The United States has proposed adding two permanent seats for African nations and a rotating seat for island states on the UN Security Council, though without veto power.
This request was made by US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday.
“I’m announcing the United States supports three additional changes to the Security Council,” she said.
According to Thomas-Greenfield, this would include “creating two permanent seats for Africa.”
The ambassador explained that “the United States supports creating a new elected seat on the Security Council for small island developing states,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
The proposals aim to overhaul the 15-member UN Security Council, a body that has remained largely static for decades and is plagued by dysfunction and conflicts among its current permanent members.
According to US officials, the new African representatives would not have veto power over council resolutions, unlike the existing permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States.
Currently, African nations hold three non-permanent seats on the Security Council, allocated on a rotating basis for two-year terms.
Any reform of the Security Council would require unanimous approval from the five permanent members, who are all nuclear-armed. Additionally, a change in membership would need to be adopted and ratified by two-thirds of the 193 member states. Washington has emphasized its opposition to granting veto power to new members, arguing that it would lead to gridlock.
“We’ve been very, very clear that we do not support expansion of the veto,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“We have veto power as well, and none of the permanent members want to give up their veto power — including us. I’m being honest about that.”
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