June 10, 2005
 

G4 dilutes veto requirement for Security Council seats

After circulating a resolution regarding expansion of the UN Security Council last month, the G4 (Brazil, Germany, India & Japan) seems to have buckled to the obvious reluctancy of the existing P5 to give up their veto powers.

They've proposed to be good children and not ask for a veto for a period of 15 years if they are accepted as permanent members of the UNSC.

What they should have done was to give an ultimatum to the Security Council, and indeed the P5, that in exchange, there should be a debate on the veto and it must be scrapped altogether within fifteen years. If they feel that the veto is truly undemocratic, either they should never have insisted on this in the first place ... or they should have the guts to ask the P5 to give up their privilege over a specific time period.