New York; The African Union and the Arab League must have permanent seats on the UN Security Council, according to Slovenia's deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, who spoke to Arab News on Tuesday.
Tanja Fajon was giving a speech at the UN's New York headquarters after the General Assembly chose her nation as one of five new non-permanent members of the council, the UN body in charge of preserving world peace and security.
She stated that improving the UN's effectiveness is one of her nation's top priorities.
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There is "an important message" that highlights the need for "finding compromises" and taking action to "reform the council to make it more effective" in the simple fact that 80 percent of the Security Council's agenda focuses on African issues without the continent having a permanent seat.
The need for significant reforms of the council to take into account the evolving requirements of global governance in terms of peace and security, including growing calls from the Global South for a more effective presence at the table, has been the subject of more discussions and debates at the UN in recent months, especially since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Increases in the number of permanent and non-permanent members could be a part of future reforms to help better address the intricate and dynamic threats to global peace and security.
Aside from the numerous African issues on the council's agenda, there are a number of important Arab issues as well, such as Syria, Yemen, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where little progress has been made in recent years and some of which are in a deadlock.
When asked by Arab News if this might imply that the Arab League also merits a permanent seat on the Security Council, along with the African Union, and if she would support such a move when Slovenia's term as a non-permanent member begins in January 2024, Fajon responded, "Yes, if we talk about enlargement we have to speak about enlargement in both categories." She continued, "This is something where we have to find a compromise."
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Reiterating that her nation is committed to pursuing UN reforms, she continued, "We have good expertise and know how to move forward (and we) will continue to even strengthen the dialogue with our partners.
"We need to increase the effectiveness of this organisation. I'm aware of the difficulties. I discussed the need for the reform with a lot of my coworkers. Therefore, we will try to reach agreements on how to improve the Security Council's effectiveness in that regard.
In the General Assembly, Slovenia, a member of the EU and NATO, received 153 votes, easily defeating Belarus, which received 38 votes in the secret ballot. They were vying for the Eastern European-designated council seat.
The other nations chosen to serve two-year terms on the council were South Korea (180), Sierra Leone (188), Algeria (184), and Guyana (191, which received 191 votes). They will take over for Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the UAE, whose two-year terms expire on December 31. Their terms will start on January 1.
When asked if the US's position in the Security Council would have an impact on Slovenia as a NATO member, Fajon responded, "Let me put it simply: Give us a chance to prove that we are capable of working with everyone, that we are very self confident with our foreign policy, and that we will work hard to understand everyone and (their) needs."
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She continued by stating that Slovenians "have enough self-confidence and we have a strong diplomacy network that we will do what we believe is best, not only for Slovenia and our region but for the world." In her capacity as foreign minister, she had meetings with more than 150 representatives of international governments in the previous year.