Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / SECURITY COUNCIL AFRICA REPRESENTATION
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / SECURITY COUNCIL AFRICA REPRESENTATION
TRT: 04:13
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 12 AUGUST 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
12 AUGUST 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people - a young and rapidly growing population - making up 28 percent of the membership of the United Nations. Nor can we accept that Africa’s views are undervalued on questions of peace and security, both on the continent and around the world.”
5. Wide shot, Guterres addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Nearly half of all country-specific or regional conflicts on your agenda concern Africa. They are often exacerbated by greed for Africa’s resources - which are vital to the global economy - and further spread and aggravated by the interference of external actors. The message is clear. There can be no global security without African security. Meanwhile, African countries are ground down by crushing debt burdens and a lack of financing thanks to the global financial architecture, in which they are underrepresented and denied the level of support they require.”
7. Pan left, Council
8. Med shot, President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly:
“The fact that Africa continues to be manifestly underrepresented on the Security Council is simply wrong, offending as it does both the principles of equity and inclusion. It runs counter to the principle of sovereign equality of States – and calls for urgency to reform this institution to reflect the world as it is now, rather than what it was nearly 80 years ago.”
10. Wide shot, University of Pretoria Senior Lecturer Sithembile Mbete addressing Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sithembile Mbete, Senior Lecturer, Political Sciences, Faculty of Humanities,
University of Pretoria:
“Africa's experience of the UN system over the past 80 years has been one of misrepresentation and under representation. Misrepresentation and the perpetuation of narratives of the continent as a basket case of uncivilized and backward societies Who are always recipients of aid rather than agents of progress. Underrepresentation in the exclusion of the continent from permanent membership of the Council, and in inadequate representation in the category of non-permanent members.”
12. Wide shot, Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone:
“80 years after its creation, the Council has been stuck in time. Its imbalanced composition is at odds with current realities and unjust, undermining its legitimacy and effectiveness. Africa remains the unquestionable victim. With the absence of structural change, the Security Council’s performance and legitimacy remain questionable.”
14. Wide shot, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio addressing Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone:
“Africa demands two permanent seats in the UN Security Council and two additional non-permanent seats, bringing the total number of non-permanent seats to five. The African Union will choose the African Permanent Members. Africa wants the veto abolished. However, if UN Member States wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new Permanent Members as a matter of justice.”
16. Wide shot, Council
Secretary-General António Guterres today (12 Aug) told the Security Council that “we cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people,” and said, “nor can we accept that Africa’s views are undervalued on questions of peace and security, both on the continent and around the world.”
The Secretary-General told Council members, “nearly half of all country-specific or regional conflicts on your agenda concern Africa,” adding that conflicts in the continent “are often exacerbated by greed for Africa’s resources - which are vital to the global economy - and further spread and aggravated by the interference of external actors.”
He said, “the message is clear. There can be no global security without African security. Meanwhile, African countries are ground down by crushing debt burdens and a lack of financing thanks to the global financial architecture, in which they are underrepresented and denied the level of support they require.”
General Assembly President Dennis Francis said, “the fact that Africa continues to be manifestly underrepresented on the Security Council is simply wrong, offending as it does both the principles of equity and inclusion.”
Francis said, “it runs counter to the principle of sovereign equality of States – and calls for urgency to reform this institution to reflect the world as it is now, rather than what it was nearly 80 years ago.”
Representing civil society, University of Pretoria Senior Lecturer Sithembile Mbete said, “Africa's experience of the UN system over the past 80 years has been one of misrepresentation and under representation. Misrepresentation and the perpetuation of narratives of the continent as a basket case of uncivilized and backward societies Who are always recipients of aid rather than agents of progress. Underrepresentation in the exclusion of the continent from permanent membership of the Council, and in inadequate representation in the category of non-permanent members.”
For his part, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio said, “80 years after its creation, the Council has been stuck in time. Its imbalanced composition is at odds with current realities and unjust, undermining its legitimacy and effectiveness. Africa remains the unquestionable victim. With the absence of structural change, the Security Council’s performance and legitimacy remain questionable.”
Bio said, “Africa demands two permanent seats in the UN Security Council and two additional non-permanent seats, bringing the total number of non-permanent seats to five. The African Union will choose the African Permanent Members. Africa wants the veto abolished. However, if UN Member States wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new Permanent Members as a matter of justice.”
Today’s meeting, “Addressing the Historical Injustice and Enhancing Africa’s Effective Representation in the Security Council,” was convened under Sierra Leone’s presidency of the Council.
