POSITION PAPER

Committee: United Nations General Assembly [UNGA]

Topic: Amendments to election of non-permanent members in UNSC and
reconsideration of veto powers
Country: Russian Federation
Delegate: Siddharth Sourav, Adani Public School

Background
UNO was founded on 24 th October 1945 at the end of the World War-II with
51member states and its first session was held on 10 th Jan 1946 in London. The UN
Charter sets out main purposes of Maintaining worldwide peace and security.
Developing relations among nations. Fostering cooperation between nations in order to
solve economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems.
An increasingly global economy, increased number of member states, vast increases in
communication technology, the shift from West East to North vs South competition,
shift from bi-polar to multi-polar world, transformation of peace-keeping processes,
shift to reflect contemporary realities of the twenty-first century have necessitated
expansion in the membership of the Security Council in both the permanent and
non - permanent categories.
Past International Actions
Many documents and written suggestions on expansion of UN Security Council
have been tabled by different countries & Groups at different time for discussion
& deliberation in earlier years. UN Security Council has also released many
releases in this regard. The important ones are as follows;
1. Security Council reforms as back as 1965
2. Proposal by Coffee Club
3. Proposal by G4 Group
4. Proposal by S5 Group
5. Proposal by African Nations
6. Press release by Kofi Annan & Ban-Ki-moon
Country Policy:
As a great power (number one by territorial size among the top ten global powers
by size of economy and reserves/exports of key natural resources) Russia in the
2nd decade of twenty first century perceives itself as a state with global
responsibilities and has record of global involvements. The UNSC is obviously
considered by Moscow one of the leading mechanisms for collective global
governance and coordination of interests between major powers.
Russian stance is in favour of granting permanent membership to the G4 (Japan,
Germany, India and Brazil) and to South Africa & Egypt. But the Veto Power
should remain in the hands of original P5 members. This veto power should neither
be expanded nor taken away. Russia insists on minimalist expansion; the size of
the enlarged Council should remain preferably at 20 countries. Russia agrees that
there is a general necessity for reforms but like other P5 members, it is concerned
about the ability of an extended Security Council to deal effectively with peace &
security and especially conflict resolution & crisis response matters. Russia states
that it will support a reform that is likely to get support of a majority of the Security
Council.
Possible Solutions

As of now, there are 15 members on the UNSC. Five of those (mostly powers who
emerged victorious in the World War II), including the US, UK, France, China and
Russia are permanent members. These members have the all-important veto power
(essentially a negative vote) which would mean that a “resolution or decision would not
be approved". The remaining 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General
Assembly for two-year terms, starting 1 January. Five members are replaced each year.

The issues which are critical in the expansion of Security Council are as follows:

• Categories of membership
• Criteria for membership
• Size of representation
• Regional representation
• Veto power
• Transparency & working methods
• The relationship between SC & GA
Possible solutions as proposed by Russia are:
• Increase in number of permanent members from 5 to 11 which include
P5+G4+SA & Egypt
• No veto power to permanent members for a period of 15 years after which
the same may be considered
• Increase in number of non-permanent members to maximum 14
• The above points are to be deliberated in UNGA and final ratification is to
be done by majority of P5 members
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Russian federation gives emphasis on following points:
• The SC after 74 years of its creation remains one of the main forums for the
coordination of leading power interests in the world community with strong
potential influence on the state of the world.
• Russia contributes to UN conflict resolution and peacekeeping first
politically through mediation and collective decision making in the SC
rather than by donating substantial amount of personnel or funding
• Russia cautiously supports the potential reform and enlargement of SC
• Moscow possesses and promotes a basket of suggestions on reforming SC,
working methods aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the UN and its
structures.

Sources
1. International Policy Analysis research paper on “Russia as a permanent
member of the UN Security Council by Alexander Nikitin
2. DPS MUN study guide [No claims from the same though]