“Uniting for Consensus” Group – 27 March 2023
Senior officials from the countries of the “Uniting for Consensus” Group (UfC) met in Rome on 27 March to the UNSC reform. The presence of UfC senior officials allowed for in-depth discussion on better promoting the core tenets of its proposal. A brainstorming exercise with experts from SIOI, IAI and other think tanks and universities also took place within the context of the meeting.
Uniting for Consensus is a group of countries from different regions of the world (Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain, Türkiye), that has been advocating for many years for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council.
Ongoing crises and the increased number of conflicts have highlighted the need for meaningful reform of the Security Council. The United Nations Security Council is the main body responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. Now more than ever we need a Security Council that delivers effectively on its mandate.
Reform of the United Nations Security Council is urgently needed in order to make it more representative, accountable, democratic, transparent and effective.
The UfC group is promoting the creation of additional non-permanent seats (both “long-term” and two-year seats). This would allow more rotation and improved access for all UN Member States, especially from under-represented regions, through regular elections.
At present, 60 Member States out of 193 have not yet served on the Security Council. By adding new elected seats for regional groups including Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the proposal enhances equitable geographical distribution in the Council.
In this context, UfC countries reiterated their firm opposition to adding new permanent members. While the current status of the Council is rooted in the historical circumstances following the end of the Second World War, the creation of additional and unjustifiable privileged positions within the international community would be detrimental to the general interests of the UN membership.
The meeting was an occasion to reiterate the UfC countries’ commitment to working together, and with other negotiation groups and countries, to achieve a meaningful reform and adapt the Security Council to the constantly-evolving challenges of the 21st century. To this end UfC will continue to engage actively and constructively in the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform.