Стр. 6 - V

Author : D. Kikou
Candidate of Science (Political Science)
SHORTLY BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS
marked its 70th anniversary in October 2015, some
countries mounted pressure for enlarging the number
of seats on the UN Security Council. This campaign is
spearheaded by the so-called Group of Four (G4) -
Brazil, India, Germany, and Japan, which seek perma-
nent membership in the Security Council. Russia as one
of the council's permanent members again finds itself
confronted with questions of whose membership bids
to support and what is the formula for reforming the
United Nations' main body that all UN member states
would accept.
Remarkably, the current U.S. administration seems to try to gloss over the promises of former
American president Bill Clinton to consider the bid of Germany along with that of Japan for
permanent membership on the Security Council despite the declared equal and strategic character
of American-German relations.
The G4 was opposed by Uniting for Consensus (UfC), a group whose participants include Italy,
Spain, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, and South Korea.
In a draft General Assembly resolution, UfC proposed an interim reform centering on enlarging
the number of non-permanent members from 10 to 20 with the non-permanent members
elected for a two-year term and being eligible for immediate re-election. UfC also called for "re-
straint on the use of the veto" by permanent members.
THERE are no officially approved criteria for permanent membership of the Security Council,
but the G4 nations usually claim that they satisfy non-permanent membership criteria as pre-
scribed in Article 23 of Chapter V of the UN Charter. These include "contribution .... to the
maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization,
and also to equitable geographical distribution."
RECENTLY, Moscow has revised the policy of supporting some countries' bids for Security
Council seats that it adopted at the start of the 21st century. This was motivated by geopolitical
developments and changes in Russia's relations with those countries.
As no progress had been made toward a peace treaty between Russia and Japan and Tokyo con-
tinued to lay claim to part of Russian territory, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was unable
to obtain support from Russia for his country's bid for permanent membership in the Council
during his visit to Moscow in April 2013.
At the same time, it needs to be mentioned that the potential enlargement of the Security Coun-
cil's permanent membership would complicate its decision-making procedures. Ongoing pressure
Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Proposed Reforms of the UN Security Council