Saudi Arabia reiterates calls for U.N. reforms

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly called for the reforms of the U.N. Security Council and its working methods so that it can effectively carry out its basic tasks of maintaining peace and security, said Kingdom’s permanent representative to U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi.

He mentioned the efforts to reform the Security Council since 1993, but said that “we have not been able to find comprehensive and workable solutions.”

Mouallimi said that a majority of member states agree that there is a major flaw in the working of the Security Council which undermines its credibility and effectiveness. “This is clear in the deadlock faced by the Council on many issues including the Palestinian and the Syrian crises,” he said.

The Saudi diplomat reiterated his country’s readiness to cooperate with the rest of the member states of the Security Council to tackle the procedures for Council’s reforms, which include voluntary change of right of use of the veto, collective pledge not to obstruct accountability for war crimes and acts of genocide, and raising the level of transparency and openness, including the issue of the selection of secretary general.

On May 2, 2013, a group of over 20 U.N. member states launched a new initiative to improve the working methods of the U.N. Security Council. The group chose the acronym ACT to highlight its goal of pressing for greater Accountability, Coherence and Transparency in the Council’s activities. To achieve this, ACT aims to in¬crease both the involvement of non-Council members and the accountability of the Council to the entire U.N. membership.

The group comprised 22 members from various regions: Austria, Chile, Costa Rica, Estonia, Finland, Gabon, Hungary, Ireland, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Maldives, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzer¬land, Tanzania (observer) and Uruguay.

This article first appeared in the Saudi Gazette on Oct. 22, 2015.