UNSC reform now at centre of UNGA discussions: Guterres

United Nations, Sep 17 (IANS) UN Security Council reform is now at the centre of discussions at the General Assembly, and there is some progress in the reform process, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“Before, there was a committee that couldn't even issue papers and the documents would not move from one year to another”, he said on Tuesday at a news conference, referring to the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN).

“Now there is a committee working seriously. So I seem movement”, he said.

Although the IGN has failed to adopt a negotiating text that India has demanded to form the basis for discussion, its co-chairs have prepared “Elements Papers” broadly laying out the positions of various countries on reform, and points of divergence and convergence, and creating a record.

“The Council’s legitimacy, and efficiency is compromised by its current structure", Guterres said.

"The Security Council has a composition that doesn't correspond to the world of today, it corresponds to the world of 1945. And that creates not only a problem of legitimacy, but a problem of efficiency”, he said.

Guterres took some credit for the heightened interest in Council reform that he said “was completely taboo in the past”.

“One thing I can tell you is that I believe I am the first Secretary-General that talks all the time about the need to reform the Security Council”, he said.

One of the factors driving the momentum for reform is Africa’s claims for permanent seats because most of the peacekeeping operations mandated by the Council are in the continent.

“Several countries have recognised, for instance, even the P5 [the five permanent members], that Africa should have the right to have a permanent member”, Guterres said.

Another reform needed, Guterres said, was curbing the veto powers of the permanent members.

“The truth is that this item (Council reform) that was completely taboo in the past is now in the centre of the discussions of the General Assembly”, he said.

“There were proposals from, namely, by France and UK, limiting the right of veto, especially in situation where we have massive violation of human rights or dramatic cases of this kind, and I see with sympathy that proposal “, he said.

He blamed the paralysis of the Council caused by geopolitics and permanent members acting with impunity for the failure of the UN to resolve many conflicts.

“The UN is a Security Council, and the geopolitical divides have paralysed Security Council. And it is the Security Council that has the primary responsibility to preserve peace and security in the world”, he said.

The “paralysis of the Security Council is a source of impunity that undermines our work, but that needs to be clarified as what it is”, he said. “It is not the UN. It's the Member States that, divided, do not allow the UN to work properly”.

The Council is unable to act on the two conflicts overwhelming the world because of permanent members’ veto powers.

Russia, a permanent member, is the aggressor in the Ukraine War, and in the Gaza conflict another permanent member, the US, protects Israel.

On his meeting with US President Donald Trump – who is antagonistic towards the UN -- scheduled for next week, Guterres said that they shared the desire for peace mediation.

“We have no carrots and no sticks” to make the protagonists in conflicts make peace, he said.

"Now, the United States has carrots and sticks” and combining it with the UN’s expertise can be effective in bringing peace in some situaitons, he said.

--IANS

al/rs