UN Security Council not effective - US academic

Dubai: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is in dire need of reform, according to Richard Hartwig, Professor of Political Science from Texas A&M University.

"There is currently no effective way of making decisions for the world. In my opinion, the world is likely to fail to prevent global warming.

"There are issues the world needs to be able to address, like conflict, internal violence and chemical and biological terrorism," he said.

Prof Hartwig continued that the UNSC in its current structure is ineffective in its role as a global platform for the discussion of world issues.

Prof Hartwig was speaking at the Dubai Press Club as a guest of Dubai School of Government and was presenting from his paper "Squaring the circle: A regional/economic proposal for reform of the United Nations Security Council."

He proposes a new system of segmentation, where countries would be divided by a system of regions. He noted that the radical change needed would necessitate a revision of the UN Charter, formulated 60 years ago.

The new structure would divide the world into ten geographic regions. Each region would be presided over by an anchor or co-anchor country. In emergency situations, only anchor and co-anchor countries would vote, and there would be no veto power.

Emerging superpowers, such as India and Japan, should be given a permanent seat in the UNSC. Reformation would be the only way to achieve this.

In the paper he writes: "As presently constituted, the UN Security Council is unrepresentative, illegitimate and increasingly ineffective in dealing with crises such as the war in Iraq, the genocide in Darfur and the alleged threat of a nuclear-armed Iran."

The paper is available at www.dhf.uu.se.