Citing Russia's 'shameful pattern of abusing its veto privilege', US says co-sponsoring UNGA resolution on UNSC veto

Citing Russia's shameful pattern of abusing its veto privilege over the years, the US has said it is co-sponsoring a UN General Assembly resolution that would automatically convene a meeting of the UNGA after a veto has been cast in the Security Council.

United Nations: Citing Russia's shameful pattern of abusing its veto privilege over the years, the US has said it is co-sponsoring a UN General Assembly resolution that would automatically convene a meeting of the UNGA after a veto has been cast in the Security Council. There are times when a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council will conclude that a particular resolution will not advance international peace and security and will veto that resolution, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday. She said when a Permanent Member casts a veto in the Council, that member should be prepared to explain why the resolution at issue would not have furthered the maintenance of international peace and security.

Unfortunately, not all members of the Security Council share this sentiment. We are particularly concerned by Russia's shameful pattern of abusing its veto privilege over the past two decades, including its vetoes to kill a UN observer mission in Georgia, block accountability measures and chemical weapons investigations in Syria, prevent the establishment of a criminal tribunal on the downing of flight MH-17 over Ukraine, and protect President Putin from condemnation over his unprovoked and unjust war of choice against Ukraine, she said.

The United States is co-sponsoring the UN General Assembly resolution, spearheaded by a core group of Member States led by Liechtenstein, on the UN Security Council veto. Thomas-Greenfield said this innovative measure would automatically convene a meeting of the General Assembly after a veto has been cast in the Security Council. The UN General Assembly resolution on the veto will be a significant step toward the accountability, transparency, and responsibility of all of the Permanent Members of the Security Council members who wield its power, she added.

In February, just a day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that would have deplored in the strongest terms Moscow's aggression" against Ukraine failed to pass since permanent member Russia, and President of the Security Council for the month of February, used its veto. Executive Director for Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth had said that Russia's veto at the UN Security Council sends a bone-chilling signal to civillians in Ukraine of its indifference to international law.

The G4 nations of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have asserted that the Security Council has failed to fulfil its responsibility to maintain international peace and security due to the use of the veto by its permanent members and this issue requires profound and serious discussions. Due to the use of veto, the Security Council has at times failed to fulfill its responsibility to maintain international peace and security. We have seen these failures are seriously undermining the legitimacy of this important body on multiple occasions, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Kimihiro Ishikane had said last month.

Thus, the question of veto requires profound and serious discussions, he had said, making a statement on behalf of the G4 at the Informal Meeting of the General Assembly on the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform. The Japanese envoy had added that "unfortunately, whether we approve it or not, the dynamics of the Council gives permanent members a differentiated status in the decision making process.

We must not be oblivious to the fact that permanent members have an influence on the decisions of the Security Council that elected members simply cannot match. That is the reason why any meaningful reform of the Council must address the current imbalance in the composition of the permanent membership of the body. The legitimacy and effectiveness of the Council depends on this, Ishikane said. As negotiated in 1945, the UN Charter entrusts in the five Permanent Members of the Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - the ability to prevent the adoption of a resolution through a veto a mechanism long the subject of institutional debate. The United States takes seriously its privilege of veto power; it is a sober and solemn responsibility that must be respected by those Permanent Members to whom it has been entrusted, the US envoy said.

PTI