The formation of the United Nations is said to have a strong historical account. In the aftermath of WWI, it came into existence primarily with the name “League of Nations” with the prime aim of deterring further escalation of conflicts which are precariously attributable to catastrophic human and environmental devastation around the globe.
The allied powers came together with the far-reaching agenda of establishing a global institution which plays a significant role in preventing conflicts from spreading further to regions and aimed to contain the conflicts before becoming unmanageable to control. However, The League of Nations came to be impotent to stop the escalation of wars in the world and consequently, the Second World War broke out.
The League of Nations later came up to become the seed to the foundation of The United Nations which was supposed to be more effective at preventing conflicts around the world. The allied powers of the First and Second World Wars, namely, the USA, United Kingdom, France, Russia China and other signatories had laid a prime foundation for the formation of the grand international institution: The United Nations in 1946.
The United Nations is composed of six principal organs, of which the General Assembly and the Security Council are principal organs. The former is the deliberative body of the UN, featuring representations from each of the member states, while the latter is responsible for maintaining global peace and security.
The Security Council is composed of 15 member states of which five of them are permanent members and the remaining 10 member states, have a non-permanent seat. The permanent member states of the Security Council include only the allied powers which played a significant role in countering the aggression of the central powers during WWI and WWII.
Now here comes a decisive question of why Africa is not represented in the permanent seat of the Security Council. While Africa is a continent with a population size of over 1.4 billion, yet it does not have a permanent seat in the UN’s Security Council. The continent comprising 17% of the world population fails to have a rightful representation in the global institution.
The non-representation of Africa in the United Nations Security Council is unacceptable and unjustifiable by any reasonable measures. Such a controversial scenario makes the United Nations which was primarily instituted for prevailing peace and justice around the world- unjust. The institution which mediates between states for sustainable peace and security in the world is failing to represent the continent which comprises the larger population. The institution which strives for justice has become unjust by filing to represent Africa which is the largest nation in the world.
Africa’s absence in the representation of the Security Council implies its failure to have veto power to the resolutions made on itself. As the resolutions of the permanent member states of the council are binding, the continent becomes the mere recipient of every sort of decision made by the council. Consequently, such illogical and unjustifiable conditions should be unacceptable in the era of social and technological advancement.
It is remembered that His Excellency Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his speech at the African Union’s summit in the past emphasized the imperative importance of the African Union securing a permanent seat in the UN’s Security Council. His Excellency appealed for Africa to gain more hegemonic power at the UN.
Recently on the 79th session of the United Nations’ General Assembly, the Kenyan President His Excellency Samoei Ruto called for the rightful representation of Africa in the Security Council. The president reiterated that the continent’s absence in the permanent membership of the Security Council is outrightly deplorable and unwarrantable. He further questioned in his speech why the largest continent comprising over one-fifth of the world population failed to have a permanent representation in the council. His Excellency Kenyan President Samuel Ruto is quoted as saying the following to the General Assembly:
“We must candidly acknowledge that the international cooperation in its current form has clear limitations. It is constrained by entrenched systems and structures that prevent effective action and meaningful progress. Since the last General Assembly global situation has deteriorated across multiple fronts. Conflicts have deepened, economic disparities have widened, and the climate crisis has intensified.
To address these forms, we must reform the global collaboration mechanisms. Making them much more responsive adaptable and impactful. The existing international Security architecture represented by the UN’s Security Council continues to hamper efforts to maintain international peace and security. The Security Council by all intents and purposes is dysfunctional, undemocratic, non-inclusive, unaccountable, autocratic, abased, and opaque.
An institution that excludes 54 African countries with 1.4 billion people while allowing one nation to veto decisions of the remaining 193 member states in the 21st Century is simply unacceptable. We must urgently seek to make the Security Council representative, inclusive, transparent democratic, effective and accountable. In Africa, we are not advocating reforms and collective actions solely at the UN. We are also in the process of comprehensively reforming the African Union to become fit for fit-for-purpose institution that can effectively represent Africa. Effectively representing African nations globally and deliver prosperity.”
The President in his speech to the General Assembly accentuated the rightful representation of Africa for better security and development. He underscored the importance of immediate reform of the Security Council for a better future for the world. He also outlined that the African Union is striving for better representation of all the African countries in the union to ensure sustainable peace and development in global terms.
In the same session of the General Assembly, Slovenia’s prime minister his excellency Robert Golob, besides explaining the United Nations’ ineffective handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon, underscored the permanent members of the council’s misuse of their veto power under the pretext of national interest and thereby, he emphasized such scenarios in the council should be rectified and even the security council should be restructured being inclusive of the African continent with the context of the world today. Slovenia’s prime Minister is quoted as saying the following about the need to rectify the composition of the Security Council’s permanent member states in alignment with the 21st century;
“To be honest it is the permanent five security council members who bear most responsibility. By misusing veto power and putting national interest first they effectively blocked the working of the UN Security Council. The concerns and pains that we feel for the civilians, the condemnations of the violations of the charter, and the international humanitarian law should not depend on our geographical and physical proximity to the conflict. We should all put common interest first and the world would be a much better place. Having said that let me come to the reform of the Security Council.
Our experience with the Security Council has given us a renewed appreciation for the need to reform the Security Council. We urgently need a true representation of the international community. A council that is fit for the world of today. We need to ensure that the distribution of the seats is fair. The council needs stronger voices of the regions that have been underrepresented such as the African Continent. Reform of the Security Council’s composition needs to be accompanied by the reform of the veto powers. The reality is that we will not be able to eliminate veto power. We could definitely regulate this right of veto power more precisely. The security council also needs to exercise its power with higher ambition when it comes to prevention of conflicts and play a stronger role in peace-building activities that involve all aspects of the UN system.”
The counterpart leaders of Africa and Slovenia have overtly out cried the urgent representation of African countries in the Security Council enabling Africa to obtain the position it deserves as it represents a significant number of populations in the world adding that the move should be in context with the advancement of the world.
In conclusion, Africa’s deliberate forfeit of having a permanent position in the Security Council precludes it from having the opportunity of veto power. Its absence in the veto power position makes it forcibly concede to any form of resolutions the permanent members unanimously pass on. Hence, Africa should strive to impact reformation in the council to acquire its due position.
Wondwossen Alemayehu is a former university lecturer currently working for the education office. He can be reached at wondwossen.a.haile@gmail.com
BY WONDWOSSEN ALEMAYEHU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 15 OCTOBER 2024
