G4 and African group respond to joint statement of UK and USA

Two days ago we published joint statement made by United Kingdom and USA, that can be found here. They publicly shared a disappointment because they claimed that they were not included in the negotiation process regarding Security Council reform. We later found out and reported that there were two major working groups that were preparing working paper, Uniting for Consensus and G4+African group. Each of them have different ambitions and plans for the outcome of thursday's GA session, however only the latter commented the statement of United Kingdom and USA and recognized the importance not to ignore their position. They are completely aware that Security Council reform needs strong cooperation and broadest support possible.


G4 and African group explained that they wanted to 'coordinate and establish common position' before creating a draft working paper and talking to other delegations. It looks like that African countries are very committed to achieve greater representation in the Security Council and they are aware that only complete consensus inside the group can bring them success. G4 group is another group that knows the importance of close cooperation since India and Germany are supporting each other's ambitions for permanent seat. After the draft working paper was created, they contacted the delegates of UK and USA in order to collect standings from P5 group.

"Certain positions and suggestions were considered and incorporated even before," they continued and explained that they did not ignore the common position of P5 group. For example, in a working paper they did not include the demand to abolish a veto. They concluded the statement by recognition of accepting large cooperation while negotiating in General Assembly. It seems that they are sticking to this since their representatives were seen on the meeting with Uniting for Consensus and P5 delegates today. We will report what was the outcome of this meeting soon.

Luka Kavčič

Bellow you can read official respond to UK and USA statement:

OFFICIAL RESPONSE OF THE AFRICAN-G4 GROUP TO THE STATEMENT ON SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM NEGOTIATIONS

Group of African states and the G4 would like to respond to the statement of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America published in the UN Herald.

We would like to stress that our group decided to first coordinate and establish a common position on the Security Council reform and form it into a draft working paper. As soon as our draft document was prepared we contacted the UK and USA and sent them our document in order to hear their opinion and discuss the comments provided by respective Representatives.

Furthermore, certain positions and suggestions of the permanent member states were considered and incorporated in our proposal even before, while African and G4 states were preparing the draft on the Security Council reform, when the group of African states already made concessions and eliminated its demand for the abolition of veto.

We strongly believe that in order to retain Security Council’s accountability, efficiency and legitimacy and in order to reflect the nowadays reality of the international community, it needs to be reformed. However, such reform requires strong cooperation and the broadest support possible and this is why African and G4 states approached variety of member states and proposed a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.