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Colon
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Antwerp, Colon's Chocolate Canard Country
Jan 1970
time: 06:20
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin...n20050708a1.htm
quote:
'G-4' submits resolution on UNSC, finds just 23 backers
Japan, Germany, India and Brazil jointly submitted a resolution Wednesday at U.N. headquarters in New York to expand the U.N. Security Council, with only 23 other members listed as joint backers.
The four nations, coined the "Group of Four," submitted the resolution despite uncertainty over whether it would get the two-thirds approval, or 128 votes, needed for adoption by the U.N. General Assembly.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura will head to London to meet with his G-4 counterparts Saturday to discuss their next move, and with nations from Africa to solicit their support.
Japan hopes to begin deliberations on the resolution at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.
According to the resolution, the UNSC would add six new permanent seats: two for Asian nations, two for African nations and one each from Central or South America, and Western Europe or some other region. The new permanent members would not have veto power for 15 years.
Four new rotating seats would be allocated to nations from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central or South America.
Although the G-4 initially wanted to get about 100 nations to sign the resolution as joint proposers, they could only get 23, including France, Greece and Poland.
No nations in Asia, where Japan has provided official development assistance for decades and hoped to gather support, signed the resolution.
The number of joint proposers "seems to be somewhat small," said Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa in a news conference.
A senior Foreign Ministry official admitted the G-4 faces an uphill battle and the prospects for the resolution were "severe."
The number reflects a sharp division among U.N. member states. Italy, Pakistan and other nations oppose the G-4 resolution. China, which is against Japan's candidacy for the UNSC, also lobbied against it.
The United States is meanwhile reluctant to expand the power in the UNSC because adding new members will slow its decision-making process. Washington hopes to shelve the UNSC expansion and deal with other U.N. reform proposals.
The G-4 has been trying to get a joint resolution going in conjunction with 53 African nations, but coordination has proven difficult.
Earlier this week, the African Union agreed to submit a separate resolution calling for the U.N. to add six new permanent seats and five rotating seats to the UNSC, with two representing African states in each category.
The G-4 decided to submit its resolution Wednesday because the four states want it adopted by the end of the month, Japanese officials said. U.N. procedures will slow in August as many officials take summer vacation.
They also feared they would lose more votes if they waited any longer, given the aggressive lobbying by China and other nations, they said.
If the G-4 resolution is adopted, the next step would be to elect the nations to be added, another senior ministry official said.
The G-4 resolution states that Asia will be allocated two new seats. Japan and India are expected to run for the race, but other Asian nations may also step forward as candidates.
After the new members are elected, the General Assembly would probably draft a revision to the U.N. Charter granting an expansion of the UNSC with the names of the new permanent members, the official said.
The revision would need two-thirds support, or 128 votes, from the General Assembly to be adopted. It also needs to be ratified by two-thirds of the U.N. member states, including all five permanent UNSC members. This process is expected to take several years.
The Japan Times: July 8, 2005
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05-07-2005 07:16
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