Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy, Kazakhstan and Sweden will begin their two-year term as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on Sunday, January 1.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The countries are replacing Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, whose mandate expired on December 31.

On January 1, 2018, the Netherlands will replace Italy as a non-permanent member of the council on January 1, 2018, according to an agreement reached by Rome and Amsterdam after they both received 95 votes each following five rounds of voting in the General Assembly.

The UN Security Council consists of 15 states, namely five permanent (Russia, France, China, the United States and the United Kingdom) and 10 non-permanent members that are to be elected for two years. Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will remain non-permanent members of the council, with their terms expiring on December 31, 2017. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The countries are replacing Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, whose mandate expired on December 31.

The UN Security Council consists of 15 states, namely five permanent (Russia, France, China, the United States and the United Kingdom) and 10 non-permanent members that are to be elected for two years.

Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will remain non-permanent members of the council, with their terms expiring on December 31, 2017. </s> ASTANA (TCA) — The national flag of Kazakhstan was raised in a special ceremony in front of the hall of the UN Security Council at the United Nations in New York on December 31, 2016 as the country has become a non-permanent Security Council member starting from January 1, 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan said.

Other newly elected non-permanent Security Council members are Bolivia, Italy, Sweden and Ethiopia. Kazakhstan and these countries replaced, respectively, Malaysia, Venezuela, Spain, New Zealand and Angola. The ceremony marked the start of the work of the five new non-permanent members on the Security Council.



The convincing win in the election campaign for the post of a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2017-2018 from the Asia-Pacific Group became the main foreign policy outcome for Kazakhstan in 2016, the foreign ministry said, adding that Kazakhstan has become the first in Central Asia to be elected to this important global political body.



In accordance with the UN Charter, the Security Council is one of the principal organs of the Organization, whose decisions are legally binding. In order to ensure prompt and effective action of the United Nations, its Member States have conferred on the Security Council primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, and have agreed that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility, the Council acts on their behalf.



The first calendar meeting of the UN Security Council in 2017 is scheduled for January 3, while the powers of Kazakhstan as a non-permanent member of the Council started on January 1, 2017. </s> Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Sweden Among New Members of UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 29 2016 (IPS) - Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden were elected on Tuesday to serve on the UN Security Council (UNSC) as non-permanent members, while Italy and Netherlands have split the remaining contested seat.

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) met to choose five new non-permanent members who will serve a two-year term starting January 2017 alongside the 15-member council.

As the UN’s most powerful body, the UNSC is responsible for international peace and security matters from imposing sanctions to brokering peace deals to overseeing the world’s 16 peacekeeping missions.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom expressed how “happy” and “proud” Sweden is to be joining the UN’s top decision-making body.

“We will do now what we promised to do,” she told press. Among its priorities, Sweden has pledged to focus on conflict prevention and resolution.

“With 40 conflict and 11 full-blown wars, it is a very very worrisome world that we have to take into account,” Wallstrom stated.

Despite its location in Northern Europe, Sweden has not been untouched by recent conflicts, including the ongoing civil war in Syria. With a population of 9.5 million, the Scandinavian country took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015. The government has since imposed tougher restrictions on asylum seekers including a decrease in permanent residence permits and limited family reunification authorisations.

Ethiopia has also highlighted its position in promoting regional and continental peace and security. The country is the largest contributor of UN peacekeepers and is actively involved in mediating conflicts in Africa, most recently in South Sudan. It has also long struggled with its own clashes, including a crackdown on political dissent.

The Sub-Saharan African country has also promised to work towards UNSC reforms.

During the 70th Session of the UNGA in September 2015, Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn remarked that he was “proud” that Ethiopia is one of the UN’s founding members, but stressed the need to reform and establish a permanent seat for Africa in the council.

“Comprehensive reform of the United Nations system, particularly that of the Security Council, is indeed imperative to reflect current geo-political realities and to make the UN more broadly representative, legitimate and effective,” he told delegates.

“We seize this occasion to, once again, echo Africa’s call to be fully represented in all the decision-making organs of the UN, particularly in the Security Council,” Dessalegn continued.

Ethiopia has been a non-permanent member of the UNSC on two previous occasions, in 1967/1968 and 1989/1990.

It will also be the third time that Bolivia will have a non-permanent SC seat. Bolivia campaigned unopposed with the backing of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

“Bolivia is a country that has basic principles…one of those principles is, without a doubt, anti-imperialism,” the Bolivian delegation said following their election, adding that they will continue implementing these principles as a member of the UNSC.

Since the election of Evo Morales, its first indigenous leader, the South American country has largely focused on social reforms and indigenous rights. Most recently, Morales has been reportedly implicated in a political scandal that is threatening journalists and press freedom.

Kazakhstan became the first Central Asian country to be a member of the UNSC after beating Thailand for the seat.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said that he was “very happy” and their selection was a “privilege.” He also reiterated the country’s priority focus on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan relinquished its nuclear weapons and has been actively advocating for non-proliferation around the world.

“We have a lot to offer to the world and we believe that it is time to attract attention to the need of development in our part of the world,” Idrissov stated.

However, Human Rights Watch has scrutinized the Central Asian nation’s human rights record, including restrictions on freedom of expression.

Netherlands and Italy were up for the last Western European seat on the UNSC, but after four rounds of voting, they were deadlocked with each country receiving 95 votes while needing 127 to win.

Following deliberations, Italian and Dutch foreign ministers announced that they would split the seat, with Italy in the UNSC in 2017 and the Netherlands in 2018.

Since May, the six countries have been campaigning for council seats by participating in the first-ever election debates in the UN’s 70-year history.

The debates were a part of a new effort to increase transparency in the institution.

The new non-permanent members will work alongside the five veto-wielding permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Following their controversial exit from the European Union, known as “Brexit”, the UK may face an uncertain future in the UNSC as the prospects of Scotland and Northern Ireland leaving the UK loom. </s> The UN Security Council on Saturday soundly rejected Russia’s call to condemn the United States and its allies for striking Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

Russia, China and Bolivia voted in favor of Moscow’s emergency resolution, well short of the nine “yes” votes Syria’s main ally needed.

The Security Council is comprised of five permanent members – the US, France, Great Britain, China and Russia – and 10 rotating members.

Those current members are Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, and Sweden. </s> MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) The ministers of foreign affairs of the Lima Group will hold the 15th meeting in the Argentinean capital on July 23.

The meeting will be focus on the situation in Venezuela and will be attended by representatives of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Peru, Canada, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Saint Lucia, as well as observers from Ecuador and, for the first time, El Salvador.

Colombia is expected to propose additional sanctions against Venezuela, as announced by Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo last week.

The Lima Group was created in 2017 to attempt settling the crisis in Venezuela. The group includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia. Most member states back opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, who is opposed by the incumbent president, Nicolas Maduro. </s> (JTA) – Following the U.S. election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Secretary of State John Kerry criticized the body for its “biased focus on Israel.” The United States was one of 14 members elected to the council by the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 29 in New York. “While important challenges remain, including ending the Council’s excessive and biased focus on Israel, we look forward to cooperating with other Council members to address human rights concerns, advance human rights around the world, and ensure the Council fully realizes its purpose,” Kerry said following the U.S. election to the council after a one-year hiatus. In addition to the United States, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Tunisia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa and Great Britain will serve on the council in 2017. Israel is the only country with a permanent spot on the council’s agenda. </s> 'Hopefully there will be some new ideas on the table and I think it'll be on those tracks: the humanitarian situation, the chemical weapons,' says Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom

BACKAKRA, Sweden – The UN Security Council met in a secluded farmhouse on the southern tip of Sweden on Saturday, April 22, in a bid to overcome deep divisions over how to end the war in Syria.

In a first for the Security Council, which normally holds its annual brainstorming session in upstate New York, the 15 ambassadors and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were this year invited to hold an informal meeting in Backakra by Sweden, a non-permanent member of the body.

The United Nations' special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is expected on Sunday.

"We still face a very serious divide on that (Syria) matter," Guterres said as he arrived along with the ambassadors.

"We really need to find a way in relation to the violation of international law that the use of chemical weapons represents," he added.

The farmhouse is the summer residence of Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations' second secretary-general who died in a plane crash in Africa in 1961.

Situated in the heart of a nature reserve, just a stone's throw from the Baltic Sea, the farmhouse consists of 4 buildings around a courtyard and has been completely renovated in recent years.

The southern wing serves as the summer residence for the Swedish Academy which awards the Nobel Literature Prize.

With both New York and Damascus thousands of kilometers away, the council is exploring "the means to strengthen and make more effective United Nations peacekeeping missions," the Swedish government said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom welcomed the decision to hold the meeting in Sweden, "where there is a long tradition of peaceful conflict prevention and resolution".

But she warned against being too hopeful the Syrian issue would be resolved over the weekend.

"Hopefully there will be some new ideas on the table and I think it’ll be on those tracks: the humanitarian situation, the chemical weapons," she said.

But "not even the beautiful settings like these can solve all the problems," the minister added.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on the Syria issue: "We're not having that much success, we're still deadlocked.

"Retreats like this are very important – to get away from New York sometimes and discuss these things in a way that we can really try and find a solution."

British ambassador Karen Pierce said: "We are determined to try and find a workable solution, so we will keep doing that with our Russian colleagues."

While the war in Syria is not the only topic of the deliberations, it is high up on the agenda because it was an issue that divided council members deeply in recent months.

Skau said Backakra was a "fitting and inspiring venue" to reconnect with the power of diplomacy.

"It's a place to roll up our sleeves, take off our jackets and ties and come up with some real and meaningful ways forward," he said.

Air strikes by the US, UK and France on April 14 targeted 3 sites, which the countries argued were used by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad for a chemical weapons program.

Syria has been accused of using chemical weapons in an attack a week earlier in Douma, the last rebel stronghold near Damascus.

Assad and Russian allies have denied that Syria was responsible for the attack, which according to rescuers, left more than 40 people dead. But the Western powers insist that the Syrian regime had crossed a red line.

The air strikes, conducted without a Security Council resolution, have led to fierce tensions between Russia and the other permanent council members, the US, France, Britain and China.

Moscow has used its veto on the council 12 times since 2011.

A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the Syrian town of Douma has finally arrived at the site of the alleged chemical attack, Russia's foreign ministry said.

Some non-permanent member countries of the council have been critical of the trip to Sweden.

With the conflicts the council has on its table, including the one in Syria, it is abnormal that the council would travel so far, said one ambassador, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"What will happen if something bad happens?" the ambassador asked. – Rappler.com </s> Sweden's presidency of the UN Security Council will focus on conflict prevention and the inclusion of women in peace processes, Foreign Minister Margot Wallström has revealed.

Writing in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, Wallström highlighted three areas Sweden will tackle during its presidency of the Security Council through January 2017. It is the first month of a two-year term as part of the body, after being elected in June last year as a non-permanent member for the 2017-18 period.

The Nordic country wants to build a "constructive new relationship" between new UN Secretary General António Guterres and the Security Council, Wallström explained.

On top of that, it also wants to “lift the UN’s work with conflict prevention as well as the link between women, peace and security”, with an active female influence in peace processes a “strategic issue for international peace and security,” according to the Swedish Foreign Minister.

Finally, Sweden will also set out to improve the Security Council’s working methods and contribute to a "council that is more determined, transparent and legitimate”, as well as limit veto use, in particular when it comes to "situations of mass atrocities like in Syria", Wallström noted.

Mali, Syria, Somalia, the DRC, Cyprus, Colombia and the peace process in the Middle East will all be discussed during the Swedish presidency.

Sweden’s tenure on the UN Security Council will be marked by similar themes, according to its ambassador to the UN.

“Our foreign policy is rooted in a solid foundation of international law, human rights, gender equality and a humanitarian approach. The same will apply to our term on the Security Council," Swedish UN Ambassador Olof Skoog said in December.

READ ALSO: How Sweden negotiated a seat on the UN Security Council

Sweden will present its January programme of work for the UN Security Council on Tuesday. It will sit on the council with the five permanent members (China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States) as well as nine other non-permanent members.
Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Sweden begin their terms on the United Nations Security Council, replacing Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela.