bad example comes from superpowers, other middle-sized powers all over the world think that they can do whatever they want, without any punishment,” he said.