UNITED NATIONS - Amid the vitriol and accusations, leaders at this year's
General Assembly meeting sounded the same note: The U.N. Security Council
doesn't represent our interests anymore, and it must be reshaped to reflect the
world of 2006, not 1945, the year it was created.
The demand was not new, but the insistence was. Reform of the Security
Council had been given up for dead last year, suffocated by bitter national
rivalries and a refusal to compromise. But with this year's General Assembly
session, it's been resurrected.
Many speakers in the General Assembly suggested a new anger toward the
council had fueled their call. The Security Council took more than a month to
respond to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, a delay that was largely blamed
on the United States.
Iran was also dragged before the council under European and American urging,
though many poor nations don't share their concern about its suspect nuclear
program.
"The Security Council has not only to be more representative but also to be
more effective if it is to be able to satisfactorily perform the role mandated
to it by the charter," Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the
Assembly debate.
Modernizing the Security Council was a key element of a reform package
unveiled by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the spring of 2005. Months of
jockeying, negotiations, deals and promises ultimately came to nothing, the work
stymied by national rivalries and bickering.
But an increased feeling among poor nations that their wealthy neighbors
dominate the Security Council has galvanized them.
Their anger has gotten so bad that many speakers warned the council could
losing its authority. The body already has enough trouble getting nations to
listen to its demands, and it risks slipping toward irrelevancy without change.
That could be to the detriment of President Bush, who has routed many of his
biggest foreign policy initiatives through the council recently, after
circumventing it in his first term.
"My argument is that the Security Council is losing legitimacy and that
should be of concern to us," said Lee Feinstein, a U.N. expert at the Council on
Foreign Relations.
According to a U.N. official who studied the themes of the debate, Security
Council reform was the third-most discussed issue of this year's General
Assembly, underscoring its importance. It trailed only terrorism and the
Millennium Development Goals.
"It just seems to be a topic of active debate and discussion again, that this
cat has another life," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of his reluctance to speak on behalf of member states.
And there is resentment that nations and regions that have risen in power and
importance in the last 60 years aren't among them, such as India, Japan, Brazil
or any African nation.
Almost everyone agrees that reform is necessary, but they can't agree how to
do it.
"Reforming the United Nations has always been a top priority for the United
States," said U.S. mission spokesman Richard Grenell. "As part of that reform,
having the Security Council reflect the realities of today has always been an
important priority as well."
It seems extremely unlikely the five permanent members will either agree to
add more veto-wielding members or abandon their own vetoes. That means the best
anyone can hope for is that the council would be expanded - possibly to about 25
members, but without any new permanent ones.
The renewed calls for change have been accompanied by what appears to be a
new predilection toward compromise among those who have pushed for reform.
The attitude was evident at a dinner meeting attended by more than 130 of the
U.N.'s 192 member states that was held to discuss overcoming the impasse between
the most serious proposals for council reform.
Unlike in the past, representatives of both sides were there. That included
Germany and Japan, who are seeking permanent seats along with Brazil and India,
and a group called "Uniting for Consensus," which wants to expand the number of
non-permanent seats.
"Let's hope that before the end of this session of the General Assembly, we
will succeed in turning the page, engaging in a negotiating process that we
never had in more than 10 years of fruitless debates," Italian Prime Minister
Romano Prodi said.
