Elected_members_of_the_UN_Security_Council

List of members of the United Nations Security Council

List of members of the United Nations Security Council

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Membership of the United Nations Security Council is held by the five permanent members and ten elected, non-permanent members.

Being elected requires a two-thirds majority vote from the United Nations General Assembly. Elected members hold their place on the council for a two-year term, with five seats contested in even years and five seats contested in odd years. An outgoing member cannot be immediately re-elected.

Elections usually begin in October for a term starting January 1. Because of the two-thirds majority requirement, it is possible for two evenly matched candidates to deadlock with approximately half the vote each, sometimes needing weeks of negotiations to resolve.

Non-permanent seats are distributed geographically, with a certain number of seats allocated to each of the five United Nations Regional Groups.

Current membership

Permanent members
More information Country, Regional Group ...
Non-permanent members
More information Country, Regional Group ...

Regional Groups

  African Group
  Asia-Pacific Group
  Eastern European Group
  Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
  Western European and Others Group
  UN member not in any voting group
  Observer states
  Non-UN state or territory

The ten non-permanent seats have the following distribution:

In addition, one of the five African/Asian seats is an Arab country, alternating between the two groups. This rule was added in 1967 for it to be applied beginning with 1968.

Electoral timetable
More information Term beginning in years that are:, Odd ...

* The representative of Arab nations alternates between these two spaces.

The odd/even distribution was effectively decided by the January 1946 and December 1965 elections (the first ever election, and the first election after the expansion of seats). For each of the six and four members in the newly created seats, the UN General Assembly voted to grant either a 1-year or 2-year term.

Previous Security Council composition

From 1946 to 1965, the Security Council had six non-permanent members. Due to a lack of African and Asian member states, the seats had the following distribution:

  • Latin America: 2 members
  • Commonwealth of Nations: 1 member
  • Eastern Europe: 1 member
  • Middle East: 1 member
  • Western Europe: 1 member

As decolonization increased the number of Asian and African member states without a group, they began to contest other seats: Ivory Coast substituted a member of the Commonwealth in 1964-1965, the Eastern European seat regularly included Asian countries from 1956, Liberia took the place of a Western European country in 1961, and Mali successfully contested the Middle Eastern seat in December 1964 (the Security Council would be expanded before Mali's term began).

An amendment to the UN Charter ratified in 1965 increased the number of non-permanent seats to 10, and the Regional Groups were formalized. The amendment effectively created three African seats and one Asian seat (if treating the Commonwealth seat as a WEOG seat and the Middle Eastern seat as an Asian seat[lower-alpha 1]).

Membership by year

Permanent

More information Year, Chinese seat ...

Non-permanent (1946–1965)

More information Year, Latin American Seats ...

Non-permanent (1966–present)

The African Union uses an internal rotation system to distribute seats based on its subregions:[3][4]

  • 1 odd-year seat alternates between Eastern Africa and Southern Africa (only Eastern Africa prior to the creation of the Southern Africa subregion in 1979)
  • 1 even-year seat is allocated to Western Africa
  • 1 even-year seat alternates between Northern Africa (the Arab nation seat) and Central Africa (with one exception at the beginning in 1966)

Arab nations in Eastern Africa, such as Somalia and Djibouti, may sit in the Eastern African seat without affecting any rotations. Thus there may be two Arab nations at once on the Security Council.

Aside from the Asia-Pacific Group also allocating an Arab nation seat every four years (in even years not divisible by 4), other regional groups do not have their own subregional rotation systems.[2][5] The Arab nation seat is starred below.

More information Year, African Group ...

List by number of years as Security Council member

This list contains the 138 United Nations member states so far elected to the United Nations Security Council, including the five permanent members, all listed by number of years each country has so far spent on the UNSC. Of all the members, 6 have so far ceased to exist, leaving the list with 132 modern nations. These, combined with the 61 modern nations that have never been elected to the UNSC to date (see Non-members, below), make up the 193 current members of the UN.

Years on the Security Council, as of 2024, including current year where relevant :

  Indicates permanent member
  Indicates current elected member (2024)
  Indicates former United Nations member
More information Years, Country ...

Future membership

Main articles: 2024 United Nations Security Council election, 2025 United Nations Security Council election, and 2026 United Nations Security Council election

The following countries have made known their applications for future United Nations Security Council membership:

More information Year, Africa ...

Non-members

The United Nations Charter requires that elections to the Security Council take into account "the contribution of Members...to the maintenance of international peace and security". As a result, many nations, small or otherwise, have never been on the Security Council. The following list is a summary of all countries, currently 61 modern nations[29] and three historical ones, that have never been a member of the United Nations Security Council. The three historical UN members listed are Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Member states of the United Nations that have never been members of the United Nations Security Council as of January 2023.
  Indicates former United Nations member
More information UN Member state, Regional Group ...

See also

Notes

  1. In practice, the Commonwealth seat was by then treated as a de facto African seat.[1]
  2. The Eastern Europe group included Asian countries from 1956 onwards.
  3. Tunisia and Morocco were treated as Middle Eastern countries due to being members of the Arab League.[2]
  4. Liberia took the place of the Western European country in 1961
  5. Ivory Coast took the place of a member of the Commonwealth in 1964–1965.
  6. Part of Western Africa, not Central Africa
  7. At the time of election, and until August 1984, the country was known as Republic of Upper Volta.
  8. The election was secured by South Yemen, and in May 1990, during its membership of the Security Council, it unified with North Yemen to form the single country of Yemen.
  9. Table shows years completed or in progress. Each term on the Council consist of 2 years. Any odd number of years are countries currently serving the first year of a term, countries with terms between 1956 and 1967, when the order of the council changed, or the three countries (Mexico, Egypt and the Netherlands) who had the first terms in 1946 and changed in 1947.
  10. Liberia retired after one year following an agreement reached on the 15th Session. Ireland was elected for the remainder of the two-year term.[8]
  11. Not a member of any regional group until joining the WEOG in 2000. Crossette, Barbara (3 December 1999). "Membership in Key Group Within U.N. Eludes Israel". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  12. As of May 2006, Kiribati is not a member of any regional group.
  13. Montenegro was also part of FR Yugoslavia and of Serbia and Montenegro from 27 April 1992 to 5 June 2006, but these entities were not members of the Security Council.
  14. Serbia was also part of FR Yugoslavia and of Serbia and Montenegro from 27 April 1992 to 5 June 2006, but these entities were not members of the Security Council.

References

  1. [1]
    The United Nations Security Council, The Green Papers Worldwide
  2. [2]
    Agam, Hasmy; Sam Daws; Terence O'Brien; Ramesh Takur (26 March 1999). What is Equitable Geographic Representation in the Twenty-First Century (PDF) (Report). United Nations University. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
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    Endeley, Isaac (2009). Bloc Politics at the United Nations: The African Group. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0761845584.
  4. [4]
    Endeley, Isaac (1998). Le Groupe africain à l'ONU dans l'après-guerre froide (PDF) (PhD thesis) (in French). Université de Montréal. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
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    "Special Research Report No. 1: UN Security Council Elections 2009 : Research Report : Security Council Report".
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    "Italy, Netherlands ask to share Security Council seat". Al Jazeera. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
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    St. Vincent and the Grenadines breaks a record, as smallest ever Security Council seat holder, UN News
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    Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia No. 47 – 1961. Aust. Bureau of Statistics. p. 1143. GGKEY:5SX8QTW3P5T.
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    https://www.lemauricien.com/ espace-abonne/75-ans-de-lonu-annonce-du-premier-ministre-maurice-candidate-pour-un-siege-au-conseil-de-securite-en-2024/384280/
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    "Candidature Chart of the Commonwealth Countries". Commonwealth of Nations. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.[permanent dead link]
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    "PANAMA TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL=7 December 2023". 7 December 2023.
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    "Candidatures – the Permanent Mission".
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    "Switzerland's candidature for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2023-2024 term" (PDF). Swiss Federal Council. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  14. [14]
    https://www.liberianobserver.com/liberia-ecowas-endorses-liberias-candidacy-un-security-council
  15. [15]
    "India, Bahrain to back each other for UN seat". Hindustan Times. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
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    "Dombrovskis and UN secretary general discuss UN priorities and Latvia's interests". The Baltic Course. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
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    "Minister Describes Use of Force to Address Problems as 'Ineffective, Meaningless and Destructive', on Fourth Day of General Assembly's Annual Debate". United Nations. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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    "46th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting Joint Communiqué". VietnamPlus. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
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    "Kyrgyzstan bids for non-permanent UN Security Council members". akipress.com. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  20. [20]
    "Non-Permanent Member of the Security Council 2027-2028". Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  21. [21]
    "India Declares Candidature For UN Security Council Membership For 2028-29 Term". NDTV. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  22. [22]
    "OIC Candidacies". Organization of Islamic Cooperation. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  23. [23]
    "RESOLUTION NO.6/42-ORG ON CANDIDACIES SUBMITTED BY OIC MEMBER STATES FOR POSTS IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS". Organization of Islamic Cooperation. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  24. [24]
    "General Debate Statement by The Hon Julie Bishop MP Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia" (PDF). United Nations. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  25. [25]
    "MVP RH". Un.mfa.hr.
  26. [26]
    "India, Guatemala to support each other for UNSC membership". Thestatesman.com. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  27. [27]
    "Uruguay and Armenia support each other at UN Security Council". News.am. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  28. [28]
    "Belgium candidate for a new UN Security Council mandate". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  29. [29]
    "Countries Never Elected Members". United Nations. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  30. [30]
    United Nations, General Assembly, Letter dated 12 November 2013 from the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, A/68/599 (14 November 2013), available from undocs.org/A/68/599
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