SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM

This paper seeks to illustrate key findings regarding the position taken by the Eastern European group toward the benefits of Security Council reform. A brief history of how the United Nations was established and the foundations of the Security Council are touched upon as well as the criticisms concerning its functions. The main objective and key arguments of the Eastern European group regarding its position for reform are analysed to demonstrate a better understanding and reasoning behind the group’s position concerning reform.

The United Nations is an international organization that aims to aid support in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and to ultimately achieve world peace. The United Nations was established in 1945 after World War II. The purpose of the UN was to replace the League of Nations to stop wars between countries and provide platform for discussion. The League of Nations was founded in 1919, during the First World War and promoted peace, security and international cooperation. However, the United Nations came about because the League of Nations failed to prevent the Second World War (History of the United Nations, 2012). The United Nations currently has 193 member states and consists of six principle organs being, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Trustee Council (History of the United Nations, 2012). Under the United Nations Charter the Security Council has the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security (Charter of the United Nations, 2012).

The Security Council has 15 members, 5 of which are permanent and hold veto power and 10 of which are elected members. The 5 permanent members include China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). Currently the 10 elected members include Azerbaijan, Columbia, Germany, Guatemala, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa and Togo (United Nations Security Council, 2012). When there is a complaint from any member state concerning a threat to peace the Security Council’s first step is to recommend a peaceful resolution. However, once that threat leads to fighting the Security Council’s first objective is to bring it to end by various means such as issuing cease-fire directives, deciding on enforcement measures, sending United Nations peace-keeping forces, economic sanctions such as trade, military action against a UN member state or the suspension of membership or dismissal from the General Assembly of a UN member state (United Nations Security Council, 2012). However, it has been recommended to reform the Security Council regarding its members.

It has been criticized that the five permanent members of the Security Council are primarily concerned with their strategic interests and political motives. China, France, Russia, the UK and the US are all nuclear powers and through their self-interests have been alleged to have created their own “nuclear club” and since 80% of the permanent members are for the most part white western nations, they can be seen to be functioning on a global apartheid (Titus Alexander). Another criticism of concern involving the Security Council is their power to “veto”. The power to veto was established after world war II and gives the five permanent members of the security council the power to strike down any proposal by a single “no” vote. The veto power has allowed these nations to strike down any measures that may oppose to their distinct national interests (Council on Foreign Relations, 2012). Permanent members of the council have used this veto power sparingly when it concerns their own interests and this poses as a problem because it allows for their nation to always be on a hierarchy of priority which does not establish equality amongst all nations (Council on Foreign Relations, 2006). The recommendation to reform the Security Council concerns itself with reforming the membership. Its proposal includes increasing the amount of permanent members in the council (Council of Foreign Relations, 2012). The most popular demand for an increase in permanent members has been from Brazil, India, Germany, Japan, one African nation and one nation from the Arab league. Although some of these members are the largest funders of the UN and have the most UN peace keeping troops, their proposals for reform have been reluctantly supported as well as some firmly opposed by the current five permanent members of the Security Council.

As mentioned above, the United Nations has 193 member states. All 193 are together all unofficially divided into five geopolitical regional groups. The five groups include the African group, the Asia-Pacific group, the Eastern European group, the Latin American and Caribbean group and the Western European and Other group. The Eastern European Group (EEG) consists of countries from Eastern Europe and Caucasus, composing of 23 state actors. The EEG has only one seat in the General Assembly (one of the principle organs in which all members are supposed to have equal representation) while other regions have two or more seats which enable them to have more clout in issues pertaining to international relations. The Eastern European group has had a long history of conflict with Western European nations concerning differences in ideology which makes it difficult for the EEG to seek consensus with the Western European group over some issues which deems to be of importance due to the close geographical proximities between the two groups. The Eastern European nations are not wealthy, and are prone to falling behind on their UN membership payments. Since the Warsaw Pact no longer exists it also makes it difficult for the EEG to have strong military presence for peacekeeping efforts and reliance on allies. All these issues added to the result of weakness within the group.

However, in 1946 there was a change in the status quo; the Eastern European seat was included in the permanent members under the “gentlemen’s agreement” (Security Council Report, 2012). The agreement did not sit well with the Soviet Union and the West and for twenty years they contested and strived to place their preferred candidates in this seat. It also became a fiercely contested seat among new member states that did not have a clear regional grouping (Security Council Report, 2012).

The EEG not being a member of the five permanent members of the Security Council do not hold veto power which remains an obstacle to reform the Security Council as these five members would not want to relinquish their right to veto (The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2012). All state actors would act on premise of raisons d’état, to promote and gain their own interest (The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2012).

As previously discussed, the Security Council’s primary function is to make binding decisions in order to maintain international peace and security. Therefore it would lead one to believe that equal and proportional representation should be achieved by the members of the UN. The last Security Council enlargement was in 1965, though it added 4 new non-permanent seats, it still is controlled by the 5 global powers after WWII and since then new world powers have come forward (Center for UN Reform Education, 2007).

As previously mentioned, Russia (formerly the USSR), is a member of the Eastern European group (EEG) and also a permanent member of the Security Council. So it could be argued that the eastern European group currently has large enough representation and a veto on the Security Council. However most of the other 22 member states of the EEG were formerly under Russian control and have since split off from Russia. So therefore it can be asked does Russia actually have the best interest of these member states in mind when it makes Security Council decisions. The EEG is the smallest of the regional groups but has seen the most growth in recent years, which could be attributed primarily to member states gaining their independence from Russia.

The EEG members would like to see Security Council reform, expansion, and more transparency. Romania for example has pointed out that it has been decades since the last expansion of the Security Council and how it is going to be decades since they (UN) started discussing this issue (“Statement By H.E. Mr. Mihnea Motoc”, 2007). Slovenia has pointed out that Security Council reform has been needed since the cold war both in its methods and composition. There needs to be more permanent member’s added, as well as more frequent rotation of the non-permanent members (Slovenian Statement on Security Council Reform, 2009). Bulgaria takes a similar stance to Slovenia, but it also points out that since the EEG has grown the most, membership wise, in recent years the EEG should receive another non-permanent seat on the Security Council (Bulgaria Statement at the General Assembly Debate on Security Council Reform, 2007). During the same general assembly debate in 2007, Estonia supports Bulgaria in the sense that the EEG needs another non-permanent seat, and permanent seats need to be added as well in order to achieve equitable geographical representation (Estonia Statement at the General Assembly Debate on Security Council Reform, 2007).

In conclusion, the Eastern European group has seen rapid membership expansion in recent years due to many states gaining independence from Russia. Therefore it can be argued that Russia should no longer be making the decisions on behalf of the entire EEG and that the current one non-permanent EEG seat is not sufficient due to their geographical size and membership. The addition of another non-permanent seat on the Security Council would help provide better representation as well as regional equitability. The United Nations has been discussing the issue of Security Council reform for almost a decade now and we have yet to see any major alterations to the balance of power which was created during the cold war era.

References

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Charter of the United Nations. (2012). Retrieved from
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Center for UN Reform Education. (2007). The United Nations Security Council: Reforms concerning its membership - An Overview. Retrieved from www.centerforunreform.org/system/files/Overview+(2007).pdf

“Statement By H.E. Mr. Mihnea Motoc”. (2007, November 13). Retrieved from

http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php?option=com_docman&gid=15&category=10&orderby=dmdate_published&ascdesc=DESC&Itemid=248&limitstart=180

Slovenian Statement on Security Council Reform. (2009, March 4). Retrieved from http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php?option=com_docman&gid=15&category=10&orderby=dmdate_published&ascdesc=DESC&Itemid=248&limitstart=120

Bulgaria Statement at the General Assembly Debate on Security Council Reform. (2007, November 13). Retrieved from http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php?option=com_docman&gid=15&category=10&orderby=dmdate_published&ascdesc=DESC&Itemid=248&limitstart=180

Estonia Statement at the General Assembly Debate on Security Council Reform. (2007, November 13). Retrieved from http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php?option=com_docman&gid=15&category=10&orderby=dmdate_published&ascdesc=DESC&Itemid=248&limitstart=180

Security Council Report. (23 September 2012) Retrieved from http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/special-research-report/lookup-c-glKWLeMTIsG-b

The Center for Strategic and International Studies. (23 September 2012). Retrieved from http://csis.org/files/publication/twq03autumnweiss.pdf