New York: The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has urged for a permanent seat for Africa on the UN Security Council (UNSC), stating that the council needs to be updated.
In a high-level debate on Monday, Guterres told the Security Council that its current setup does not match the changes happening around the world.
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"We cannot accept that the world's preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people ... nor can we accept that Africa's views are undervalued on questions of peace and security, both on the continent and around the world," said Guterres.
The UNSC has 15 members, with five of them—China, France, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom—holding permanent positions and having the power to veto decisions. The other ten seats rotate among different regions: three for Africa, two for Latin America and the Caribbean, two for Asia-Pacific, two for Western Europe and other states, and one for Eastern Europe.
Earlier this year, the UNSC had called for African nations to have a bigger role in global security and development. At the same debate, UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis emphasised that the UN needs to represent the current world more accurately.
"The fact that Africa continues to be manifestly underrepresented on the Security Council is simply wrong, offending as it does both the principles of equity and inclusion," he said.
"It runs counter to the principle of sovereign equality of states and calls for the urgency to reform this institution to reflect the world as it is now, rather than what it was nearly 80 years ago," Francis added.
Agencies
Published: 13 Aug 2024, 07:30 am IST
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