St Vincent and the Grenadines was on Friday 7th June 2019, elected as a non-permanent member of the UN security council.

The campaign which lasted 10 years will see SVG begin its tenure for 2 years on the council in 2020 – 2021.

St Vincent and the Grenadines garnered ( 185  votes) from the ballots which were cast at the United Nations in secret voting which began at 10 am on Friday.

The Security Council consists of five permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America) and 10 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for a term of two years.

Role of non-permanent members in the work of the Security Council

Under the terms stipulated by the UN Charter, the right of veto of the permanent members of the Security Council is restricted, i.e. it does not apply in cases of a procedural nature (related primarily to the functioning of the Security Council itself). In such a situation, the support of nine members is needed for the Security Council to make a decision, regardless of whether they are permanent or non-permanent members of the Security Council.

A convenient opportunity for non-permanent members of the Security Council to influence the work of the Security Council is the monthly presidency of the Council, held in turn by all member states, in alphabetical order. The chair of the Security Council has an influence on, amongst other things, shaping the monthly programme of the Council. It is also granted a number of powers of an organizational nature (including decisions concerning the order of voting in the Security Council on amendments to resolutions).

Measures taken by the Security Council in relation to global crises are usually initiated by the permanent members, which present the motions and other documents of the Council. The non-permanent members, however, can play an important role in matters concerning their respective geographic regions.

The importance of non-permanent members is increased when a large group of non-permanent members of the Security Council presents a united position on a given issue that is on the Council’s agenda. This happens often in situations where several members of the Security Council belong to the same regional organization or interest group.

Incorporating the most important issues during informal meetings gives non-permanent members a chance to protect their interests and place issues that are important to them within the content of negotiated documents. In recent years, non-permanent members have not only played a significant role in the process of negotiating the content of documents, but they have also started to present their own proposals for solutions.