Africa Underrepresented; Needs Permanence on UN Security Council says Sec Gen

Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

September 5, 2024 – A call has been made by United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Antonio Guterres Security Council (UNSC) to reform its outdated structure and assign Africa a permanent seat at the table, stressing that the continent is underrepresented.

Making the call during an addressing to the Council on Monday August 13, he told the high-level debate that the composition of the UNSC has failed to keep pace with a changing world.

“We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people, nor can we accept that Africa’s views are undervalued on questions of peace and security, both on the continent and around the world,” he said.

The 15-member UNSC consists of five permanent members with veto power – China, France, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom – while the remaining 10 nonpermanent seats are allocated regionally.

The 10 seats include three seats for African states; two each for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and other states; and one for Eastern Europe.

In May, the UNSC called for the role of African countries to be strengthened in addressing global security and development challenges.

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis said at the debate that the UN must reflect the world as it is. “The fact that Africa continues to be manifestly underrepresented on the Security Council is simply wrong, offending as it does both the principles of equity and inclusion,” he said.

“It runs counter to the principle of sovereign equality of states and calls for the urgency to reform this institution to reflect the world as it is now, rather than what it was nearly 80 years ago,” he stated.

The President further said the African Union will choose the African permanent members, and that Africa wants the veto abolished. However, if UN member states wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new permanent members as a matter of justice,” he said.

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the United Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is for the Security Council to determine when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed.

In the more than seven decades since its creation, the United Nations has focused on new challenges, such as youth, gender equality, Climate Change, big data for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , and AIDS, in order to find solutions and encourage action.