Calls for amending UNSC’s veto power grow amid Gaza carnage

Following United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ invocation of Article 99, which hasn’t been used in decades, and the US’ subsequent veto on a Security Council draft resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged enclave — is reformation of the UN, whose stated purposes include maintaining international peace and security, possible?

As Israeli assault intensifies in Gaza, where at least 18,205 Palestinians have been killed at the time of writing, some experts are unenthusiastic.

Speaking in a panel at the TRT World Forum in Istanbul, on December 9, former Prime Minister of Jordan Awn al Khasawneh and former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge Castaneda expressed pessimism, noting that while it is relatively easy to think about possible formulas for reform, the current permanent states in the UNSC are unlikely to surrender the power they currently wield.

The Security Council has 15 members, with five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — holding veto power. There are ten other non-permanent members, five of which are elected each year by the General Assembly for a two-year term.

“We tend to forget that the international system is a system of power. It's not an academic system,” according to Al Khasawneh. He went on to share his experience as a member of the sub-commission on the protection of minorities and the prevention of discrimination 41 years ago.

“Like many members of my generation,” Al Khasawneh shared, “I was imbued with the promises that international law, the great civiliser of nations will have the potential for settling issues … but you could already see the cracks.”

When he attended the United Nations meeting in 1975, the former prime minister of Jordan and former judge at the International Court of Justice said he “read almost everything that had been said at the Security Council on the 25th anniversary in 1972.”

“An African diplomat quoted the following lines from Alfred, Lord Tennyson: ‘What should I be like at 50? Should nature keep me alive if the world is so bitter when I am but 25?’

“Now the United Nations is beyond 50 and you know exactly how it would look like. The promises of international law and of international society have been frustrated. There is no doubt about it, and no amount of talk about the reform is likely to succeed.

“I share this, and I wish that I am wrong but I am not persuaded by the [General Assembly],” he added.

Casteneda shares the same “pessimistic” sentiments as his colleague from Jordan.

“I cannot imagine a situation where the five permanent members who have to approve any change in the rules would approve a change that would give them less power or give their power to others,” said Casteneda, who is a professor at New York University. “I do not see that happening in any reasonable amount of time,” he added.

Moderated by Imran Garda, the session called, “Dis/United Nations: Working Towards Effective Multilateralism,” also featured Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia at the UN Development Coordination Office Gwi-Yeop Son, and former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Hans von Sponeck.

According to Son, discussions on the membership of the Security Council, which should be much more inclusive and in line with the current world, are ongoing, and due for negotiations in the next general assembly session in the summer of 2024.

“It needs to include a more diversified membership and the veto power needs to be looked at. Should it be in line with the new Security Council membership or should it be actually consensus-based?” said Son.

‘We the peoples’

During the panel, Sponeck said the UNSC is not a platform where international geopolitical policy can be properly carried out, when regions such as Africa and Latin America are not represented in the permanent group, while Asia, with over 50 per cent of the population, has only one member state to represent it.

“The Western world has three seats — that's no longer a platform on which we can do international geopolitical policy,” he added. However, unlike the rest of the panellists, Sponeck related his optimism for reform in the UNSC, saying the “world is bigger than five governments,” as well as emphasised that there is a new power on the block, “and that new power is us, the people, civil society.”

In an interview after the session, Sponeck told TRT World that the past years have shown that the voices of the people “can’t be ignored,” as illustrated through world summits like the COP climate conferences and other UN conferences about family, housing, women, and education.

“Governments now realise they can't ignore you. And that is my hope. That's my optimism … hopefulness, optimism is not a sign of ignorance.

“It's a sign of trying to find ways to break out of what right now is a system of imbalance, a system that is corrupt [and] where it is more important that you retain the muscle of your power rather than that you introduce what is called international law,” he added.

Sponeck pulled out a small blue United Nations Charter booklet he carries at all times in his pocket, and said, “Look, [shows a page in the booklet] what does it say here? 'We the peoples of the United Nations', it doesn't say 'We the Governments of the United Nations', we the people. That's important.”

The former UN assistant secretary-general, who firmly believes that all reform debates and academic or political wills in the future must include civil society, noted that a truly international community can be created by all individuals, young and old.

Sponeck also said young people who want to do better than his generation and work towards effective multiculturalism play an important role in carrying on the torch.

“A future cannot be created when you have a Gaza, when you have no prospects, when you live in some village and you are thinking you want to do something, and there's no one who's helping you, no prospects. Nothing.

“So to break out of that, education is one important precondition. You don't need to be formally educated, but you must develop your brain a bit.”

Hope for a ceasefire

Current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 on December 9, believing that the humanitarian system and operations in Gaza, where Israeli assault is now in its 67th day, are disintegrating.

“I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent.” he said in a letter addressed to the President of the Security Council, Jose Javier de la Gasca Lopez Dominguez.

Former US diplomat Robert S Ford said the US faces “a terrible contradiction” in its policy of removing Hamas from Gaza while minimising Palestinian civilian loss of life, after vetoing the UN resolution to implement a ceasefire. “Washington has not found a solution to this contradiction, and the veto last night is stirring big international anger,” Ford said to another TRT World journalist.

“Washington will have to figure out a way to deal with the contradiction or make a choice of priorities. Is the priority to save civilians or is the priority a military solution against Hamas? I hope Washington chooses saving civilian lives,” he added.

The UN General Assembly is due to meet on December 12 to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and potentially vote on a text for a ceasefire resolution.