Arturo Sanchez Jimenez
Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, March 17, 2022, p. 13
Mexico stated yesterday that reforms are needed to the working methods of the Security Council (SC) of the United Nations (UN) to make it a more transparent, democratic, representative and effective body.
In a session of intergovernmental negotiations for the reform of the council, held in New York, the permanent representative of Mexico to the UN, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, pointed out that these changes should not be limited to the expansion of its members and that the right to The veto should be restricted in cases of mass atrocities, indicated the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN.
The reform of the SC has been discussed for years, but the necessary consensus to carry it out has not been reached. Today it has regained validity with Russia’s recent veto of the majority-voted resolutions on the conflict in Ukraine.
Germany, Brazil, Japan and South Africa are seeking a permanent place in the CS. On the other hand, Mexico -which is a non-permanent member- advocates an increase in the number of elected members to balance power, giving more weight in decisions to the positions of non-permanent members and increasing the political costs of those who threaten to use the veto.
Mexico pointed out that the elected or non-permanent members are the ones that promote constant improvements in the working methods of the SC and have also designed innovative and inclusive formats in order to listen to all the states involved (whether or not they are members of the SC) and society. civil.
De la Fuente stressed that the control exercised by the permanent members on issues close to their national interests shows that the addition of new permanent members is not a response to improve the functioning of the SC. On the contrary, it could further stiffen decision-making processes and strengthen the political monopoly of the agenda.
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Mexico stated that the General Assembly must be more proactive based on the powers related to international peace and security, as dictated by the UN Charter, particularly in the face of the paralysis of the SC, to attend to either security crises or humanitarian crises
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In fact, in the coming days the assembly will discuss the draft resolution presented by Mexico and France to address the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, in the face of a new Russian veto in the SC.
