148th IPU Assembly
Geneva, 23–27 March 2024
Reform of the United Nations Security Council
Motion adopted by the IPU Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs
(Geneva, 26 March 2024)
The IPU Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs is committed to seeing reform of the United
Nations Security Council.
In the context of diminishing trust in the UN multilateral system, the Committee is deeply concerned by
the current stalemate at the UN, where reform of the Security Council has been on the agenda for
decades with no end in sight.
Despite widespread acknowledgment that the composition of the Security Council does not reflect the
geopolitical realities of the 21st century, Member States remain deeply divided on, among other things,
the question of expanded membership, the criteria by which new members should be considered, and
possible limits to the use of the veto power by current and future permanent members.
The Committee welcomes resolution 76/262 of the General Assembly, which makes Permanent
Members accountable to the General Assembly whenever they make use of their veto power to block a
resolution of the Security Council. However, as recent experience demonstrates, this measure is not
strong enough to prevent misuse of the veto.
Without effective Security Council reform, the Committee believes that the overall effort to make the
multilateral system more democratic and accountable to the people will be severely hampered. The
Committee looks to this year’s Summit of the Future as an opportunity to demonstrate meaningful
progress in order to restore trust and faith in multilateralism when global cooperation is most needed.
Building on the briefing on Security Council reform held at the 147th Assembly (Luanda, Angola,
October 2023) and reflecting on possible parliamentary action to advance the current discussions, the
Committee urgently calls upon each IPU Member Parliament to:
1.
Engage with its government leadership and its Permanent Representatives to the United Nations
to obtain regular updates about proposals for reforming the Security Council as well as progress
made in this regard;
Demand that the reform process is undertaken democratically, inclusively and transparently, and
with an eye to the Summit of the Future in September 2024 as a decisive turning point;
Prepare for the ratification of UN Security Council reform, pursuant to any final General Assembly
approval and in accordance with national procedures; and
Engage in parliamentary processes, such as debates, committee hearings and resolutions, to
influence the intergovernmental process leading up to the Summit of the Future in order to ensure
that the voices of parliamentarians are reflected in its outcome document, the Pact for the Future.
2.
3.
4.
#IPU148