Overview
- G4 foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Thursday urging urgent text-based negotiations to expand both permanent and non-permanent Council seats because they say the current 80-year-old structure cannot meet today's security challenges.
- The African Union’s common position, formally presented to the UN in 2026, demands at least two permanent African seats and additional non-permanent seats, with many African leaders also seeking equal veto privileges if the veto is retained.
- A Uniting for Consensus group of 12 countries publicly rejected adding new permanent members and instead proposed expanding elected membership through longer-term rotational seats as a fairer route for representation.
- Key procedural obstacles persist: any change to permanent membership or the veto requires a UN Charter amendment and practical buy-in and ratification by current permanent members, which member states say blocks near-term institutional change.
- The debate has practical urgency for diplomats because African governments and reform advocates argue that lack of permanent representation weakens the Council’s legitimacy on conflicts and issues like AI governance, while negotiators warn progress will need coalition building and P5 alignment.