Question NW3842 to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

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13 December 2022 - NW3842

Profile picture: Bergman, Mr D

Bergman, Mr D to ask the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Whether, in light of the fact that the Republic has over the years campaigned for the democratisation of the United Nations Security Council by advocating for the fair representation, the Government is considering to discontinue the campaign to be Africa’s representative on the Council seeing that it has lost its moral standing after it failed to support resolutions condemning the illegal invasion of Ukraine or the annexation of its territory; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply:

The United Nations Security Council should play a constructive role in the resolution of conflict, in line with its Charter mandate for the maintenance of international peace and security.

We regret that in the case of the war in Ukraine the Security Council continues to abdicate this mandated responsibility. The Security Council has thus far failed the people of Ukraine as it has in the case of long-standing matters on its agenda such as the situation in Palestine and the Western Sahara.

A key reason for its failure to act is that the failure of the Council to reform and reflect current global dynamics.

South Africa will therefore continue to consistently call for the reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, and to that end will continue to engage extensively with all member states of the United Nations to advance the reform agenda.

South Africa believes that there must be a common acknowledgment, particularly by those member states maintaining the status quo, that the international political and economic system remains unequal, unfair, unjust and represents a world created in the aftermath of the Second World War. The reform of the international order must therefore be primarily to ensure that the contemporary international order becomes equitable, fair, and just.

South Africa subscribes to the Ezulwini Consensus, agreed to by the African Union in 2005, which calls for two permanent, and five non-permanent seats for the African continent. Further, it states that the veto privilege, which accrues to the five permanent members of the Security Council should be abolished, but for as long as the privilege exists, it should be extended to new members of an extended permanent category in a reformed Council. The Ezulwini Consensus also states that the African Union would choose which African states will get the seats in a reformed permanent category of the Security Council.

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