I would like to thank our host Austria for inviting me to speak today, and to congratulate them, alongside Kuwait, for the welcome momentum they have brought to UN Security Council reform efforts.

This momentum has come on the back of intense global frustration with the long-running dysfunction of the Council. The failings on Ukraine and Gaza, where Permanent Members have blocked action to protect themselves or their close allies, are just the most prominent and egregious examples of this dysfunction. Many conflicts elsewhere, such as the grave crises in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lie neglected.

We are in a moment of unprecedented geopolitical volatility, with the institutions and values of multilateralism being called into question, including by some of the Council’s permanent members. The growing trade confrontation between the US and China will have global ramifications. All of us who believe in the promise of the UN Charter have an urgent responsibility to ensure the organisation is as effective, transparent and representative as possible.

The Pact for the Future secured a welcome global commitment to develop a consolidated model for reform, to be based on the discussions in the intergovernmental negotiations to date. And I look forward to the discussion on possible models today.

Particular attention is rightly being paid to the question of how Africa can be represented permanently. But we must not repeat the founding error of the Council by expanding veto rights.

The common African position, which is 20 years old, must evolve. The Elders agree with those calling for additional permanent representation through longer term re-electable seats, allocated by region. In the case of Africa, two seats would be elected periodically from within the African Union membership.

African leaders should have the clear-sightedness and resolve to accept permanent representation without adding veto rights. If the five permanent members’ veto cannot be fully eliminated in the short term, models and practices that limit its use and increase its political costs must be supported.

As former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said 20 years ago, the longer this reform question goes unresolved, Africa loses more than any other region. Let us not allow another 20 years to pass before Africa is properly represented.

We must also focus on the pathway for reform. We should recall that in the only successful reform yet — Council expansion in the 1960s — it was the General Assembly, not the Security Council, that led the process. The five permanent members of the Council eventually followed the global consensus once the Assembly voted, so we should not seek or wait for permission from them now.  

In closing, I would like to call on the Chair of the IGN process to be bold, and to table a consolidated model as called for in the Pact.

It will be impossible to keep everyone happy, and no single state or group of states will get everything they want. A consensus model is not possible. Pursuing one will indefinitely delay reform.  

However, a much-improved model that serves the global community may be within reach. Faced with a choice of continuing under a broken system, or moving to a better one, many states may come on board, even if it does not give them everything they want.  A cross-regional coalition of interested states could drive the process through the General Assembly.

A model would need to meet some essential criteria.

• It should improve both the representativeness and effectiveness of the Council.
• It should have a realistic chance of securing two-thirds’ membership support in the General Assembly.
• And it should be a model that we can envisage coming into force after the necessary ratifications.

To have such a model on the table for discussions would be a significant milestone in this long-running reform effort – the first such model to emerge from a multilateral process. I hope all those here today can support the Chair, and collectively push for this target.