UN General Assembly
1946

As it stands at present, the Charter requires affirmative unanimity of the five permanent members ; the representatives of these five members in the Security Council have no power, when in a minority, to prevent their vote from resulting in a veto. I mention this consequence of Article 27 of the Charter in passing, in the hope that my observation may perhaps some day be of use. But although we may now start to reflect and to think of possible improvements to the voting system, in my opinion the time is not yet ripe for any modification of the principles of our institution. These principles are embodied in a text which we call the Charter, a term which accurately describes the voluntary agreement accepted by the various States of the world. It is difficult to overhaul an agreement of such wide scope without very weighty reasons; and I find some difficulty in believing that ten months’ experience of the working of an institution like ours is long enough to provide such reasons.