{"id":235958,"date":"2023-05-29T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=235958"},"modified":"2023-05-24T04:34:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T03:34:31","slug":"global-south-aims-to-fix-the-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/05\/global-south-aims-to-fix-the-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Global South Aims to Fix the UN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls to reform the Security Council have been made many times in the past, but Beijing\u2019s position is particularly important in both language and timing.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

China\u2019s Wang Yi, left, with U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres at a ceremony in 2019 marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People\u2019s Republic of China.
(U.N. Photo\/Evan Schneider)<\/p><\/div>\n

23 May 2023 – <\/em>In anticipation of next month\u2019s United Nations Security Council talks<\/a> on reforming the inherently archaic and dysfunctional political body, China\u2019s foreign policy chief, Wang Yi, stated his country\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reform of the Security Council should uphold fairness and justice, increase the representation and voice of developing countries, allowing more small and medium-sized countries to have more opportunities to participate in the decision-making of the Council,\u201d Wang Yi said<\/a> in a statement on April 29.<\/p>\n

More specifically, the new UNSC must \u201credress historical injustices against Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although calls for reforms of the UNSC have been made many times in the past, Beijing\u2019s position is particularly important in both language and timing.<\/p>\n

When the United Nations was founded<\/a> in 1945 following World War II, it was meant to mark the rise of a new world order, one that was largely dominated by the winners of that horrific war, giving greater influence to the United States and its Western allies.<\/p>\n

Indeed, of the 51 founding members of the U.N. back then, five countries were chosen<\/a> to serve permanently on the Security Council \u2014 the executive branch of the U.N. The rest were given membership in the General Assembly, which played a marginal and, at times, even symbolic role in world affairs.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An informal meeting in the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco during the 1945 signing of the U.N. Charter. From left: U.K.\u2019s Anthony Eden, U.S.\u2019 E.R. Stettinius Jr., Soviet Union\u2019s V.M. Molotov and China\u2019s T. V. Soong.
\n(U.N. Photo\/Eastman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Six other nations were allowed<\/a> to serve as non-permanent members of the council, though they were not granted the same veto power exercised by the five powerful U.N. Security Council members.<\/p>\n

A few years later, in 1963, the non-permanent membership status, served through bi-annual rotations, was expanded<\/a> to 10, expanding the number of U.N. Security Council members to 15. However, the \u201creforms\u201d ended there, never to be revisited.<\/p>\n

Reflecting World Realities\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.N. was hardly ever a democratic platform fairly reflecting the realities of the world, whether based on economic influence, demographics or any other indicators \u2014 aside from military might and political hegemony.<\/p>\n

From the post-WWII geopolitical realities, however, the U.N. perfectly expressed a sad, unfair, but true global power.<\/p>\n

That power is now shifting, and rapidly.<\/p>\n

Calls for reforms have been underway for many years,\u00a0exprsesed\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0by the Group of Four (G4) \u2014 Brazil, Germany, India and Japan \u2014 and the Sirte Declaration<\/a> of the African Union (AU) in 2005, among others. But renewed calls for U.N. Security Council reform in recent months have become louder, more significant and, indeed, more possible.<\/p>\n

The Russia-Ukraine war, which has divided the world into political camps, further empowers China \u2014 the world\u2019s soon-to-be largest economy \u2014 and emboldened countries in the Middle East, Africa and South America.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, center right, with Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky, center left, in Kiev on March 8 to negotiate the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
\n(U.N. Photo\/Vitalii Ukhov)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Of the many indicators of a global power shift, the BRICS nations \u2014 Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa \u2014 have proven<\/a> to be the greatest success story in challenging Western dominance over global markets and the status of the dollar as the world\u2019s main currency.<\/p>\n

As BRICS readies for a major membership expansion<\/a>, it is poised to become the world\u2019s leading economic forum \u2014 ahead of the powerful G7.<\/p>\n

One of the BRICS members, India, as of April 2023, overtook<\/a> China to become the world\u2019s most populous country. Along with China and the combined demographics and wealth of other BRICS countries, it becomes unacceptable that a BRICS member such as India is still not a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. The same applies to Brazil.<\/p>\n

Indian U.N. Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj recently referred<\/a> to the U.N. Charter as \u201canachronistic.\u201d She said during a debate on the Charter: \u201cCan we practice \u2018effective multilateralism\u2019 by defending a charter that makes five nations more equal than others and provides to each of those five the power to ignore the collective will of the remaining 188 member states?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

India\u2019s U.N. Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj in 2022, while serving as president of the Security Council for the month of December. (U.N. Photo\/Eskinder Debebe)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Her logic carries greater weight now that her country \u2014 along with other BRICS nations, the collective power of the African Union among other nations and political entities \u2014 is in a much stronger position to bargain for substantive change.<\/p>\n

China, on the other hand, is already a permanent U.N. Security Council member, holding veto power.<\/p>\n

The fact that Wang Yi is demanding serious changes at the U.N., particularly in the makeup of the Security Council, is a powerful indicator of China\u2019s new global foreign policy agenda. As a rising superpower with close and deepening ties with many countries in the Global South, China rightly believes it\u2019s in its interests to demand inclusion and fair representation for others.<\/p>\n

This is an unmistakable sign of political maturity by Beijing, which will surely be resisted by the U.S. and other European powers.<\/p>\n

The West is keen on either maintaining the U.N. Security Council\u2019s West-leaning status as it is, or, if it must, engaging in superficial or self-serving reforms. This would be unacceptable for China and the rest of the Global South.<\/p>\n

The U.N.\u2019s reputation is already in tatters following its failure to address international conflicts, climate change, global pandemics and more. If the Council is not reformed to address global challenges more democratically, the U.N. risks its relevance.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of <\/em>Palestine Chronicle. He has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. Baroud is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His books include <\/em>Searching Jenin, <\/em>The Second Palestinian Intifada, and <\/em>My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza\u2019s Untold Story. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story<\/a> (Pluto Press, London, 2018). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 consortiumnews.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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