UN Security Council Must Reform or Risk Demise – Kyslytsia

In an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsya, stressed the need for UN Security Council reform to deal with Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“I think that if this war and aggression does not bring about meaningful change to the architecture of the Security Council, and of how [it] deals with military aggressions, that will mean the end for the Security Council and its reputation,” he stated.

On Sep. 8, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced that Washington supported the reform of the Security Council – in particular, the expansion of geographical representation among its members and the use of veto power.

According to Kyslytsia, the way the UN is organized and designed prohibits any changes unless permanent members agree.

“If you open article 108, you will see amendments adopted by two-thirds of members of the UN, including all permanent members of the Security Council,” Kyslytsia said. “Any change to the Charter is impossible unless all permanent members agree to it.”

In April, the UN General Assembly terminated Russia’s UN Human Rights Council membership. This decision was supported by international colleagues only after more than 40 days of a full-scale war against Ukraine and cruel and inhuman actions against Ukrainians.

At the same time, Russia has the right of veto in the Security Council. Ukraine has repeatedly called for this right to be revoked or to exclude the country from the Council altogether.

On Sep. 30, Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, vetoed a resolution condemning the so-called pseudo-referenda in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.