Turkey has renewed calls for an overhaul of the United Nations Security Council, including the removal of the veto system enjoyed by its five permanent members, as Africa continues to push for two permanent seats on the body.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said global efforts to tackle the climate crisis are falling “pitifully short.”Anna Moneymaker/
- Turkey has renewed calls to reform the UN Security Council by abolishing permanent membership and the veto system held by five countries.
- Africa continues its decades-long push for at least two permanent seats with veto power, arguing current structures are outdated and unjust.
- Major powers are divided on reforms: Russia supports expansion but wants to keep the veto, while the US supports African permanent seats but not extending the veto.
- The core debate centers on abolishing the veto (Turkey’s stance), granting Africa full permanent representation, and whether new seats would carry equal privileges.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the issue during his September 22 address to the UN General Assembly in New York.
The United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom hold permanent seats on the 15-member Security Council and can veto substantive resolutions.
Erdoğan has repeatedly called for an end to both permanent membership and the veto system, arguing that the current structure gives five countries disproportionate influence over global decisions.
“We must acknowledge that a system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subject to the whim of just five countries is not a fair system, and it is not capable of fully inspiring or establishing trust either,” Erdoğan said.
He added: “The Security Council must absolutely be reformed in accordance with the principle that the world is bigger than five.”
His remarks come as Africa continues a decades-long campaign for permanent representation on the council.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also renewed his support for that demand during the opening of the 81st UN General Assembly on September 22.
“When the UN was founded, most of Africa was still under colonial rule. Today, Africa still has no permanent representation on the Council,” Guterres said.
“A 21st-century Security Council without permanent African seats is unjust and indefensible. This must change.”
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Africa has pushed for greater representation for more than two decades through the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration.
Under that position, the African Union wants at least two permanent seats with the same privileges as existing permanent members, including veto power for as long as the veto remains, as well as five non-permanent seats.
Several African leaders have continued to back that demand.
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, who coordinates the African Union Committee of Ten on Security Council reform, told a 2024 council meeting that Africa wanted two permanent seats and two additional elected seats.
Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for urgent reform, arguing that Africa’s 1.4 billion people remain excluded from the council’s main decision-making structures, while maintaining that any new permanent African members should receive veto power for as long as it exists.
Kenyan President William Ruto has similarly called for wider UN reforms, saying institutions created decades ago struggle to respond to modern global challenges.
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However, major powers remain divided over how far Security Council reform should go.
Russia supports expanding permanent membership but wants the veto system retained, while the United States backs two permanent African seats without extending veto powers to new members.
China also supports greater African representation and says the continent’s demands should be treated as a priority, but has not explicitly backed veto powers for new African permanent members.
That falls short of the African Union’s position that any permanent African members should enjoy the same privileges as the existing five for as long as the veto remains.
Guterres has continued to press for change, saying: “We must reform the Council so that it reflects today’s world with the legitimacy and effectiveness that today’s challenges demand.”
