Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of calls by The Elders and other groups for changes in the composition and working of the UN Security Council in order to make it more democratic and representative.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK welcomes all contributions to the important debate on how to improve the working of the UN Security Council. We regularly re-examine our UN policies and take into consideration the views and thoughts of interested parties, including The Elders. We have long advocated expansion of the UN Security Council in order to reflect the growth in UN membership and the need for the Council to better represent the modern world. To achieve this we are in favour of new permanent seats for Japan, Germany, India and Brazil, along with permanent African representation. But we are also clear that Council reform should not make it less effective. We are also fully behind efforts to improve the workings of the Council so that it can better fulfil its function of maintaining international peace and security. It is for this reason that the UK was one of the initial signatories of the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency group’s Code of Conduct. This makes explicit the UK’s intention never to vote against credible Security Council action to end or prevent the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. It is also why we are at the forefront of efforts to improve the Council’s working methods, as demonstrated during our Presidency of the Council in November 2015 where we put the emphasis on transparency, action, and interactivity between states.