United Nations Security Council Reform: A Revisit of the African Position

Abstract:

The Security Council of today is no longer representative of today's world politics, geography, population and even interest wise. Despite it being the world’s most powerful organ, the developing nations that account for more than half of the world population are not adequately represented. This non-proportional representation of the non-P-5 member states in the Security Council gives them less ownership “in the maintenance of peace and international security”. As a result, the African countries have argued that the UNSC is “undemocratic” in its functions and fails to capture the interests of the small countries who do not have the same rights and privileges as the P-5. In 2005, African countries came up with an ‘African common position’ on UNSC security council reform through what is known as the Ezulwini Consensus demanding two permanent seats with the same privileges as the permanent members and other five non-permanent rotational seats in the Security Council. The AU position has been viewed by many countries including some of the P-5 and some from the region as unrealistic and unachievable. The slow pace in the reform agenda has to some extent been blamed on the uncompromising position of the AU. Having examined the provisions of the Charter on amendments and the level of global support towards the African position, the author concluded that, AU must remodel its position and negotiate with the others with a view of reaching an acceptable and achievable position.