United Nations Security Council

STATEMENT BY MR MARK SEAH, DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SINGAPORE, AT THE MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATIONS ON THE QUESTION OF EQUITABLE REPRESENTATION ON AND INCREASE IN THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND OTHER MATTERS RELATED TO THE COUNCIL, TO DISCUSS INPUT TO THE PACT OF THE FUTURE, 20-21 MAY 2024, TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL, UNHQ, NEW YORK

21 May 2024

Co-Chairs,

          Thank you for convening this meeting.  As the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the input of our process to the Pact of the Future, I will not re-state my delegation’s position on the substance of our input in detail; these are consistent and well-known.  Instead, I will make three brief points.

2        First, my delegation commends the co-chairs’ efforts to produce this bold draft, which as we discussed two weeks ago, is indeed “leader-like” in scope and ambitious in tone.  My delegation supports the organisation of the Rev. 1 input into specific actions, which is in line with the political support for Security Council reform expressed by many of our leaders at the 77^th and 78^th High-Level Weeks. 

3        Second, and specifically on the proposed “Action 1”, my delegation fully supports the calls to enlarge the Security Council to be more representative of the current UN membership and the contemporary world, including increasing representation of developing countries, small states and small island developing states, and addressing the historic injustice to Africa and other under and un-represented regions.  In this vein, my delegation cautions against advocating any model of reform that might disadvantage small states and un or under-represented regions, and that might create different categories of permanence and influence. 

4        My delegation also agrees that there is significant support for limitations to the scope and use of the veto and that our input to the POTF should mention our intent to address this issue.

5        Third, my delegation understands and respects that UNSC reform is a complex issue on which many countries and groups have strong views and on which key differences remain.  However, we urge all member states to focus on showing the world that we are serious about reforming the Security Council to reflect current realities and address future challenges, rather than on re-litigating these differences. We should not lose sight of the need for our input to demonstrate our larger collective aim. 

6        Thank you for your attention.

 .  .  .  .  .