Adopting Several Drafts, General Assembly Decides to Immediately Continue Negotiations on Security Council Reform, Sets Terms of Upcoming High-Level Meetings
After taking stock of progress towards Security Council reform and looking ahead to future negotiations on that topic, the General Assembly today adopted several texts relating to upcoming reviews and meetings, as well as to its Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).
First on today’s agenda was a draft oral decision concerning Security Council reform. Adopting it without a vote, the Assembly decided to immediately continue intergovernmental negotiations on this topic during its eightieth session and to include it in the agenda of its upcoming eighty-first session.
The Pact for the Future, which the Assembly adopted in 2024, encouraged Member States to submit models for Council reform with a view to developing a consolidated model based on convergences. In response, the African Union submitted its model, which reflects the Common African Position as contained in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration.
Security Council Reform Urgently Needed, Calls for Consolidated Model
The representative of Japan – also speaking for Brazil, Germany and India — welcomed the submission of the “African model” for Council reform in the most recent round of intergovernmental negotiations on this issue. However, despite this “significant step forward”, he said that this process “has not met the widespread expectations for Security Council reform for yet another year”. Going forward, he urged the development of a consolidated model for reform and the start of text-based negotiations on this topic.
Also calling for a consolidated model for reform was the representative of Saint Lucia, speaking for a “diverse, cross-regional group of developing countries committed to justice and equity in the reform of the Security Council”. She stressed: “This is a mandate for the eighty-first session, not an aspiration to be deferred indefinitely.” This consolidated model should be based on models introduced by Member States, and will serve as “the necessary precursor to text-based negotiations”.
However, Nigeria’s representative pointed out that the oral decision adopted today does not elaborate how the eighty-first session will arrive at such a consolidated model. Rejecting “another session of open-ended discussion”, he stressed that the Assembly’s next session must “open with a structured programme for the consolidated-model exercise, with the African model as a primary reference”.
Haiti’s representative, speaking for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), also underlined the need to develop this consolidated model as a “concrete basis to guide the next stage of negotiations”. He added: “While there may still be many areas in which Member States have yet to converge, it is clear that there is an overwhelming shared belief that reform is necessary, urgent and possible.”
Yet, the representative of the Russian Federation warned that trying to satisfy the interests of some States or groups by “presenting the desirable as possible” is “very dangerous”, and could undermine efforts to achieve Council reform. Pakistan’s representative added that convergence must lead to consolidation, and “not the other way around”. Text-based negotiations cannot commence until that convergence is achieved, he stressed.
Reformed Council Must Truly Represent Interests of All Member States
Some delegations nevertheless welcomed the momentum, with the representative of Italy — speaking for the “Uniting for Consensus” group — welcoming “positive forward movement in the process”. Ultimately, the reform process must lead to an organ that “better corresponds to the interests of all Member States and is truly representative of the world of the twenty-first century”, he said.
On that, the representative of Bahrain, speaking for the Arab Group, said that Council reform “must reflect the modern geopolitical position and must address imbalances in representation”. If Council membership is to expand, it must include “a permanent Arab presence”, as well as “adequate Arab representation” amongst the organ’s non-permanent members. China’s representative, meanwhile, urged that the Council reform process move in “the only correct direction of enhancing the representation and voice of developing countries”.
And voicing a frustration expressed by several delegations today, India’s representative observed: “In Indian philosophy, it is said that the soul has to go through cycles of births and deaths, making incremental progress each time before attaining liberation.” Noting that the intergovernmental negotiations process has been through 17 cycles already — with “no liberation in sight” — he spotlighted the “palpable sense of disappointment” among Member States and global citizenry regarding the Council’s inability to meaningfully intervene in conflicts.
Against that backdrop, he underscored that the need for comprehensive Council reform “cannot be more pronounced and more urgent”.
Review of UN Conference on South-South Cooperation
Following this discussion, the Assembly took action on several other texts.
First was a draft resolution titled “Modalities for the intergovernmental review of the implementation of the Buenos Aires outcome document of the second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation” (document A/80/L.90). Adopted by a recorded vote of 158 in favour to 1 against (United States), with no abstentions, it saw the Assembly decide to hold that review during Assembly meetings at UN Headquarters in New York from 24 to 26 July 2028.
The representative of the United States, whose delegation called for that vote, said that resolutions “should drive outcomes, not just fill calendars”. Stressing that the text serves as a “green light” for an “expensive, fiscally irresponsible, strategically unjustifiable UN exercise”, she said that its only return on investment “appears to be a photo op”.
However, the representative of Uruguay, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, said that the upcoming review is an important opportunity to assess progress achieved, identify both persistent gaps and emerging challenges and renew the collective commitment to South-South cooperation.
He stressed: “At a time when developing countries continue to face multiple and interconnected challenges — including financing gaps, debt vulnerabilities, climate change, biodiversity loss, food and energy insecurity, and the widening digital divide — South-South cooperation has never been more relevant.”
Some delegations also took the floor to express reservations with certain parts of the text, with the representatives of Argentina and Paraguay stating that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals are legally non-binding aspirations. Türkiye’s representative, meanwhile, disassociated from language concerning the participation of certain members of civil society.
Anniversary Meeting of Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Another recorded vote was required for the draft resolution titled “Scope, modalities, format and organization of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action” (document A/80/L.93). Adopting this text with 142 votes in favour to 3 against (Argentina, Israel, United States), with 13 abstentions, the Assembly decided that this meeting will be held on 28 September 2026 and that the body will adopt a related political declaration at that time.
Explaining why his delegation opposed the text, the representative of the United States said that the first Durban conference — held in 2001 in that South African city — was “hijacked and transformed into a vile platform for antisemitism and anti-Israel bigotry”. Similarly, Israel’s representative said that it was “hijacked by anti-Israeli and antisemitic activists”. She also said that the Declaration’s inclusion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “creates a false perspective, as if the conflict should be viewed through a racial lens”.
However, Iran’s representative stressed that “criticizing the prolonged occupation, settlement-expansion and policies of racial domination against the Palestinian people is not antisemitism”. Rather, it is a “legitimate and necessary stand against a clear and ongoing form of racial discrimination and related intolerance — precisely the issues the Durban Declaration was meant to confront”, he added.
The representative of New Zealand, meanwhile, said that his delegation abstained per its “long-standing position” on texts relating to the Declaration and Programme of Action, and Türkiye’s representative again disassociated from language concerning the participation of certain organizations. France’s representative recalled that the common objective of fighting racism must “fully include, indissociably”, the fight against antisemitism.
For his part, the representative of Uruguay, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, said that it is “unfortunate” that a vote was necessary and expressed hope that all delegations will participate in negotiating the political declaration. This, he stressed, will “demonstrate the continued commitment of Member States to global solidarity against racism, xenophobia and related intolerance”.
Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response
The Assembly also considered the draft decision titled “Participation of non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, relevant medical organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community and the private sector in the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” (document A/80/L.96).
However, before it did so, it first adopted an amendment thereto (document A/80/L.101) by a recorded vote of 74 in favour to 7 against (Belarus, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russian Federation), with 58 abstentions. That amendment expanded the list of participating stakeholders and was introduced by the representative of the United Kingdom, who underlined that “safe, meaningful participation” by civil society is “essential” for this discussion.
The Assembly then adopted the draft decision, as amended, without a vote.
Fourth Committee and Second Committee Reports
In other business, it also adopted without a vote the draft resolution and draft decision contained in the reports of the Fourth Committee (document A/80/537/Add.1) and the Second Committee (document A/80/555/Add.1), respectively. On the latter, which concerns the revitalization of that Committee’s work, the representative of the United States said: “This is a starting point, not a finish line.”