UK joins call to limit UN Security Council veto

The United Kingdom has joined France and Mexico’s push for restrictions on the use of the UN Security Council veto in cases involving genocide and crimes against humanity.

The French Foreign Ministry said late Monday that the UK has joined the French-Mexican initiative, which seeks to prevent the use of the veto from blocking the Security Council from acting in cases of mass atrocities.

This initiative proposes restricting the veto for permanent members of the Council in cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“A single Permanent Member of the Security Council can block a resolution, even if a majority of Members support it. That’s known as the veto right.

“Today, the way the Security Council operates is that if one of the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) uses its veto, a resolution cannot be adopted.

“Even if it is supported by a majority, no decision can be taken,” it read.

Mexico and France first proposed the French-Mexican initiative in 2015, and 128 countries now reportedly back it.

The UK became the second permanent member of the Security Council to back the initiative after France.

According to the French Ministry, 20 other countries have also backed the UK-Mexican initiative this year.

China, France, Russia, the UK and the US are the five permanent members of the Security Council and can veto its resolutions.

According to the new initiative, the permanent Members are expected to pledge to voluntarily refrain from using the veto in situations involving mass atrocities.

“The goal: to keep the Council from being paralysed when faced with the most serious crimes,” it said.

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With the UK signing on, the initiative is now just one country shy of reaching a two-thirds threshold of UN member states.

However, even if adopted with a two-thirds majority, the resolution would be non-binding. Yet officials hope to make it more politically difficult for a permanent member to use its veto in an emergency.