6 | MAY 19 • 2022 

column
The Challenge of Reforming 
a Powerless UN Security Council
T

he Russian war on 
Ukraine, and the seem-
ing powerlessness of 
the United Nations to halt it 
or seriously punish its insti-
gator because of 
the veto power 
that the Russian 
Federation 
wields in the 
UN Security 
Council, has 
reignited a 
long-running 
debate about reforming the 
world body’s most important 
organ. 
The UN Charter states that 
“The Organization is based on 
the principle of the sovereign 
equality of all its Members.” 
But the Charter also grants 

permanent membership and 
veto power in the Security 
Council to World War II’s 
five victorious powers. In the 
eyes of many member states, 
this makes the UN inherently 
undemocratic. 
In 1950, the General 
Assembly, following repeated 
Soviet vetoes regarding the 
war in Korea, adopted the 
“Uniting for Peace” resolu-

tion. It stipulated that “if the 
Security Council, because 
of lack of unanimity of the 
permanent members, fails to 
exercise its primary respon-
sibility for the maintenance 
of international peace and 
security,” an emergency spe-
cial session of the General 
Assembly could be called 
within 24 hours. However, 
since emergency special ses-
sion resolutions are not bind-
ing or enforceable, they have 
never become an alternative to 
Security Council resolutions. 
On April 26, the General 
Assembly adopted a resolution 
by which it will meet and hold 
a debate every time a veto is 
cast in the Security Council. 
The resolution is meant to 

compel permanent members to 
defend their decision to cast a 
veto, but the General Assembly 
does not have the authority to 
reform the Council, includ-
ing curtailing the veto power. 
Any such reform would entail 
changes to the UN Charter, 
which are subject to approval 
by two-thirds of UN member 
states, including all five perma-
nent members of the Security 
Council. 
When the UN was estab-
lished in 1945, with 51 
member states, the Security 
Council was composed of 11 
members, five of which were 
permanent and six non-per-
manent serving a two-year 
term. During the next 20 
years, UN membership grew 

Aaron Jacob

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 10

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