Page 388 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

now increased to 191. During the last 60 years, it has contributed a lot to
world peace. But with the passage of time, equations are changing in world
politics. USA is the only superpower which is taking unilateral decisions,
some of which are not liked by other nations. One such decision was to attack

Iraq without the sanction of the UN Security Council which has prompted the
world body to reform the UN Security Council which should have a balanced

representation.

The present set-up has five permanent members and ten temporary
members who are selected for a term of two years only. The five permanent

members are USA, Russia, China, France and Japan. The present set-up does
not give a true representation of the world; for instance, there are three
members from Europe (Britain, France and Russia) but none from the
African Continent. Similarly, there is only one representative from the

biggest continent, Asia, which represents one-third of the population of the
world, that is, China.

A committee was appointed by the Secretary-General of the UN in 2003 for

recommending reforms in the UN. The committee gave its report in
December 2004. It has given two models for expanding the UN Security

Council. These are:

Model A: Increase the strength of the permanent members by six, two each
from Asia and Africa, one each from South America and Europe. The

strength of temporary members can be increased by 3. Thus, there will be 11
permanent members and 13 temporary members.

Model B: Increase the strength by two each from Asia, Africa, Europe and

the Americas. But these members will have a renewable term of four years.
The temporary membership can be increased by one.

One proposed change is to admit more members: the candidates usually

mentioned are Japan, Germany, India and Brazil (the G4 nations). Britain,
France and Russia support G4 membership in the UN Security Council. Italy
has always opposed this kind of reform, and has submitted since 1992
another proposal, together with other countries, based on the introduction of

semi-permanent membership. In addition, South Korea opposes Japan,