UN to debate draft resolution to justify use of veto
At the initiative of Liechtenstein, the 193 members of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly will debate on Tuesday a draft resolution requiring the five permanent members of the Security Council to justify their use of the veto.
Diplomats say the text should be voted on soon. According to Agence France-Presse, which was able to obtain the document, it provides for a convening of the General Assembly “to hold a debate on the vetoed situation within ten working days of opposition from one or more permanent members of the Security Council”†
This old idea was revived with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thanks to its veto power, Moscow paralyzes any action on this Security Council dossier, which must nevertheless intervene as required by its mandate as guarantor of world peace as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
This Liechtenstein project is co-sponsored by some fifty countries, including the United States, but more importantly, none of the other four permanent members of the Security Council (Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom). The Security Council also has ten non-permanent members, who have no veto power.
Among the fifty or so co-sponsors (who have pledged to vote in favor of the text) are Ukraine, as well as Japan and Germany, two states aspiring to a seat as permanent members on a potentially enlarged Security Council to better represent today’s world. The positions of India, Brazil or South Africa, other contenders for a permanent seat, have not been disclosed at this stage. Even if it does not sponsor the text, France will vote in favour, according to a diplomat. The choice of London, Beijing and Moscow, critical of an initiative considered controversial, is unknown.
“We are particularly concerned about Russia’s shameful tendency to abuse its veto power over the past two decades.”US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield underlined in a press release. The adoption of the Liechtenstein resolution “will be an important step towards (…) transparency and accountability of all permanent members of the Security Council”she said.
Since the first veto used by the Soviet Union in 1946, Russia has used it 143 times, far ahead of the United States (86 times), the United Kingdom (30 times), China and France (18 times each). In order to limit the use of the veto and after using it for the last time in 1989, France proposed in 2013 to voluntarily revoke it in the event of “mass crimes”† This idea, which is partly championed by Mexico and supported by a hundred countries, has so far been unsuccessful.
