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Author : A. Kalyadin
Chief Research Associate, Ye.M. Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Science (History)
FOR A LONG TIME, there have been heated debates about proposed
reforms of the United Nations Security Council. Various ways of adapt-
ing the council to 21st-century realities were suggested at the General
Assembly's 70th jubilee session. The main points of controversy were
whether, in the event of membership enlargement, the council should
increase its number of permanent or non-permanent members and
which countries should be included in the permanent group if the latter
bacame larger. Unfortunately, these debates don't seem likely to be over
any time soon.
THERE ARE serious disagreements between those countries that are
against enlarging the Security Council's permanent membership and
those that insist on a larger permanent membership.
It might be advisable to start reforming the Security Council by strengthening its military component,
addressing issues such as the allocation by member countries of national troops to council forces
and the revival of the Military Staff Committee.
The Security Council is the main instrument for ensuring international security. It is the main inter-
national entity vested with the role of detecting threats to peace such as threats of aggression. It
urges parties to a dispute to settle it peacefully and recommends methods or terms of settlement.
In some situations, the council may use sanctions or even approve the use of force to maintain or
restore international peace and security.
It is a serious advantage of the council that it is a standing and convenient facility for nations to ne-
gotiate peacekeeping, disarmament, and nonproliferation policies.
A REFORM that can turn the Security Council into the coordinator of global security efforts and
enable it to use its entire potential should chiefly involve an overhaul of the council's set of resources,
including its organizational and operational mechanisms. That is indispensable for the council to
be able to control potentially conflict-provoking processes and manage global and regional security
crises. It would enable the council to make full-scale use of its unique legal powers and organizational
resources.
There remains an urgent need for consensus-based Security Council measures to combat terrorism
and prevent it from spreading all over the world. World leaders need to come to realize how serious
this threat is.
The world needs to take this line of action more than ever before. There is no rational alternative
to it. Joint efforts and comprehensive use of the UN Security Council's peace enforcement potential
would be the best guarantees of global security. There are resources to pursue this line, and it is
clear how to use them.
Reforms for the UN Security Council