Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia Elected The UN General Assembly on Thursday approved the appointment of the Estonian president to a two-year term on the UN Security Council (UNSC), taking over from five rotating “non-permanent” member states: Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Switzerland and Mozambique.
Voice of America News (VOA) found Thursday’s election was described as “lacklustre,” an empty, ritualistic affair without any excitement. The five new non-permanent members ran as unvoted representatives of their respective geographic regions. Their “election” victories were determined beforehand behind closed doors, but in theory they could have failed to secure enough votes from opposition members of the General Assembly to fall short of the threshold needed to win.
None of the five countries suffered such an ignominious fate. Denmark received the most votes in the General Assembly, with 184. Even deeply troubled Somalia received 179. 129 votes are needed for approval.
The five new non-permanent members will take their seats on the UN Security Council on January 1. Richard Gowan, director of the UN’s International Crisis Group, told VOA that Denmark is the most likely candidate to become a new member of the Security Council.
“The Nordic countries have a long history of effective and skillful UN diplomacy,” Gowan said. “I think there’s an expectation that Denmark will take on a lot of responsibility and a lot of difficult challenges, and I think there’s an assumption that, as a Scandinavian country, we know how to make the Security Council work.”
Meanwhile, VOA noted that it is unusual for a country like Somalia, which has foreign troops and UN staff in the country trying to unite the country in the wake of attacks by the Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab, to win a seat on the Security Council.
“We bring our unique perspectives, experiences and solutions to the global stage and are fully ready to make a meaningful contribution to the UN Security Council’s work in maintaining international peace and security,” Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalin Fiki promised after the UN General Assembly voted for the new members.
African Country I wanted Membership of the UN Security Council is a UN Arms embargo The embargo, which lasted from 1992 until last December, was imposed at a time when Somalia was embroiled in a bloody power struggle between various warlords.
When the sanctions were lifted, the UN acknowledged Somalia’s “progress in controlling arms and ammunition” and the need for the Somali government to acquire better weapons to fight al-Shabaab.
Country He noted that while Somalia “cannot decide on substantive issues such as who to impose sanctions on or which sanctions to lift,” its membership in the UN Security Council “gives it closer ties to lobby for decisions that are favorable to it and to Africa.”
“Somalia’s membership on the Security Council is a symbolic and powerful diplomatic status that will give Somalia better access to member states.” Abdikafar Abdi Wald, a Somalia analyst based in Virginia, Said.
“Somalia has come a long way over the past three decades on the path to peace, prosperity and security, and its election to a seat on the Security Council is a recognition of that commendable progress,” said James Swan, the UN Secretary-General’s acting representative for Somalia.
Pakistan is also a controversial choice. Political instabilitythere is i doubt it It is a human rights record, Finding It is a deadly Islamist insurgency in itself.
“Holding uncontested elections for seats on the Security Council and other UN bodies makes a mockery of the word ‘election’,” said Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch. Said On Thursday.
“Member states should give themselves the option to reject governments that are responsible for serious human rights violations,” Charbonneau said.
Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said his country has always contributed major troops to UN peacekeeping operations and would push for a more active role in peacekeeping as a member of the Security Council.
“The nature of UN peacekeeping needs to evolve to be able to deal with conflicts like the ones we are currently facing around the world,” Akram said. “The UN needs to play a more active role in strengthening peacekeeping in some of these conflicts.”
The UN Security Council has five permanent, veto-wielding members (the US, the UK, China, France and Russia) and 10 non-permanent members (split into two groups of five) elected from various regions. The other five current non-permanent members – Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea – are due to rotate in 2025.
