Representatives voting in favor of a resolution raise their hands during a UN Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Friday, February 25, 2022, at UN headquarters. Two days after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a majority of UN Security Council members voted to demand that Moscow withdraw. But one thing stood in his way: a veto from Russia itself.
John Minchillo/AP
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John Minchillo/AP
Representatives voting in favor of a resolution raise their hands during a UN Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Friday, February 25, 2022, at UN headquarters. Two days after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a majority of UN Security Council members voted to demand that Moscow withdraw. But one thing stood in his way: a veto from Russia itself.
John Minchillo/AP
UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly took a first step Tuesday to bring the five permanent members of the Security Council into the spotlight whenever they use their veto power, a move highlighted by Russia’s veto threat. that paralyzes any action of the most powerful body of the UN on the subject. Ukrainian war.
A resolution adopted by consensus in the 193-member assembly to a burst of applause does not eliminate or limit the veto power of the permanent members of the Security Council: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
But for the first time, the General Assembly will be required to “conduct a debate on the situation” that triggers a veto in the Security Council within 10 working days. Preference in the list of speakers will be given to the permanent member who exercises a veto.
The assembly is not required to take or consider any action under the resolution, but the discussion could embarrass vetoes and leave many other countries heard.
Liechtenstein’s ambassador to the UN, Christian Wenaweser, who spearheaded the resolution, which was in the works for two years, said its goal is “to promote the voice of all of us who do not have the right to veto and who are not in the Council of Security”. , in matters of international peace and security because they affect us all”.
Introducing the resolution to the assembly on Tuesday morning, Wenaweser alluded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the failure of the Security Council to take action: “There has never been a greater need for effective multilateralism than today, and there has never been a greater need for innovation to ensure the central role and voice of the United Nations”.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard called the resolution “a first step to increase the cost of using the veto, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.”
The resolution had around 80 co-sponsors, including the United States and the United Kingdom. But he also had detractors even though they did not break the consensus, including Russia and its close ally Belarus, as well as current elected council members Gabon and India and other UN member nations.
The reform of the Security Council, which according to the Charter of the United Nations is in charge of guaranteeing international peace and security, has been debated for more than 40 years and was front and center of the comments of the countries before and after of the adoption of the resolution.
There is broad support for revamping the council to reflect current global realities rather than the international power structure after World War II in 1945, when the United Nations was created. But rivalries between countries and regions have blocked all attempts to agree on the size, composition and powers of an enlarged council.
The veto power of the five permanent members is a component of the reform agenda.
More than 200 different Security Council proposals have been vetoed, some by multiple countries, according to UN records. Topics range from the Korean War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to climate change, reports on weapons stockpiles and the governance of part of the Indian Ocean nation, Comoros.
The former Soviet Union and its successor, Russia, have cast the most vetoes, followed by the United States. Far fewer have been issued by Britain, China and France.
US Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills said after the vote that the US is “extraordinarily concerned about Russia’s pattern of abusing its veto power over the past decade,” citing resolutions it vetoed ranging from taking Syria to the International Criminal Court, protest Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and demand that Russia immediately stop its invasion of Ukraine.
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward, whose country has not used its veto since 1989, called the resolution “a step in the quest to uphold international peace and security”, adding: “We prefer to win votes rather than use our veto to block council action.
France did not co-sponsor the resolution and its deputy ambassador, Nathalie Broadhurst, said she does not believe the General Assembly can become a judge of the Security Council.
He said that is why France and Mexico have been promoting an initiative on the veto for several years. It would require the council’s five permanent members to voluntarily and collectively suspend the use of the veto in the event of mass atrocities. Saying the proposal has the support of 105 countries, he urged “all states, in particular the other four permanent members, to join.”
Russia’s deputy ambassador, Gennady Kuzmin, called the veto “a cornerstone of the UN architecture” and warned that “without it, the Security Council would become a body that passes questionable decisions imposed by the nominal majority whose implementation would hardly be possible”. possible.”
Chinese Councilor Jiang Hua said that the automatic activation of the resolution of a General Assembly meeting on the vetoed resolution “in practice is likely to cause confusion and inconsistency in the procedures.”
India and Brazil, which have sought permanent seats on the Security Council for many years and are currently serving two-year terms on the body, complained that the resolution does not address the real issue of reforming the council.
“A representative council that reflects the current international system is critical to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the future of this organization.” The Brazilian ambassador, Ronaldo Costa Filho, told the members.
India’s deputy ambassador, Ravindra Raguttahalli, said “a vocal minority of critics” who support the status quo in the Security Council have taken reform efforts hostage. He said the veto resolution ignores the root cause of the problem: restructuring the council to reflect “contemporary geopolitical realities.”
Ambassador Michel Biang of Gabon, who is also an elected member of the council, said that Africa has the largest number of UN peacekeeping missions, but does not have a permanent seat on the Security Council.
Passing the resolution “will not change the scope of the veto, nor its substance,” Biang said.
Reference-www.npr.org