Over two days of meetings, foreign ministers of the Group of 20 major economies focused on the shortcomings of international organizations – notably their failure to prevent conflicts – and how to improve them.
Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Wednesday promised to use his nation's G-20 presidency over the coming year to seek more drastic reforms of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions.
"Brazil is deeply concerned by the state of international affairs regarding peace and security. By some accounts, we have reached a record high number of ongoing conflicts worldwide – over 170 – while geopolitical tensions are also on the rise," Vieira said.
"Multilateral institutions, however, are not equipped to deal with today´s challenges, as demonstrated by the unacceptable paralysis of the Security Council regarding ongoing conflicts," he said. "It is of critical importance to have a modernized, effective and efficient system of multilateralism, guided by norms and principles strictly followed by all countries, with the United Nations at its core."
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza – and the U.N. Security Council's inability to prevent or stop the fighting – weighed heavily on the meeting of foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro. Their talks on geopolitics, climate and poverty are meant to frame the summit of G-20 world leaders that Brazil will host in November.
Non-veto wielding nations have tried for years to reform the U.N.'s power structure with little success. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also has made proposals to reform the world body since he took over in January 2017.
In 2022, however, the United Nations adopted a U.N. General Assembly resolution by consensus aimed at preventing Russia and other veto-wielding Security Council members from abusing their power.
The resolution requires the General Assembly to sponsor a debate on any situation that has led to a Security Council veto. The debate must be held within 10 days of the veto being used.
Liechtenstein, a nation with a population of just 38,000 people that has not had an army since the mid-19th century and relies on neighboring Switzerland for diplomatic and economic support, spearheaded the effort to adopt the resolution.
'End the right of veto'
Next week the G-20 finance ministers and central bank presidents are set to meet in Sao Paulo. The G-20 foreign ministers are slated to meet again in September.
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made it a priority to seek the Holy Grail of reforms – overhauling the post-World War II power structures of the United Nations and other key international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and multilateral development banks, so that developing nations have a greater say over matters.
The U.N.'s most powerful arm, the 15-nation Security Council, is dominated – and often gridlocked – by its five permanent and veto-wielding members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Lula wants the council to abolish the veto power and install more nations from Africa and Latin America, along with major economies such as India, Germany and Japan.
“We need to rethink all this so that we can increase the number of countries in the Security Council. It is necessary to end the right of veto," he told Arab League countries in Egypt last week. "The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are the countries that produce weapons, that sell weapons and that have recently been waging wars."
