Italy supports NAM's push for UN reforms
Italy supports NAM's push for UN reforms
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat and Santi W.E. Soekanto
BANDUNG, West Java (JP): The Non-Aligned Movement's efforts to reform the United Nations Security Council have gained the support of Italy, which is itself proposing a similar idea.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post yesterday, Italy's permanent representative to the UN, F. Paolo Fulci, asserted Italy's wish, in common with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to see changes to the membership of the UN Security Council.
"We (Italy) have always been much closer to the NAM proposal than any other western country. This is the reason why we are here: We want to see if we can find more lines and grounds in common," he added.
Fulci is attending a three-day ministerial meeting of NAM's coordinating bureau which began here yesterday. Italy was accepted last year as an observer of NAM meetings.
Proposed changes to the Security Council will be a major topic tomorrow when the ministers attend an extraordinary meeting.
The Security Council is composed of 10 non-permanent members who are elected for two-year terms, and 5 permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- who have veto rights.
Imbalances in the Security Council are reflected in the fact that 80 of the UN's member states have never served in the Security Council, including seven original signatories of the UN charter, three of whom are NAM members -- Saudi Arabia, Guatemala and South Africa.
NAM has put forth a proposal to increase the Council's membership from 15 to 25. Italy is pushing for an additional 10 non-permanent seats with no enlargements to the permanent membership.
Fulci said Italy agreed that an expanded Council should include more developing countries. "It would be unreasonable to expect another wealthy, rich country to be a member at the expense of the developing world," he said.
Separately, Egyptian foreign minister Amr Mousa stressed yesterday that any effort to expand the Council must consider the demands of the countries of the Third World.
"If it's to be expanded, then it has to be done not in favor of one group, but by considering the position of the Third World countries," he said, adding that only then could a balanced composition of the Council be achieved.
Fulci said there were difficulties in abolishing the veto rights of the permanent members. "You cannot take the veto from these countries because they must renounce it," he said.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas said yesterday that to excise the veto rights would mean changing the UN Charter, and that such a move would probably be vetoed.
Alatas said there were other options, however, such as modifying the Rules of Procedure, which govern the use of the veto, to ensure the right was not exercised capriciously.