The US, Russia, China, France and the UK are always represented on the United Nations Security Council.
(Photo: dpa)
Hiroshima Japan and Brazil want to start a new attempt at reforming the UN Security Council before the end of this year. This was announced by the Japanese government after a meeting between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The aim of both countries is to obtain a permanent seat on the highest UN body.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently advocated reform and criticized the fact that the current composition of the Security Council no longer represented the balance of power in the world.
“Germany expressly supports Africa’s demand for more permanent seats on the UN Security Council,” Scholz said on Monday. “As long as emerging economies feel overlooked and underrepresented in the international system, they will not fully engage in its defense.”
For many years, Germany, together with Brazil, Japan and India, had campaigned as the so-called G4 for a reform of the UN Security Council. All four countries had requested a permanent seat. Above all, it is criticized that only the victorious powers of the Second World War have a permanent seat with the right of veto. These are the USA, Russia as the largest successor state to the Soviet Union, China, France and Great Britain.
There are also ten non-permanent seats that change every two years. Attempts at reform have failed primarily due to resistance from the veto powers Russia, China and the USA. However, there is also competition on various continents for the seats in the event of a possible expansion of the body. In Asia, for example, China is opposed to sharing the exclusive role with India or Japan.
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