Foreign Minister Murray McCully's stance against the overuse of veto power could be what secures New Zealand a spot on the United Nations Security Council.
Otago University international relations expert Robert Patman says there is growing concern among the UN's member states that the five permanent members of the council – France, the UK, the US, Russia and China – are using their power of veto irresponsibly.
"New Zealand feels, like many small countries, the UN has been marginalised by events like in Gaza, Iraq, the Ukraine, and it's high time the UN functioned much better," Dr Patman said on Firstline this morning.
"At the moment it's dysfunctional in the sense that many pressing problems are ignored because someone in the Security Council wields a veto. If that veto could be restrained, then perhaps the organisation could function much better as a whole."
New Zealand is one of three countries competing for two spots on the council in next month's election. The others are Turkey and Spain, both of which will be spending much more than New Zealand on their bids, says Dr Patman.
"When Australia ran for the Security Council – it's currently on the council – it spent something like $30 million, and certainly you can expect Turkey and Spain to spend comparable sums, if not more," he says.
"I don't think New Zealand will be doing that; we are making a virtue of the fact that we have no axe to grind, we're not members of particularly big organisations such as the G20 group, and we like to present ourselves as a country which has an independent foreign policy and can offer fair and impartial advice."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, currently in New Zealand, has praised our efforts on the international scene – particularly in the areas of human rights, peacekeeping and development aid in the Pacific.
Dr Patman says he can't be seen to favour one country over another, but seems "warmly disposed" towards our bid.
"The Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have done their homework," he says. "They've been planning for this for a long time, and they've clearly been canvassing the members of the General Assembly. They probably need 130 members of the General Assembly – there are 193 members in the General Assembly – to secure one of those two spots."
Mr McCully delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly in 2012 which took a swipe at the Security Council's inability to act because of the veto.
"One of the ideas that Mr McCully developed about two years ago – and this is part of our bid for the UN Security Council – is to curb the use of the veto by the permanent five group," says Dr Patman. "I think that would appeal to quite a lot of the membership in the General Assembly."
Mr McCully says at the very least, the permanent five members should promise not to use the veto "where there is a clear risk of crimes against humanity or genocide".
The vote will take place on October 16.
3 News
source: newshub archive
