African legislators push for UN Security Council reforms

Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, while giving an address at the 63rd Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) - European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly  which is underway in Brussels, Belgium, said that it is a shame that Africa, which is three times bigger than Europe, is not represented at the UN Security Council.

Tayebwa also called for the African Union to be given a more significant voice at the UN's International Peace and Security Organisation.

"The Security Council has been reduced to settling quarrels between big states and superpowers, but when it came to the invasion of Africa, specifically the invasion of Libya, you did all you could and you made a mess. Now you have seen what one of your own, whom you considered an ally in the Security Council, has done to one of your European countries, and you’re waking up. Maybe we need more of these examples for you to wake up," Tayebwa said.

He said Uganda and her friendly countries would press for Africa to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Zimbabwe's Deputy President of the Senate, General Michael Reuben Nyambuya, said Africa should be represented equitably.

"An enlarged council should include at least two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats for Africa," he said, adding that the current dispensation isn’t democratic and "makes a mockery of the lectures that we get on democracy."

Nyambuya said that the lack of representation of African interests in the UN Security Council is an injustice to help the current dispensation remain as it is.

Namibian Natangue Ithete told the OACPS assembly that most of the demands for reforms have previously met a dead end, mostly because the Council itself has to endorse any changes to its structure, including an approval vote by all five permanent members.

 "Those with power keep rejecting our call for permanent representation in the Security Council. We don’t know whether we are saying it to the right people or not. It’s about time. The Security Council should listen to us. The charter needs to be changed so that Africa can have a permanent seat on the Security Council. It cannot be business as usual," Ithete said.

He added that if the current UN feels that Africa cannot have a permanent seat at the Security Council, the continent will rally other countries to form a separate but independent UN assembly that will replace the current one.

"The current one doesn’t speak to our democracy. Where is the democracy if you have a continent that isn’t represented in the Security Council?" he said.

The Deputy Speaker of Trinidad and Tobago, Esmond Irving Forde, and the head of the delegation said that any negotiations about UN Security Council reforms must include discussions about permanent seats for the African Union and the Caribbean.

Eritrea's Head of Delegation, Musa Husein Naib, told the OACPS assembly that all countries, regardless of size, should play an increasingly bigger and more effective role in the endeavour to build a fair, just, equitable, and sustainable globe.

Tayebwa further explained that Security Council membership, where European countries have had three out of the five seats since 1947, has no standing in any modern society.

"There are no permanent members from Latin America or Africa, and China is the only Asian member. That damages the legitimacy of the Security Council if it is seen as a forum dominated by the West and Great Powers, where the Global South and smaller states are marginalised," Tayebwa said.

Potential reforms could include increases in the number of permanent and non-permanent members to better address the complex and evolving challenges to international peace and security.