Issues of some countries, especially of Ethiopia have been tabled several times on the UN Security Council’s forum mostly related to hydropower dam construction which is not security issue. It is betrayal for sovereign nations’ issues to be treated in the absence of their representatives. Had it not been for the efforts of some balanced member states in the SC, painful decisions would have been passed against Ethiopia.
African, Caribbean and Latin American countries have been repeatedly asking for equivalent representation in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that requires its reform.
The geopolitical realities have changed drastically since the composition of the Security Council was established in 1945 but the council has changed very little. Presently, the SC is the only UN organ whose decisions are legally binding. Yet its very legitimacy, dominated as it is by the five permanent, veto-wielding members who happened to be on the winning side in the Second World War, is increasingly called into question. It is hardly surprising, then, that this anachronistic and insufficiently representative body has been the object of more recommendations for reform than any other UN entity.
SC reform has, in fact, has been under continuous review within the UN General Assembly ever since the GA’s establishment in 1993 of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council.
Africa, home of more than 1.4 billion population, has no even one permanent representative at the Security Council. All the time others have been making decisions on behalf and against its interests. There is zero chance for Africa to oppose imbalanced decisions and sanctions against its member states. Though there are 10 rotating states elected to two-year terms few from Africa, they have no veto-wielding to defend interests of over fifty member states of the continent.
That is why they are asking for permanent representation at the SC. On the 67th Assembly’s General Debate, taking place at UN Headquarters in New York from 20 to 26 September, 2022, for instance, African ministers called for expanding the Security Council to include permanent representation for their continent and stressed the vital role of socio-economic development in ensuring peace.
“The working methods of the Security Council must be revised to ensure democratization, and its membership must be expanded to include new permanent and non-permanent members of the developing world, particularly Africa, the cradle of civilization,” Algeria’s Foreign Minister, Mourad Medelci, said in his remarks to the Assembly’s General Debate.
Truly, it is the time for Africa not to be represented continentally only by one permanent seat, but regionally. Ethiopia is among the leading nations that repeatedly asking for the permanent representation of the continent.
Commendably, US President, Joe Biden also called for reforms to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to make it more inclusive and better equipped to respond to global challenges. He said the number of countries who sit on the 15-member body should be increased.
“We have long supported permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean,” Biden told the General Assembly.
Thus, as America is one of the decision makers and main contributor to the organization, it must walk the talk by taking pragmatic action to reform the SC. Now is the time to reform the Security Council to better serve global population fairly especially, those in the developing world.
The Ethiopian Herald 24 September 2022
