SINGAPORE: Singapore on Wednesday (Sep 25) called for the reform of the United Nations Security Council, including constraining the exercise of the veto by the five permanent member states.
In a statement at the UN Security Council open debate on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the world is in an “acutely dangerous phase” and that civilians in “multiple trouble spots” are paying a terrible price.
“The United Nations is at an inflection point. We need to reform multilateral and UN institutions to address both current and future challenges, including reform of this very Security Council,” he added.
Dr Balakrishnan is in New York for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly from Sep 19 to Sep 28.
In his statement to the Security Council, he urged them to “constrain the exercise of the veto”.
Any of the five permanent members of the council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – can veto a resolution.
“All permanent members should focus on the broader goal of delivering international peace and security,” he said.
“However, the trend of the increasing exercise of the vetoes suggests we cannot leave this to the permanent five to voluntarily change their behaviour.”
Besides the permanent five members, UN Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members that are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.
Currently, they are Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Dr Balakrishnan said that the wider UN must agree “on how the veto is exercised in the future” and that Singapore “stands ready to discuss this further at the General Assembly”.
“The approach is not to encroach on the council’s mandate, but to guard against actions that prevent this council from fulfilling its mandate,” he added.
In October last year, the US vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war. It again used its veto power in April to deny the Palestinian Authority full membership in the UN.
In March 2024, Russia and China both vetoed a US-led resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.