Finnish President Says No Country Should Have Veto Rights In UN Security Council

Illustration of voting at the UN Security Council. (Source: UN Photo/Eskinder Debede)

JAKARTA - Finnish President Alexander Stubb has called for the expansion of the UN Security Council, the abolition of one country's veto rights, and the suspension of every member involved in an "illegal war" such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Stubb said he would also voice calls for reform at the UN General Assembly next week in New York which will discuss the composition of the global agency's Security Council.

President Stubb said in an interview on Tuesday he would propose to keep the number of members expanded from five to 10, with one more from Latin America, two from Africa and two from Asia.

"No country can have veto rights on the UN Security Council," he told Reuters.

The United States, one of the five veto rights holders with Russia, China, France, and the UK, also supports two permanent seats for Africa.

President Stubb further said that any members involved in the illegal war, "as Russia is currently doing in Ukraine", should be issued.

However, President Stubb said he knew his proposals regarding the Security Council "exceeded what smaller member states usually say", but added that major countries would not propose to weaken their own influence.

"So they just talked, but didn't," he said, adding he hoped the other side would help carry out the plan ahead of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations next year.

It is known, consisting of five permanent member states and the current 10 rotating member states, the council's task is to maintain global peace. However, geopolitical competition has reached a stalemate in various issues ranging from the Russian War of Ukraine to the Hamas-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Each change to the membership of the Security Council requires approval from two-thirds of the General Assembly, including five veto rights holders.

"My basic message is that if countries from the southern hemisphere, from Latin America, from Africa, from Asia, don't get a role in this system, they will turn away from the United Nations. And we don't want that," he said.