Statement by

H.E. Mr. Majid Takht Ravanchi

Ambassador and Permanent Representative

of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

Before the United Nations General Assembly

On Agenda Item 123: “Question of equitable representation

on and increase in the membership of the Security Council

and other matters related to the Security Council”

New York, 16 November 2021

 In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. President,

An honest review of the Security Council’s practices evinces that its increasing deficiencies have resulted in its legitimacy and credibility crisis as well as its serious trust and confidence deficit, making its reform inevitable.

The ultimate goal of the Security Council’s reform must be to address all its current challenges and deficiencies and to evolve the Council into a truly representative, effective, transparent, accountable and above all, rules-based body.

While supporting the Council’s enlargement as a means of addressing the existing inequalities in regional representation, we do not, however, consider it an end in itself.

Currently, there are attempts towards focusing mostly on the Council’s enlargement, equating it with the Council’s reform and its efficiency. This cannot continue at the expense of neglecting or underestimating other issues.

However important, the Council’s enlargement is, and must remain as, only one out of many objectives in the Council’s reform. Improving the Council’s working methods and accountability and ensuring that all its decisions are taken in full accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations and international law are in no way less important than the Council’s enlargement.

The Council’s reform must be considered as a comprehensive process, in which all five core issues under consideration must be treated equally, discussed thoroughly, and addressed in a package as they are interlinked and, as a whole, are greater than the sum of their parts. Therefore, any selective approach must be avoided.

Attaching great importance to ensuring “equitable representation” in an expanded Council, Iran strongly believes that this cannot be realized only through safeguarding “geographical representation”.

Currently, the west has a strong presence and influence in the Council. Three of its members have veto power, while the main regions are poorly represented in terms of both the number as well as privileges, including veto power. This means inequality “among the regions”.

Likewise, there are many States within a given region that have never found a chance to become a Council member, while there are States in the same region that each have served between 10-22 years in the Council. This means inequality “within a region”.

The existing inequalities must therefore be addressed both “among” and “within” the regions as they are both necessary and complementary.

This indeed is of utmost importance for 103 States, 63 of which have never served in the Council and 40 served only once in the past 76 years. It is also essential in ensuring both geopolitical and geographical balance of the composition of an expanded Council.

In ensuring equitable regional representation, we fully support addressing historical injustice towards developing world particularly Africa.

We also fully support ensuring equal opportunities for each State within a given region, which, inter alia, can be done through limiting chances for those who have served more in the Council and, instead, provide more advantages to those who have never served in the Council or served lesser. Even, a combination of factors like population, economic power and regional position can be considered to that end.

A reform that serves the interests of only certain regions or a few States is not acceptable, and any proposal that would literally deepen the current imbalances or reduce the equal chance for States to become a Council member or contradict such intrinsic principles as sovereign equality and equal rights of States, transparency and accountability, must seriously be avoided.

We also attach great importance to reforming the Council’s working methods to ensure that it acts in full compliance with international law, particularly the UN Charter. Decisions of the Security Council must not be ultra vires and it must not resort, too frequently or hastily or excessively or expeditiously, to its Chapter VII functions. Enforcement measures must be applied only as a last resort.

The use of sanctions as blunt and blind instruments has raised fundamental ethical questions about whether sufferings inflicted on vulnerable groups is a legitimate means of exerting pressure on the targeted country.

In the past, certain Security Council sanctions have served only to collectively punish an entire nation, without any actual positive impact on the maintenance of international peace and security.

Therefore, sanctions must be applied very rarely, in an actually smart and targeted manner, with limited scope and duration, and only when all “measures not involving the use of armed force” are exhausted and have truly “proven to be inadequate” to “maintain or restore international peace and security”.

It is also critical to ensure that a reformed Council does not consider situations not constituting a threat to international peace and security, or issues that are related to the internal affairs of States.

Additionally, transforming the Council into a truly rules-based and accountable body must remain a top priority.

Charter’s Article 24(2) stresses that in discharging its duties “the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations”. This means the Council’s powers are not limitless, it is not above the law and cannot act arbitrarily or without due regard for international law.

Likewise, through Article 24(1), the Member States have conferred on the Security Council “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security”. This means the Council has a legal, political and moral responsibility to act properly and responsibly and members of the Council must take decisions based not on their own national interests or that of the geopolitical or geographical groups they belong to but based on the common interests of the entire membership of the Organization. The Council must never be used as a tool to pursue national political interests and agendas.

The Council is responsible before the Member States on behalf of whom it acts and must therefore remain accountable to them. This indeed is the raison d’être of the Charter’s Article 24(3) in obliging the Council to submit annual or special reports to the General Assembly where all Member States are represented.

The correlation between Articles 24 and 25 of the Charter also makes it clear that the Councils shall act in accordance with law, avoid ultra-vires decisions, act timely and responsibly, and remain accountable to Member States.

The Council shall also not consider issues which do not fall within its purview or are conferred by the Charter to other UN organs, and in particular it must stop encroaching upon the functions and powers of the General Assembly.

Procedurally, we support the continuation of deliberations within the IGN, which must remain open, transparent, inclusive and membership-driven. Taking hasty decisions or setting artificial deadlines for its work will be counter-productive and any possible decision, procedural or substantive, at any stage must be adopted only by consensus. We also do not support text-based negotiations at this stage. Moreover, changing the rules or format of the process or its informal nature seems to be unconstructive and must therefore be avoided.

We stand ready to contribute actively and constructively to the IGN’s work.

I thank you, Mr. President.