EU Statement – UN Security Council: Addressing the Historical Injustice and Enhancing Africa’s Effective Representation in the UNSC

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Mr President,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries Türkiye, North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*and Georgia, as well as San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Allow me to congratulate Sierra Leone on your presidency of the Security Council for the month of August. The European Union is honoured to have been invited to participate in this important debate on Africa's representation in the Security Council.

Mr President,

The African Unionand the European Union have a joint vision. At the EU-AU Summit in 2022, we agreed that the aim of the Joint Vision is to consolidate a renewed Partnership for solidarity, security, peace and sustainable and sustained economic development and prosperity for our citizens and for our future generations, bringing together our people, regions and organisations. As closest neighbours, Africa and Europe have a shared interest in strengthening our links and partnerships in all areas.

The European Union supports comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council to make it more effective, inclusive, transparent, democratic, and accountable, better reflecting today's realities by strengthening the voice of underrepresented regions, especially but not limited to Africa. The Summit of the Future should reflect progress in Inter-Governmental Negotiations at UNGA on UNSC reform. The European Union also supports the French / Mexican initiative on veto restraint in cases of mass atrocities, as well as the "Code of Conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes"[1]. The Pact of the Future will contain the input provided by the Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other related matters to the Security Council.

The EU also supports a stronger global African voice and the reinforced presence of the African Union in other multilateral fora.We advocated for an African Union seat at the G20, which was finally achieved last year.

More recently, in the ongoing negotiations on the Pact for the Future, we have actively supported reform of the International Financial Architecture. We know that improved African representation and governance reform is an important priority for Africa. It is also ours. In addition to changes to quotas and voting power, we support other steps to improve the voice and representation of developing countries, such as the creation of a twenty-fifth chair on the IMF Executive Board for sub-Saharan Africa. In order to increase the legitimacy and effectiveness of the multilateral system, governance reforms must improve the representation, accountability and effectiveness of key institutions.

Mr President,

The EU is the African Union's number one partner on peace and security issues in terms of political, financial and technical support[2]. Through the Africa Peace Facility, and later through the European Peace Facility, we have been a particularly strong supporter of African Union-led Peace Support Operations (PSOs). For example, the EU has provided over EUR 2.6 billion in support of the AMISOM/ATMIS military, police and civilian components since its deployment in 2007, which makes us by far the largest financial contributor to the mission. We will stay engaged in Somalia and will consider financial support to the new mission via different instruments, together with all security partners of Somalia, and based on a principle of a fairer burden sharing.

In the same vein, we have also supported the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2719 on financing African Union-led PSOs. Its implementation will strengthen the relationship between the UN Security Council and Africa. At the same time, predictable, adequate and sustainable financing will benefit operational effectiveness and complement political strategies to end conflicts and support peace and security in Africa.

We support the closer UN-African Union partnership and we count on the ongoing dialogue between the two organizations to provide further clarity on its future implementation including the conclusion of a joint roadmap. The EU stands ready to contribute to these discussions.

We call on all international partners, as well as the African Union, sub-regional organisations and their member states to contribute significantly to AU-led PSOs authorised by the UNSC. The European Union, for its part, will seek to continuously play a proactive role in providing support to AU-led PSOs through all the tools at its disposal. This is the core of the EU-AU partnership, as we strongly believe in the need to support each other when our security is under threat, as we are seeing today both in Africa and in Europe.

In conclusion,Mr President, the European Union will continue to support and advocate for a stronger African voice in the UN Security Council and in other multilateral fora.

Thank you.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

[1]From para.41 of CCs on EU priorities at UNGA79

[2]Based on Non-paper on EU support for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2719 on financing African-led Peace Support Operations agreed by CONUN 3 July 2024

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