French initiative to reshape UN veto mechanism echoes Erdoğan’s plight

France is reportedly stepping up its efforts at the UN to regulate the use of the veto power in the Security Council. While Paris is driven by its desire to expand sanctions against Sudan and impose an arms embargo across the country, the initiative echoes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s long-standing calls to reform the UN body’s veto mechanism.

Diplomatic sources told the UAE-based The National news agency about France’s intentions on the sidelines of the UN's General Assembly that took place over the course of the past week in New York City.

The move comes after French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said earlier this week that the veto power too often prevents the UN from acting to stop genocide, the most serious war crimes or crimes against humanity, as cited by the outlet.

Earlier this year, Barrot led efforts to revive a decade-old French initiative aimed at regulating the use of the veto. Over the past several months, Paris has rallied dozens of countries behind the initiative, most recently including Vietnam, the Bahamas and Gambia.

France, which, like the UK, has not used its veto since 1989, wants to secure a comfortable majority of around 150 countries before submitting a resolution for debate at the UN General Assembly. The goal is to increase political pressure on the countries that most frequently exercise their veto rights – Russia and the US – to moderate their use of the power.

In a statement by the French foreign ministry, it was revealed that the UK  would join the French initiative, bringing the total number of countries supporting it to 128 out of 193. Like France, the UK is also a permanent member of the Security Council.

The push comes as the UN Security Council has two more weeks to consider a US proposal to extend the embargo to Sudan’s entire territory. Earlier, Council members agreed to extend the existing restrictions for 30 days. The United States insisted on a short extension to allow for further negotiations rather than renewing the sanctions for another year.

Turkish playbook

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the UN General Assembly in New York City this week, marking his 16th speech at the event during his career. For years, he has called for sweeping reform of the United Nations, including abolishing the veto power in the Security Council, ending permanent membership and granting stronger powers to the General Assembly.

In his view, simply increasing the number of privileged members of the Security Council would not resolve the problem of concentrating power in the hands of a limited group of states. “Reform cannot mean granting the same privilege to other states,” Erdoğan said, proposing the formation of a “broad coalition” in the General Assembly based on the principle that no state should be able to permanently block the will of the majority.

The Security Council currently consists of five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as 10 other members holding temporary seats that rotate among the UN’s member states.

The Turkish leader argues that there should be no permanent members of the Security Council. Instead, countries should be elected by the General Assembly for fixed terms and on a rotational basis.

"We must acknowledge that a system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subject to the whim of just five countries is not a fair system, and it is not capable of fully inspiring or establishing trust either. The Security Council must absolutely be reformed in accordance with the principle that the world is bigger than five,” he said during this year's assembly.

By Nazrin Sadigova