United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for reforms to the Security Council that would include allocating a permanent seat to Africa, describing the continent’s under-representation at the organization as unacceptable.
Guterres made the statement on Monday at a debate in New York about addressing historical injustice and enhancing Africa’s effective representation on the UN Security Council (UNSC).
He criticized the council’s current structure as outdated, claiming that it has failed to keep up with a changing world. Conflicts, emergencies, and geopolitical divisions have an outsized impact on African countries.
Africa is under-represented in global governance structures – from the Security Council to international financial institutions – but over-represented in the very challenges these structures are designed to address.
We cannot accept that the world’s pre-eminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people.
The Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent – Russia, China, the USA, Great Britain including France – and which have the right to veto any resolution.
Algeria, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone currently represent Africa as non-permanent members, so that forms a good step into the future, but fails to deliver guarantees.
Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio told the council on Monday that Africa wants two permanent seats and two additional non-permanent ones. For now, Asia has only one permanent seat, while Europe has two seats.
Eighty years after its creation, the council has been stuck in time. Its imbalanced composition is at odds with current realities and unjust, undermining its legitimacy and effectiveness. Africa remains the unquestionable victim.
Africa wants the veto abolished. However, if UN member states wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new permanent members as a matter of justice, the West African nation’s leader stated.
The 55-nation African Union (AU) has long sought permanent representation in the UNSC. In 2005, the bloc formed the C-10 group, whose primary mission is to present, advocate for, and rally support for the common African position on Security Council reforms.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for the AU’s bid for a seat on the UNSC and the G20, noting that it would reflect the desire of African nations to have their voices strongly heard.
The AU was formally admitted to the G20 group of leading economies during the bloc’s September summit in New Delhi, India.
Earlier this year, Guterres told reporters in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, that all five permanent members of the UNSC have been favorable to the demand for Africa to have proper representation in the body.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
And take away the permanent seats of France and the UK and give one to the EU. India must also become a permanent member.
Africa as a Nation deserves to be a member after being exploited for 100,s of years and enslaved by colonialists who took away their assets and even their lives but will the arrogant colonialists allow this ?? — if not then they are still acting in a superior manner and a racist manner.
Indeed that remains to be seen.