'Thrust of UN reform has to be to 'democratise' Security Council'

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has said it is "incongruous" that only five countries can exercise certain powers within the UN Security Council, underlining that the thrust of reform has to be to "democratise" the powerful UN organ, making it more fit for purpose in the 21st century.

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"It's not untrue that the architecture of the Security Council was designed a very long time ago, decades ago when geographically and geopolitically the world was a very different place," Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

Francis said many countries did not exist at the time when the UN Security Council was formed more than seven decades ago, particularly developing countries in the Global South and "countries like my own Trinidad and Tobago. We would at that time have been represented by the British.

"But the world has changed. Democratisation has spread across the globe. There are many more sovereigns at the table and the United Nations itself has realised that there is a need to rethink and re-engineer the Security Council," Francis, a veteran diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago who was elected President of the General Assembly in June, said.

While the UNSC reform process is ongoing, Francis said "it is incongruous that only five countries can exercise certain powers within the Council", referring to the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - who have veto powers.

While 10 countries are elected for two-year terms to become members of the 15-nation Council on a rotating basis, only the permanent five have veto power.