The Ministers of the Countries belonging to the “Uniting for Consensus” (UfC) group[1] held a meeting in New York today to assess the state of play of the United Nations Security Council reform process.
The Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) during the 71st UN General Assembly confirmed the existence of areas of convergence as well as the persistence of divergent views on key aspects of the reform, such as categories of membership and the question of the veto.
UfC believes that the IGN is the sole legitimate setting for debate on Security Council reform, in full transparency and in line with General Assembly Decision 62/557, which establishes the membership-driven nature of the IGN for an inclusive and comprehensive reform based on the five key issues.
The UfC Ministers stress that the overall objective of reform of the Security Council should be to make it more democratic, accountable, representative, transparent and effective. The creation of new permanent seats is inconsistent with the achievement of these important goals.
The UfC Ministers therefore call upon all Member States of the UN to engage constructively in seeking a fair and equitable solution that meets the collective interest of all 193 Member States, garnering the widest possible political support from the membership.
Expanding the term of a certain number of non-permanent seats, assigned to regional groups and with the possibility of an immediate re-election, coupled with an increase in other non-permanent seats, provides a workable basis for such a solution. It would satisfy the aspirations of Countries that wish to serve longer in the Council while assuring equal and more opportunities to the entire UN membership to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security.
The UfC Countries reaffirm their full commitment to continued constructive engagement with the President of the General Assembly, the Chair of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations, all Member States and negotiating groups. Our common goal is to find a fair and equitable solution, leading to an expanded Security Council that is more democratic, accountable, representative, transparent and effective.
New York, September 20, 2017
[1] Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain, Turkey.
