World’s path to peace should no longer be blocked by one or two countries, Kuwait’s ambassador to UN tells Arab News

Decades of debate on reforming the Security Council culminated last week in a pact that commits member states to implementing long-demanded changes. (AFP)
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Updated 29 September 2024
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World’s path to peace should no longer be blocked by one or two countries, Kuwait’s ambassador to UN tells Arab News

  • Tareq AlBanai highlights problem of ability of single veto-wielding UNSC permanent member to obstruct action even when majority supports a motion
  • Landmark Pact for the Future adopted this week at 79th UNGA session commits world leaders to reform Security Council to better reflect today’s realities

NEW YORK: Decades of debate on reforming the UN Security Council reached what some are calling a turning point this week with the adoption of a “groundbreaking” pact that commits member states to implementing long-demanded changes.

For Tareq AlBanai, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN, the pact was the culmination of two years of work built on the belief that no single member state should be able to obstruct action on a matter of global urgency.

Since 2022, AlBanai and Austria’s ambassador to the UN have spearheaded the inter-governmental negotiations to reform the Security Council, whose five permanent members have retained their veto power since the UN’s formation in 1945.




Tareq AlBanai, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN. (KUNA photo)

AlBanai described his time co-chairing the inter-governmental negotiations on Security Council reforms as a “labor of love.”

“The Security Council is the only body charged with the maintenance of international peace and security,” he told Arab News. “It is the cornerstone of the multilateral system and the UN when it comes to peace and security. The everyday man around the world — when he thinks of the UN, he thinks of the Security Council.

“And when we see the Security Council unable to act on the most pressing situations around the world that threaten international peace and security, you lose faith in this institution.

“And that is not a good thing. It is the only, truly, universal, multilateral system that we have.”

The mounting calls to reform the council are decades in the making.

Countries such as India, Brazil, Germany and Japan have renewed their appeal for permanent seats to better reflect the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. Meanwhile, the Permanent 5 members (US, UK, France, Russia and China) have urged caution, highlighting the need for “consensus and stability.”

UN SecurityCouncil Members

Permanent members

• China

• France

• Russia

• United Kingdom

• United States

Non-permanent members elected every 2 years

(Until 2024)

• Ecuador

• Japan

• Malta

• Mozambique

• Switzerland

(Until 2025)

• Algeria

• Guyana

• South Korea

• Slovenia

• Sierra Leone

* Elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly

(Source: UN.Org)

The intergovernmental negotiations led by Kuwait and Austria have included discussions on regional representation, the criteria for new permanent members and the balance of power within the Security Council.

“A reformed Security Council, in my opinion, needs to be a place where we can secure collective action through the collective understanding of the members,” AlBanai said.

“No member state should have the ability to stop the majority of the world from taking decisive action on any matter at hand.

“And if they decide to use a prerogative, then there must be ways that we can, as an international community, through the General Assembly or through any other mechanisms we agree on in the future, find an alternative path.

“The path to peace cannot be (stymied) by one, two or even three member states when the majority of the world believes that the way forward is in a specific manner.”

The Pact for the Future — adopted this week at the 79th session of UN General Assembly after nine months of negotiations — offers a consensus vision for cooperation among countries in tackling challenges ranging from climate and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty.

But, more importantly for those eying Security Council reform, the pact also commits world leaders to reform the 15-member organ to better reflect today’s world, “redress the historical injustice against Africa,” which has no permanent seat, and correct the underrepresentation of the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.

Austria and Kuwait led the negotiations on council reform with vigor, holding a series of televised debates on the topic. Alongside discussions on the main pact, UN members hosted isolated Security Council reform talks, recognizing that the topic could complicate agreements on other issues included in the document.

Guy Ryder, the UN’s under secretary-general for policy, called the language in the pact “groundbreaking,” highlighting the commitment to develop a consolidated model of Security Council reform.

“Now, this might sound rather esoteric, and this would be one of the most difficult things to explain to the person in the street, but for those engaged in this type of process since the 1960s, and the co-facilitators of negotiations, Austria and Kuwait, this is groundbreaking language,” Ryder told Arab News.




Guy Ryder, the UN’s under secretary-general for policy. (un.org photo)

AlBanai agreed, highlighting the avenue to substantial reform that the pact has opened.

“Is it groundbreaking? Well, it’s the first time since 1963 that we have a commitment at the head of state and government level to further enhance the Security Council,” he said, calling for a council that is representative, transparent, effective, inclusive, democratic and accountable.

This is essential for the operation of a functioning multilateral system, according to Al-Banai.

“If we can manage through this process to enhance not only the capacity of the Security Council, but the actual shape, form and actions of the council by increasing its membership, by making it more representative of the world we live in today in 2024, and not the world of 1945, then we have achieved something,” he said.

With only the first step on a long journey ahead having been taken, AlBanai is acutely aware that reform has been a painstakingly slow process.

In the months after the UN was founded in 1945, some member states had already recognized the need for a more flexible Security Council. It was only in the late 1970s that some brought the issue of council reform to the attention of the General Assembly.

Yet substantial progress has remained elusive. One of the most significant barriers to reform has been the frequent turnover of diplomats and experts at the UN, which can stifle continuity in discussions.

To address this, AlBanai and his co-chair, Austrian Ambassador Alexander Marschik, prioritized transparency in negotiations.




Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations Alexander Marschik. (AFP/File)

Through initiatives like webcasting meetings and creating a comprehensive repository of documents, they aimed to make the reform process accessible to a broader audience, including NGOs and academic institutions. That decision has opened the doors for new stakeholders to engage with the reform process, fostering a more inclusive atmosphere for discussion.

One of the most controversial results of the Security Council’s existing format has been the increasingly liberal use of veto power by some permanent members.

In recent years, lone members of the P5 have paralyzed and undermined the credibility of the council, in a pattern that risks damaging the reputation of the entire organization, according to representatives from a wide spectrum of countries. 

AlBanai highlighted the troubling reality of a single veto-wielding permanent member being able to obstruct action, even when the majority of the council supports a motion.

This gridlock has been most evident in discussions surrounding the war in Gaza, with repeated vetoes preventing meaningful action on a ceasefire and urgent humanitarian issues.

“(The veto’s) use or misuse have been a central focus of member states because, unfortunately, one member, or a combination of members, with that ability can stop the movement of the wider international community toward addressing an issue as important as the genocide currently happening in Gaza or any other matter that is under consideration in the Security Council,” AlBanai said.




In this photo taken on December 8, 2023, Ambassador Robert A. Wood, US alternate representative for special political affairs in the United Nations, raises his hand to veto a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)

While many member states advocate for the abolition of the veto, such a change is complex, requiring the agreement of the existing veto holders, he added.

“It’s unrealistic to expect that the current P5 will agree to eliminate their own power.”

To sidestep this quandary, discussions have shifted toward giving new permanent members — should they be added — veto power, but the proposal has proved contentious among member states.

Those in opposition argue for the need to reduce veto use entirely, with calls to ban use of the veto power in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

There remains broad support, however, for expanding council membership, in both permanent and non-permanent categories, and for unrepresented or underrepresented regions and continents, such as Africa and Asia, to have a “meaningful seat” at the table. 

One notable development in the reform discussions came in the form of a recent US proposal to add two permanent seats for Africa in the council, though without veto power.

“What I like about the American proposal is that it invites conversation,” said AlBanai, highlighting the importance of moving from abstract discussion to concrete action.

As part of their efforts, Kuwait and Austria introduced “model discussions,” which invited member states and country blocs to present their models of a reformed Security Council.

“That allows the opportunity to move from a conceptual kind of conversation into an actual, almost 3D conversation, where member states sit at the podium with the co-chairs and present, and then all other member states are given the opportunity to actually ask questions and to, if you will, poke holes in this model,” said AlBanai.

He welcomed the US proposal as a positive step and encouraged other member states to do the same: “The Americans have moved from one African member to now two African members. Maybe they’ll move to two permanent African members with a veto in the future. Who knows? But we have to have that conversation, and we have to inject new blood into it.”


READ MORE: 

• UN Security Council must reform to ‘reflect realities of modern world’: Kuwait crown prince

• UN Security Council falls short of meeting aspirations, says Arab League chief

 Saudi FM calls for UN reform

 Bahrain supports UN reform that ‘reflects current geopolitical realities’: Crown prince

• Reform of UN can ‘give Africa a voice,’ Mauritanian president says

• Algerian FM calls for UN reform to meet ‘dangers lurking all over the world’


The discussions on UNSC reform have also included a focus on regional representation.

One longstanding proposal that has been almost universally accepted is adding a permanent seat for the Arab world, which has long been advocated by the Arab League.

Cross Regional Groups have also introduced the idea of permanent seats for themselves, such as Small Island Developing States, known as SIDS, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“We have to consider these ideas,” said AlBanai.

“I don’t know what the criteria is. Is it the number of agenda items that are discussed in the Security Council? Is it your population? Is it the fact that you have the biggest army? The biggest economy? Could it be the number of international treaties that you’ve signed? Your compliance with international law? There are so many criteria out there, and the discussions should help us narrow in on who is deserving of this seat and how that could be in the future.

“But, surely, the most important thing is that we have a Security Council that reflects the realities of today.”
 

 


After decades of service, Taiwan retires its last F-5 fighter jets

Updated 56 min 35 sec ago
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After decades of service, Taiwan retires its last F-5 fighter jets

  • To keep pace with increased threats from mainland China, Taiwan has been upgrading both its manned and unmanned aerial assets

HUALIEN, Taiwan: After decades in service, Taiwan’s Vietnam-era F-5 fighter jets are being retired as part of the island democracy’s transition to more advanced hardware.
To keep pace with increased threats from mainland China, Taiwan has been upgrading both its manned and unmanned aerial assets, including purchasing 66 of the latest generation F-16V fighters and upgrading existing aircraft to modern specifications.
China claims the island as its own territory and has never dropped its threat to invade since the sides split amid civil war in 1949.
The air force invited journalists on Friday to witness one last flyby by the F-5, which first entered service with Taiwan in 1965 and most of which have now been converted to trainers, reconnaissance planes or decoys.
The planes began moving into a backing role 30 years ago when Taiwan began acquiring more modern American F-16s, French Mirage 2000s and domestically developed Ching Kuos.
The F-5 is one of the world’s most widely produced jets, with Taiwan the largest operator at one point with 336, producing some 100 domestically. Dozens of countries still use them, including the US, which uses them as pretend opponents in training exercises.
The planes gained favor for their high speed and maneuverability, alongside their low cost and ease of maintenance. For Taiwan, they guarded the skies above the Taiwan Strait against mainland China’s Soviet and domestically built fighters.
Taiwan’s F-5s were based along the eastern coast, separated from China by both the 160 kilometer (100 mile)-wide Taiwan Strait and Taiwan’s formidable Central Mountain Range.


Rio to host BRICS summit wary of Trump

Updated 04 July 2025
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Rio to host BRICS summit wary of Trump

  • The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies
  • Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: A summit of BRICS nations will convene in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around US President Donald Trump’s policies.

The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies including China, India, Russia and South Africa, which represent nearly half of the world’s population and 40 percent of its GDP.

Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have to navigate the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will miss the summit for the first time.

Beijing will instead be represented by its Prime Minister Li Qiang.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is facing a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, will not travel to Brazil, but is set to participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, fresh from a 12-day conflict with Israel and a skirmish with the United States, will also be absent, as will his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a Brazilian government source said.

Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit, as well as the grim anticipation of tariffs threatened by Trump due next week.

“We’re anticipating a summit with a cautious tone: it will be difficult to mention the United States by name in the final declaration,” Marta Fernandez, director of the BRICS Policy Center at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University said.

China, for example, “is trying to adopt a restrained position on the Middle East,” Fernandez said, pointing out that Beijing was also in tricky tariff negotiations with Washington.

“This doesn’t seem to be the right time to provoke further friction” between the world’s two leading economies, the researcher said.

BRICS members did not issue a strong statement on the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent US military strikes due to their “diverging” interests, according to Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Brazil nevertheless hopes that countries can take a common stand at the summit, including on the most sensitive issues.

“BRICS (countries), throughout their history, have managed to speak with one voice on major international issues, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case this time on the subject of the Middle East,” Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said.

However, talks on finding an alternative to the dollar for trade between BRICS members are likely dead in the water.

For Fernandez, it is almost “forbidden” to mention the idea within the group since Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on countries that challenge the dollar’s international dominance.

Brazil, which in 2030 will host the COP30 UN climate conference, also hopes to find unity on the fight against climate change.

Artificial intelligence and global governance reform will also be on the menu.

“The escalation of the Middle East conflict reinforces the urgency of the debate on the need to reform global governance and strengthen multilateralism,” said foreign minister Vieira.

Since 2023, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia have joined the BRICS, formed in 2009 as a counter-balance to leading Western economies.

But, as Fernandez points out, this expansion “makes it all the more difficult to build a strong consensus.”


A bill setting new limits on asylum-seekers passes in the Dutch parliament

Updated 04 July 2025
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A bill setting new limits on asylum-seekers passes in the Dutch parliament

  • The Dutch Red Cross has estimated 23,000 to 58,000 people live in the Netherlands without an official right to residence

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A pair of bills cracking down on asylum-seekers wishing to settle in the Netherlands has passed in the Dutch parliament after wrangling and soul-searching by some lawmakers who feared the law would criminalize offering compassionate help to undocumented migrants.
The legislation cuts temporary asylum residency from five to three years, indefinitely suspends the issuance of new asylum residency permits and reins in family reunions for people who have been granted asylum. It passed in the lower house late Thursday evening but could still be rejected in the upper house.
The Dutch Red Cross has estimated 23,000 to 58,000 people live in the Netherlands without an official right to residence.
Taking tough measures to rein in migration was a policy cornerstone for the four-party coalition led by the Party for Freedom of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders. The coalition collapsed last month after just 11 months in office, and migration is expected to be a key issue ahead of the snap election Oct. 29.
Wilders pulled the plug on the coalition saying it was taking too long to enact moves to rein in migration. His coalition partners rejected the criticism, saying they all backed the crackdown. His party currently holds a narrow lead in opinion polls over a center-left two-party bloc that recently agreed to a formal merger.
The opposition Christian Democrats withdrew their support for the legislation put to the vote Thursday over a late amendment that would criminalize people living in the Netherlands without a valid visa or asylum ruling — and would also criminalize people and organizations that help such undocumented migrants. The amendment was introduced by a member of Wilders’ party and passed narrowly because a small number of opposition lawmakers were not present for the vote.
The vote took place in the final session of parliament before lawmakers broke for the summer. The upper house will consider the legislation after it returns from the recess. If Christian Democrats in the upper chamber reject it, the legislation will be returned to the lower house.


Russia hammers Kyiv in largest missile and drone barrage since war in Ukraine began

Updated 04 July 2025
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Russia hammers Kyiv in largest missile and drone barrage since war in Ukraine began

  • Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine overnight, the country’s air force said
  • Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles

KYIV: Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial attack since Russia’s war in Ukraine began, injuring 23 people and inflicting damage across multiple districts of the capital.

Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine overnight, the country’s air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, while Russia used 11 missiles in the attack.

Throughout the night, Associated Press journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault.

Kyiv was the primary target of the attack. At least 23 people were injured, with 14 hospitalized, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed.

Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites.

The attack came hours after President Donald Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and made his first public comments on his administration’s decision to pause some shipments of weapons to Ukraine.

That decision affects munitions, including Patriot missiles, the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile and shorter-range Stinger missiles. They are needed to counter incoming missiles and drones, and to bring down Russian aircraft.

It’s been less than a week since Russia’s previous largest aerial assault of the war. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia fired 537 drones, decoys and 60 missiles in that attack.

Emergency services reported damage in at least five of the capital’s 10 districts. In Solomianskyi district, a five-story residential building was partially destroyed and the roof of a seven-story building caught fire. Fires also broke out at a warehouse, a garage complex and an auto repair facility.

In Sviatoshynskyi district, a strike hit a 14-story residential building, sparking a fire. Several vehicles also caught fire nearby. Blazes were also reported at non-residential facilities.

In Shevchenkivskyi district, an eight-story building came under attack, with the first floor sustaining damage. Falling debris was recorded in Darnytskyi and Holosiivskyi districts.

Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said drone strikes damaged rail infrastructure in Kyiv.


Navy ships and helicopters used in intensified search for 30 missing after Indonesian ferry sinks

Updated 41 min 52 sec ago
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Navy ships and helicopters used in intensified search for 30 missing after Indonesian ferry sinks

  • As of Friday morning, 30 people were still missing after 29 were plucked from the water to safety
  • At least four survivors were found early on Thursday after saving themselves by climbing into the ferry’s lifeboat

GILIMANUK, Indonesia: Indonesian authorities deployed navy ships and helicopters Friday in the intensified search for 30 people still missing almost two days after a ferry sank near the tourist island of Bali.
More than 160 rescuers including police and soldiers were involved in the search that resumed after being halted overnight due to poor visibility, said Ribut Eko Suyatno, the deputy chief of operations at the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Three helicopters and a thermal drone were searching by air over the Bali Strait, while about 20 vessels and fishing boats were mobilized for the sea search, Suyatno said. As weather forecasts predict high waves and rough waters around the Bali Strait on Friday, he said at least three navy ships were deployed.
Videos and photos released by the agency showed rescuers looking desperately from rescue boats in the waters but no new survivors or bodies found by Friday afternoon.
“We are ready to deploy divers to scour the sea if needed and if the weather is fine,” Suyatno said in a statement.
The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya ferry sank almost half an hour after leaving Ketapang port in East Java late Wednesday for a trip of about 5 kilometers (3 miles) to Bali’s Gilimanuk port.
The agency released the names of 29 survivors and six people confirmed dead late Thursday. It didn’t release names of the missing, but the passenger manifest showed 30 people still were missing.
On Friday, survivors were being treated at Bali’s Jembrana Regional Hospital, while the bodies have been handed over to the families for funerals. Distraught relatives gathered at the port office in Gilimanuk, hoping for news of missing family members.
Indonesian authorities are investigating the cause of the sinking. Some survivors told rescuers there appeared to be a leak in the engine room of the ferry, which was carrying 22 vehicles including 14 trucks.
But a survivor, Bejo Santoso, in an interview with Metro TV, believed that high waves and strong current as the cause of the accident.
“The high waves hit the ferry several times, causing the vessel rolled to the left when it was halfway to Gilimanuk,” said Santoso who traveled alone to Bali by a travel bus. He recalled how trucks, buses and other cars immediately fell and piled up on the left side of the ferry and within less than five minutes the ship sank.
“It all happened so fast that there was not enough time for the crew to issue instructions,” Santoso said, adding that there were a lot of life jackets in the ferry, but in such a short time, only the people on the outer deck could reach it, including him who immediately threw it overboard before jumping into the sea.
“I didn’t get to wear a life jacket on board, but held it as a floating tool for hours at sea until a fisherman rescued us early morning with his boat,” Santoso said. He estimated that only half of people onboard able to jump to the sea, some with life jackets and others with two lifeboats.
He floated for more than six hours in choppy waters along with three other male passengers, but one of them, who claimed to be suffering from lung disease, died after almost four hours of floating, “due to panic and drinking too much sea water,” Santoso said. The group of three kept the man’s body with them until they were rescued.
Ferry tragedies occur regularly in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame.
Fifteen people were killed after a boat capsized off Indonesia’s Sulawesi in 2023, while another ferry sank in rough seas near Bali in 2021, leaving seven dead and 11 missing.
In 2018, an overcrowded ferry sank with about 200 people on board in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people.
In one of the country’s worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors.