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JUST IN: UK foreign secretary calls for expansion of UN security council
Cleverly said he wanted permanent African representation at the G20 and for security council membership to be extended to India, Brazil, Germany and Japan.
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly has said the global south should be given a more powerful voice at the world’s table by expanding the United Nations security council.
Cleverly also called for a review of the use of the veto by the council’s five permanent members, adding that the third world countries are not well represented as their voice is not heard even on issues of direct concern to them.
In a speech billed as the first in praise of the global multilateral system by a Conservative foreign secretary for 30 years, he said he had listened carefully to the global south’s leaders and that they felt wealthy countries were “hoarding power and neglecting their responsibilities”.
Cleverly said power was shifting to Latin America and the Indo-Pacific, and that it would be countries in these regions that would decide whether the system endured, the Guardian UK said.
He called for a bold strategic reform to address this, as he said, “There is a real risk that the global south will walk away from the global trading system”.
Speaking in a conference at the Chatham House thinktank in London, the UK foreign secretary said, “One thing that struck me is when I speak to ministers they do say over and over again they feel again the multilateral system too often talks about the issues which are on the hearts and minds of the Euro-Atlantic region and less about the Indo-Pacific, Latin America or Africa.
“The best way of making sure that perception is changed and the challenge they have identified is to make sure that at the very top table they have a consistently powerful voice.”
Cleverly said the present system was untenable as the centre of economic gravity shifted to the Indo-Pacific and Africa’s share of the world population rose from 18% to 37% by 2100.
“The voice of the poorest and most vulnerable countries must be heard strongly in the multilateral system. The voice of the poor is not always being heard. Even on matters that directly concern them,” he added.
Cleverly said he wanted permanent African representation at the G20 and for security council membership to be extended to India, Brazil, Germany and Japan.
