Calls for greater representation amplified as UN marks 79th anniversary

As the United Nations celebrates its 79th anniversary, clamour for the inclusion of more countries in its security council has been amplified.

This was at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) AND United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Roundtable, which was themed United Nations Pact for the Future: Implications for Nigeria and Africa and held in Lagos.

Professor of International Relations, NIIA, Femi Otubanjo, said that to align the UN with the realities of the contemporary international system, the functions of the Security Council should be assumed by the General Assembly, whose decisions on conflicts and wars should be based on democratic principles.

“The Security Council should be replaced by a standard committee to be constituted by member states on a rotational basis to monitor conflicts and wars, report no UNGA, and give effective resolutions,” he said.

“The committee itself will have no power to break the law or waive the resolutions of the General Assembly. But because power matters in the international system, the five current members will remain as permanent members of the committee, without any veto power.”

According to him, another option is to retain the Security Council structure, remove the veto power and expand its membership to include appropriate representation from all continents, and democratise its proceedings or retain the Security Council as it is, but democratise the veto power.

Director General, NIIA, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, said the UN is the engine room of the global governance system, adding that they have the most important framework for globalisation, global cohesion, and integration.

He said that the UN in its foundation was a creation of a particular world order, which has been changed over several decades to see that it is democratic.

According to him, though there have been increased calls for restructuring and more inclusion, some people think that the UN has either become too weak or has failed. Along with the notion that the UN is no longer able to accommodate the rising challenges and demands that have come out of geopolitics and the global political dynamics, an absence of the body would keep the world in worse conditions.

Osaghae said that as there are increasing demands from the UN for greater representation, equity and global justice, we must establish if we have resources to push through such responsibilities.

Director, UNIC, Nigeria in Lagos, Mr Ronald Kayanja, said the UN has been a place for countries to unite behind global solutions that promote sustainable development, justice for women and girls, eliminate poverty, and deliver lifesaving relief to people exposed to conflict, famine, economic hardship and climate disasters, among others.