United Nations Security Council election, 2012

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United Nations Security Council election, 2012
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5 (of 10) non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council

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United Nations Security Council membership after the elections
Elected Members before election

Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa (Africa)
Flag of India.svg  India (Asia)
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia (LatAm&Car)
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany (WEOG)
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal (WEOG)

Contents

New Elected Members







Unsuccessful candidates
Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan (Asian Group)
Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia (Asian Group)
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland (WEOG)

The 2012 United Nations Security Council election was held on 18 October 2012 [1] during the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The elections were for five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2013 to replace the five countries whose terms expired. The countries elected were Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea, and Rwanda.

Sixty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly

The Sixty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 18 September 2012 and having its last scheduled meeting on 11 September 2013. The President of the United Nations General Assembly was chosen from the EEG with Serbia's then foreign minister Vuk Jeremić beating out Lithuania's Dalius Čekuolis in an election. Notably, the session led to United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 which granted Palestine non-member observer state status.

United Nations Intergovernmental organization

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization that was tasked to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international co-operation and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, and is subject to extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development and upholding international law. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. In 24 October 1945, at the end of World War II, the organization was established with the aim of preventing future wars. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The UN is the successor of the ineffective League of Nations.

United Nations General Assembly principal organ of the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the UN, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General of the United Nations, receive reports from other parts of the UN, and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. It has also established numerous subsidiary organs.

Rules

In accordance with the rotation rules whereby the ten non-permanent UNSC seats rotate among the various regional blocs into which UN member states traditionally divide themselves for voting and representation purposes, the five available seats were allocated as follows:

United Nations Regional Groups geopolitical regional groups of the UN

The United Nations Regional Groups are the geopolitical regional groups of the Member States of the United Nations. Originally, United Nations Member States were unofficially grouped into five geopolitical regional groups. However, what began as an informal means of sharing the distribution of posts for United Nations bodies quickly took on a much more expansive role. Depending on the context, the regional groups control elections to United Nations-related positions, on the basis of geographic representation, as well as coordinate substantive policy, and form common fronts for negotiations and voting.

United Nations geoscheme for Africa

The following is an alphabetical list of subregions in the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, used by the UN and maintained by the UNSD department for statistical purposes.

South Africa Republic in the southernmost part of Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.

United Nations geoscheme for Asia

The following is an alphabetical list of subregions in the United Nations geoscheme for Asia, used by the UN and maintained by the UNSD department for statistical purposes.

The election is for the term from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014.

Candidates

Western European and Others Group

Flag of Australia.svg  Australia [3]
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland [4]
Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg [5]

Asia-Pacific Group

Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan [6]
Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia [7]
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea [8]

Latin American and Caribbean Group

Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina [9]

African Group

Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda [9] [10]

Rwanda controversy

Prior to the actual vote, the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rose to speak and said that Rwanda "was an oasis for criminals" operating in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on those grounds, she objected to Rwanda as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. [11] A confidential U.N. report was also leaked before the election, which stated that Rwanda is involved in the current conflict in the eastern DRC and that "Rwandan officials exercise overall command and strategic planning for M23 ... Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo through direct military support to M23 rebels, facilitation of recruitment, encouragement and facilitation of FARDC (Congolese army) desertions as well as the provision of arms and ammunition, intelligence, and political advice." [12] Rwandan U.N. representative Olivier Nduhungirehe responded by saying, "The members of the General Assembly know exactly what our record is and they cannot be deterred or swayed by a baseless report, which has no credibility." [13]

Democratic Republic of the Congo Country in Central Africa

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, the DRC, DROC, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa. It is sometimes anachronistically referred to by its former name of Zaire, which was its official name between 1971 and 1997. It is, by area, the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the second-largest in all of Africa, and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of over 78 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populated officially Francophone country, the fourth-most-populated country in Africa, and the 16th-most-populated country in the world. Currently, eastern DR Congo is the scene of ongoing military conflict in Kivu, since 2015.

March 23 Movement rebel military group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The March 23 Movement, often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, was a rebel military group based in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), mainly operating in the province of North Kivu. The 2012 M23 rebellion against the DRC government led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of one million people, but was requested to evacuate it by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region because the DRC government had finally agreed to negotiate with them. In late 2013 Congolese troops, along with UN troops, retook control of Goma and M23 announced a ceasefire, saying it wanted to resume peace talks.

Results

Argentina, Australia, and Rwanda were elected in the first round of voting, [14] while Luxembourg and the Republic of Korea were elected in the second. In both rounds, 193 voting papers were distributed. [11]

African and Asia-Pacific Groups

African and Asia-Pacific States election results [11]
MemberRound 1Round 2
Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda 148—
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 116149
Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia 6243
Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan 20—
Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania 3—
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  Democratic Republic of the Congo 1—
abstentions 1 0
invalid ballots 0 1
required majority 128 128

Latin America and Caribbean Group

Latin America and Caribbean Group election results [11]
MemberRound 1
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 182
Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados 1
Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 1
abstentions 8
invalid ballots 1
required majority 123

Western European and Other Group

Western European and Other Group election results [11]
MemberRound 1Round 2
Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 140—
Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 128 131
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 108 62
abstentions 0 0
required majority 129 129

See also

Australia was a founding member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 and has been actively engaged in the organisation since its formation. The UN is seen by the Australian Government as a means to influence events which directly affect Australia's interests but over which they have little unilateral control.

Korea and the United Nations

The Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were simultaneously admitted to the United Nations (UN) in 1991. On 8 August 1991, the UN Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 702, recommending both states to the UN General Assembly for membership. On 17 September 1991, the General Assembly admitted both countries under Resolution 46/1.

European Union and the United Nations

The European Union (EU) has had permanent observer status at the United Nations (UN) since 1974, and has had enhanced participation rights since 2011. The EU itself does not have voting rights but it is represented alongside its 28 members, two of which are permanent members of the Security Council.

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1972 United Nations Security Council election

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References

  1. ↑ "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly: Report by the Secretary-General". United Nations. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Asian group of nations at UN changes its name to Asia-Pacific group", Radio New Zealand International , 2011-08-31.
  3. ↑ "Australia Candidate for the United Nations Security Council 2013–14". Australia-unsc.gov.au. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  4. ↑ "Finland to the UN Security Council 2013–2014 – Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN : Current Affairs". Finlandun.org. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  5. ↑ http://newyork-un.mae.lu/en/Luxembourg-Candidate-for-the-Security-Council-2013-2014
  6. ↑ "Bhutan seeks seat on UN Security Council for 2013–2014". China People's Daily . Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Cambodia candidate for the United Nations Security Council 2013–2014" (PDF). http://www.cambodianembassy.org.uk/ . Retrieved 15 March 2011.External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ↑ "ROK-UN Relations". Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Security Council Elections 2012". Security Council Report. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "Minister Mushikiwabo press briefing focuses on UNSC, ICGLR and Rwanda Day". Government of the Republic of Rwanda. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "GA/11303 – General Assembly Elects Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea, Rwanda as Non-Permanent Members of Security Council". United Nations Department of Public Information. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  12. ↑ Charbonneau, Louis; Michelle Nichols (16 October 2012). "Exclusive: Rwanda, Uganda arming Congo rebels, providing troops – U.N. panel". Reuters. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  13. ↑ Charbonneau, Louis; Michelle Nichols (18 October 2012). "RPT-Under fire over Congo rebels, Rwanda eyes UN Security Council seat". Reuters. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  14. ↑ Musoni, Edward. "Rwanda Elected to UN Security Council". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
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