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Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on The Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Council

Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Presenter: 
H.E. Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the United Nations in New York
Location: 
UN General Assembly Hall, United Nations Headquarters, New York

 

Mr. President,

We congratulate the Permanent Representative of Denmark and Qatar for their appointment as Co-Chairs of the next IGN.

Mr. President,

The aim of the sessions this year was to "instill new life in the discussion on the reform of the Security Council.” This objective is very timely considering that despite the passage of time and corresponding significant geopolitical developments over the past decades, the Security Council remains an institution that needs to be reformed in terms of its representativeness and working methods.

In this regard, I would like to highlight briefly the following elements, which we have stated before in more detail, in a number of previous occasions:

First, the Philippines supports an enlarged Council with an increase in the number of members up to 27.

Secondly, the Philippines strongly believes that improving the working methods of the Security Council is crucial. Improved working methods of the Council should aim at more participation by non-members in the Council’s decision-making process, and more transparency and accountability of the Council to non-members.

Given that the Council rules of procedure are provisional, they are essentially unpredictable and non-transparent. Making them more predictable and transparent requires agreeing on specific actions to be taken under specific circumstances.

Concerning the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly, many delegations have consistently called for more regular coordination and interaction by the Security Council with the GA and other main organs of the UN while respecting the respective competencies and mandates of these organs. 

Thirdly, the outcome of our exercise should be in the form of a package of agreement on Security Council reform containing both expansion and working methods element. In other words, all 5 clusters should be covered in any final Agreement.

Mr. President,

Finally, we support the IGN process. But we need to consider improving the form of our output in order to elicit a greater sense of movement, if not progress. Next year, discussions on areas of convergence, for example, could move forward on the basis of previous discussions so as to provide direction for future discussions on them.

Thank you.