Five New Nations Win UN Security Council Seats

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted on which members will take 5 of the 10 rotating seats on the Security Council. The elected nations are Turkey, Austria, Japan, Mexico and Uganda. They replace Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa in January. What's interesting is who wasn't elected, Iran and Iceland.

This being the UN, the voting wasn't straight forward. Seats are divided by region. Uganda and Mexico ran unopposed for the African and Latin American seats. There was one seat set aside for an Asian nation. Japan beat Iran for that seat by 158 votes to 32. The fact that Iran is currently under UN sanctions for its nuclear program probably had something to do with it. Also, Japan has a huge economy and many believe ought to be a permanent member like the US, UK, France, China and Russia.

Turkey and Austria were elected from Europe. For Austria, the seat is a nice thing allowing it more weight in global affairs for the next two years than it would otherwise have. For Turkey, the seat was a milestone. Winning a European seat underscores its drive for EU membership. Bloomberg said, “Turkey received 151 of 192 votes for one of two rotating European seats, and Austria got 133 votes, achieving the two- thirds margin needed for election in the secret balloting. Iceland had 87 votes.”

Iceland is probably in bad odor with other members of the UN over its financial meltdown. The UK has frozen assets of Icelandic banks in the UK. In fact, NATO member ally Iceland may ask the UK, another NATO member to stop monitoring NATO flights in Icelandic airspace. The Americans are annoyed that Iceland decided to work out a loan with Russia. That's how they finished third.

Some may say that the UN Security Council seats are rather pointless. Only the permanent members have a veto, and rarely are Security Council resolutions actually enforced. However, there is one important reason, beyond national prestige, for trying to win a place at the conference table. Aid tends to flow to UNSC members rather than to non-members. One study on the US aid programs suggests members get a raise of 59% in Uncle Sam aid packages.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home