UN Security Council: Membership, Issues in UNSC & Its Reform

Context (TH): India called for the expansion of the United Nations Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership.
India asserted that expansion is essential so that the developing countries and unrepresented regions find their due place at the UN.
The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the UN and is considered the apex of the UN system.
It is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security.
The UNSC is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions on member states.

Membership

It consists of fifteen members, and each member has one vote.
- Permanent Members: Five (China, France, Russia, UK, and US) (P5)
- Non-permanent members: Ten

Each year, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) elects five non-permanent members by a two-thirds majority for two years on a regional basis.
A retiring member is not eligible for immediate re-election.
The five permanent members have veto power — opposition from any of these five Countries blocks the resolution regardless of international support.

When the UN was founded in 1945:
- There were 51 member-states of the UN.
- Eleven members were part of the UNSC (22% of the member states)
  - Permanent Members: Five
  - Non-permanent members: Six
In 1965, the Security Council expanded from eleven to fifteen members by adding four more elected non-permanent members.
Today, there are 193 member-states of the UN and only fifteen members of the UNSC (less than 8% of the member states).

India is not a permanent member of the UNSC.
In 2021, India was elected as a non-permanent member of the UNSC for the eighth time.

Non-permanent members get monthly presidency of UNSC, and as a president, they could decide the matter to discuss in meetings.
Non-permanent members can preside over several committees and working groups of UNSC.

Veto power makes P5 nations more equal than others, ignoring the collective will of 188 members.
The veto system has become a tool to block the UN’s work and not encourage it.
The recent conflicts in many states indicate the failure of the UNSC and the misuse of veto.
- During the Russia-Ukraine conflict, when Russia invaded a sovereign UN member-state, the UNSC proved powerless to respond because of a veto by Russia.
- Russia’s increasing resort to the veto has blocked resolutions on Ukraine, Syria, North Korea, etc.

The UNSC reflects the geopolitical realities of 1945 and not of today. Five countries are permanent members of the UNSC merely because they won a war 76 years ago.
The world has changed, but not the UNSC. Lack of representation for Africa, South America and Asia is a major issue of UNSC (China is the only Asian P-5 member).
Africa, with 55 member states, has no presentation in permanent membership.
It is impossible to address the present problems if institutions do not reflect today’s world order.
The lack of progress in reforms has “serious implications” for the relevance of the UN.

Any amendment in the UN Charter requires:
- A two-thirds majority of the overall membership (129 of the 193 states in UNGA) with no opposition from permanent five members.
- To be ratified by two-thirds of the member states.

China is the only country among P5 opposing India’s entry into the UNSC. Support from other permanent members does not amount to anything since China can veto India’s candidacy.

Ironically, India had supported China’s candidature as a permanent member of the UNSC.

It is a pre-reform group of developing countries.
The group is seeking:
- An expansion of permanent and non-permanent membership to the UNSC
- Reform in the body’s working methods
- Better representation of developing country aspirations, including African countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

It is an informal group comprising 40 member states.
It has been instrumental in holding back reforms to the UNSC.
It opposes bigger regional powers from getting permanent seats in the UNSC.
- Italy and Spain are opposed to Germany’s bid.
- Pakistan is opposed to India’s bid.

Without structural changes, the UNSC’s performance and legitimacy will inevitably suffer.
There is a need to strengthen and reform the UN by expanding permanent and non-permanent members of the UNSC.
Inclusion of developing countries, including India and African countries, is essential to reflect contemporary realities.

Since 1945, even as the UN’s overall membership has nearly quadrupled, the council’s composition has expanded only once, in 1965.
In October 2008, the UN formally authorized intergovernmental negotiations on the “question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council.”