Brasília – In defence of the urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council, the Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, has a meeting scheduled for today (24th), in New York, with other parties interested in the same proposal. Late in the afternoon, Amorim should meet with the foreign ministers of Japan, India and Germany. The idea is to strengthen the campaign for expanding the organization.
Yesterday (23rd), the minister reiterated the need for changes in the structure of the Security Council. "The council should be reformed to allow the participation of developing countries. You cannot discuss matters of general concern at closed doors," said Amorim at the opening of the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations, in New York.
The framework of the Security Council has been the same ever since its inception, in 1945, shortly after World War II. It comprises 15 countries – ten of which occupy temporary seats for up to two years, whereas five are permanent members.
The main proposal being discussed is the inclusion among the organization’s permanent members of two more countries from Asia, one from Latin America, one from Eastern Europe and one from Africa. Presently, the council’s permanent members are the United States, Russia, China, France and England. The organization’s temporary members are Brazil, Turkey, Bosnia Herzegovina, Gabon, Nigeria, Austria, Japan, Mexico, Lebanon and Uganda.
Responsible for decisions ranging from the authorization of military intervention in any of the 192 UN member countries to the passing of sanctions, the Security Council has recently shown its power. On June 9th, by approval of the majority, the organization imposed a series of sanctions on Iran, out of suspicion that the nuclear program developed in the country has military purposes.
The Security Council also has powers for reviewing the need for military personnel to be sent to and maintained in threatened areas, on United Nations peace missions, in the case of conflict or political crises.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum