U.S. Seeks Talks On UN Reform Amid Calls For Expanding Security Council, Booting Out Russia

The United States said on Wednesday it's headed into the next high-level week of the UN General Assembly with three new commitments for Security Council reform: Creating two permanent seats for Africans, a new elected seat for Small Island Developing States, and talks about beginning the process of amending the UN Charter.

The move comes amid increasing calls for expanding the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) as well as abolishing single-member veto rights, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports. 

Some countries, with Finland being the latest, are even calling for booting Russia out of the Security Council.  "Any council member engaged in an illegal war such as Russia is in right now in Ukraine, should be suspended," Finnish President Alexander Stubb was quoted as saying Wednesday morning.

More than 130 world leaders will meet at the UN next week, faced with wars in the Middle East and Europe threatening to spread, frustration at the slow pace of efforts to end conflicts, and worsening humanitarian crises, as well as declining democracy.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the top US envoy to the UN, says that over the past few days, she has heard from so many leaders across the world about the U.S. proposals on reforming the Security Council. "While diplomacy is hard.. we can do hard things. We can think beyond what has been, push ourselves to create a system that meets this moment and the opportunities of the future," she told a Wednesday briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center

As for the Finnish offer to exclude Russia from the Security Council, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield told TURAN's correspondent that while she hadn't heard about it, she understands where it's coming from.

"This is a subject that the Ukrainians have brought up on a regular basis as well. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council who has attacked its neighbor and really attacked all the values of the UN Charter. So having committed those actions, I could see why countries might question why Russia should be on the Security Council," Thomas-Greenfield said.

The UNSC, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has not changed from its original configuration: 10 non-permanent members from all corners of the world elected for 2-year terms without veto power and 5 countries that were dominant powers at the end of World War II are permanent members with veto power: the U.S. Russia (formerly Soviet Union), China, Britain and France.

During Wednesday's briefing, TURAN also asked the U.S. Ambassador about the challenges facing democracies in countries such as Georgia, despite the Biden Administration's efforts to boost democracy globally through international summits.

"We want to continue to encourage those countries who are still standing strong as democracies and help boost those countries where we start to see backsliding.  And there are some countries that we have seen backsliding," Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said.

"For us democracy anywhere is going to be a part of any discussions we have in the summit," she concluded.