RP pushes increased membership in UN Security Council

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is urging the United Nations to act on a resolution increasing the number of Security Council members from 15 to 31 member-states.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Hilario Davide made the appeal during the 21st informal meeting of the General Assembly on intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council Reforms last June 11.

“In light of the endless discussions and debates on these key issues, began as early as after the 1965 increase in the membership of the Security Council, the time has come to resist the temptation to retrace backward the path we had taken,” Davide said in his statement.

“Thus, the only way forward is not to go back again and repeat, for the nth time, all such proposals. Rehashing them would not do us any good,” he said. “The only way forward is now to give these proposals a life all their own by way of the appropriate resolution proposing amendments to Article 23 of the United Nations Charter,” he said.

The resolution calls for an amendment in the UN Charter expanding the membership of the Security Council to 31.

There were other proposals to increase the membership of the Security Council.

In March 2005, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed the expansion of the Security Council membership to 24 members.

Another proposal made a month later by a group of countries called “Uniting for Consensus” pushed for an increase in the number of elected members to 20.

The amendments being proposed in the draft resolution seek an increase in the number of permanent members from the present five to 13 and the elected members from 10 to 18.

Based on Davide’s proposal, the new permanent members shall be composed of two each from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean and one each from Eastern Europe and Western Europe and “other states.”

The first new permanent members shall serve for five years, after which the regional groups shall decide among themselves which member states in their groups shall succeed the retiring members and which shall enjoy full permanent status.

The Philippines’ proposal also called for the election of non-permanent members for a term of two years. The additional eight elected members shall be composed of two each from Africa, Asia and Latin America and Caribbean and one each from Eastern Europe and Western Europe and other states.

In the draft resolution, the first election of the non-permanent members after the increase in the membership of the Security Council shall be held simultaneously with the elections of the rest immediately following the ratification of the amendments. A retiring non-member shall not be eligible for immediate re-election.

The draft called on regional groups to ensure that the additional seats for elected members allotted to them shall be fairly, justly and equitably rotated among member-states in each group. The draft also called upon all member states to ratify the above amendments in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by September 2011.

In presenting the proposal, Davide cited General Assembly Resolution 47/62 on Dec.11, 1992, which stressed the need for reforms in the Security Council, particularly in the number of members.

“Specific and concrete proposals on the increase in the membership in the Security Council relating to size, categories of membership, regional representation, etc. are all now on record,” he said.

Davide added such concerns were “reiterated, or amplified or supplemented” in informal meetings of the plenary on intergovernmental negotiations in February.

The Philippines elaborated its position at the 10th informal meeting of the plenary on March 24, 2009.