Singapore calls for UN Security Council’s use of vetoes to be ‘constrained’

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Wednesday (Sep 25) called for the reform of the United Nations Security Council, including constraining the exercise of the veto by the five permanent member states.
In a statement at the UN Security Council open debate on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the world is in an “acutely dangerous phase” and that civilians in “multiple trouble spots” are paying a terrible price.
“The United Nations is at an inflection point. We need to reform multilateral and UN institutions to address both current and future challenges, including reform of this very Security Council,” he added.
Dr Balakrishnan is in New York for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly from Sep 19 to Sep 28.
In his statement to the Security Council, he urged them to “constrain the exercise of the veto”.
Any of the five permanent members of the council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – can veto a resolution.
“All permanent members should focus on the broader goal of delivering international peace and security,” he said.
“However, the trend of the increasing exercise of the vetoes suggests we cannot leave this to the permanent five to voluntarily change their behaviour.”
Besides the permanent five members, UN Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members that are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.
Currently, they are Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Dr Balakrishnan said that the wider UN must agree “on how the veto is exercised in the future” and that Singapore “stands ready to discuss this further at the General Assembly”.
“The approach is not to encroach on the council’s mandate, but to guard against actions that prevent this council from fulfilling its mandate,” he added.
In October last year, the US vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war. It again used its veto power in April to deny the Palestinian Authority full membership in the UN.
In March 2024, Russia and China both vetoed a US-led resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The role of the elected members of the Security Council needs to be strengthened, said Dr Balakrishnan.
“We have seen how the elected 10 (members) bridge gaps when the permanent five were instead mired in mutual distrust and paralysis,” he said.
“Given the powerful bridging role of the elected 10, elected members should have a greater say in penholdership and decision making, and be allowed to lead or co-lead on key issues, particularly concerning their respective regions.”
The Security Council must also do more to prevent conflicts, Dr Balakrishnan said.
It should work more closely and effectively with the other main organs of the UN to facilitate early warning and response.
“Article 99 of the UN Charter is in fact a powerful preventive diplomacy tool,” he said.
“I am glad that the Pact for the Future alluded to this. However, this council needs to react more quickly with a concrete response when the Secretary-General invokes Article 99, particularly for humanitarian catastrophes and mass atrocities.”
Article 99 allows the UN Secretary-General to bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
Mr Antonio Guterres invoked this in December last year, during which he appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza to be declared.
It was the first time he had invoked Article 99 since becoming Secretary-General in 2017.
This is not the first time Singapore has spoken about the Security Council permanent members’ use of vetoes.
In March 2024, Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Burhan Gafoor said that “the effectiveness of the council has taken a sharp dive in the past year”.
“Since the veto initiative resolution was adopted in April 2022, we have seen 12 vetoes,” he noted then.
Singapore also supports a French-Mexican initiative on limiting the use of the veto against mass atrocity crimes, he added.
It also believes that council members, especially the five permanent members, should abstain from voting if they are a party to a dispute.
In April 2022, Mr Gafoor said Singapore recognises the right of permanent members to use their veto power.
But the permanent member who casts the veto should explain its decision to the General Assembly and hear the views of its members.
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for the reform of the Security Council to limit veto power in cases of mass killings, in a likely reference to Russia.
“Reform of the composition alone of the Security Council is not sufficient to make it more effective. I also wish for reform to change the operational methods to limit the right to a veto in case of mass crimes,” he told the General Assembly.