Janice R. Andrews
In a historic move, the US has asked that two permanent places on the UN Security Council be set aside for African countries. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, announced this plan on Thursday. It is meant to meet the long-standing call for more Africans to be represented in the group that makes global decisions.
Thomas-Greenfield said that the US wants to make big changes to the Security Council, which hasn’t changed much in decades. Not only does the US want two fixed seats for Africa, but it also wants a new rotating place for small island developing states. The suggested changes would mean a big change in the organization of the Council, which has 15 members right now, with five permanent members (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US) each having the power to veto decisions.
Even though more Africans are wanted to be in the UN, the new permanent places would not have veto power like the current permanent members do. This condition shows that the US does not want to see veto powers grow, as it believes that doing so would make things more difficult in the Council.
People see Washington’s plan as a big step toward fixing a Council that has been attacked for not including everyone. Thomas-Greenfield said during her speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, “For all of these disagreements, there was one thing everyone agreed on: the status quo was just not cutting it and it’s time to make change.”
It will be hard to put these changes into action. If there are changes to the Security Council, they would have to be approved by all five regular members, all of which are nuclear-armed states. The changes would also need to be approved by two-thirds of the 193 UN member states.
The US plan was praised by the UN, and a spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was important. Stephane Dujarric said, “The announcement is important and welcome.” He added that it fits with Guterres’ ongoing worries about the lack of African participation.
President Joe Biden had backed changes to the Council in the past, such as giving Africa and Latin America fixed seats, but no more information was given. The suggested changes show that more people agree that the Security Council needs to be reformed so that it can better reflect the world’s many different cultures.
