Reform of the United Nations Security Council

Since its creation in 1945, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has undergone one reform in 1965, increasing the amount of non-permanent members from 6 to 10, but there have since been many calls for reform; Some key issues raised are the categories of membership, the question of the veto held by the five permanent members, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and the Security Council–General Assembly relationship.

Any reform of the Security Council would require the agreement of two-thirds of all United Nations member states and ratification by two-thirds of Member States. All permanent members of the UNSC (P5), which hold veto rights, must also agree.

Despite a common agreement amongst member states, regional groups, and academics on the need for reform, its feasibility is compromised by the difficulty of drafting a proposal that would garner the necessary support, while also avoiding a veto from any of the five permanent members. Several groups inside and outside the UN have developed many competing reform proposals.

Following their victory in the Second World War, the five permanent member states—France, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China—were considered the best placed to ensure world peace and stability when the UN was established in 1945. Considering the increase of UN member state from 51 states at its creation, to 193 states today, as well as the geopolitical, systematic and normative changes after decolonization and the end of the Cold War, critics judge the Security Council unrepresentative of the current world order.

The Security Council's adequacy in effectively maintaining international peace and security has often been criticized, citing the use of veto power by permanent members against resolutions which go against their national interests, but that could benefit other member states or the international community as a whole. Some examples cited to bolster this criticism are the Council's reaction to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and to the Russo-Ukrainian war; draft resolutions on the latter conflict have been consistently vetoed by Russia.