After a marathon negotiating session on Monday, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously agreed to a document that mandates the commencement of “inter-governmental negotiations” on expanding and reforming the Security Council.

The U.N. Security Council, which is the most powerful body within the United Nations, has remained largely unchanged since its formation, with the exception of the rotating “non permanent” seats that have limited powers. The five “permanent” members of the Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States of America – have held their seats since the conclusion of Word War II.

Many States have argued that the composition of the Security Council does not reflect the geopolitical realities of the modern world, and that its membership and procedures should be revised. Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Nigeria and South Africa are among states that believe they are qualified to be permanent members of the Council.

However, groups of states in favour of the status quo, or opposed to the aspirations of specific countries, have consistently blocked Security Council reform. Since 1993, the reform process had been mired in a special working group that discussed, but could not act, on substantive reform.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines joined a coalition of countries seeking to break the deadlock and move the process towards meaningful negotiations. The coalition, which included India, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and the majority of African and CARICOM states, aggressively pushed to move from discussions of procedure to discussions of substance on Security Council reform.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines made five formal statements on the matter, including three speeches within the two weeks leading up to the resolution. From within CARICOM, Jamaica and Barbados have also spoken out in recent weeks in favor of meaningful negotiations.

In the initial statement on the matter, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves stated that “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines does not approach this issue with narrow national interests, but rather with a fundamental philosophical belief in the critical importance of a democratic reform process to fashion a more representative and accountable Security Council. Our wish for an inclusive and democratic process that follows the will of the General Assembly means that we have very few non-negotiable starting positions. However, we will deem as unacceptable any expansion in mere numbers that fails to address or otherwise entrenches the current inequalities in geographic and developmental representation.”

Ambassador Gonsalves also stated that “we reject any attempts to perpetuate the existing state of paralysis through perpetual analysis,” and called for a prompt commencement to inter-governmental negotiations.

Ambassador Gonsalves also sought to empower and emphasise the role that small countries played in the process. Assailing attempts to limit the discussions to large and developed states that had a specific interest in Security Council membership, Ambassador Gonsalves stated that “there is a principle of sovereign equality of states that undergirds the operation of this body. It may be a legal fiction, but the legality of that fiction is enshrined in our Charter, and has no place for Orwellian notions that some states are more equal than others. It follows naturally from this concept that meaningful consultations are open to all States, and that all States voices are equally respected in a process such as this."

“It may be easier to seek consensus within the confines of a claustrophobic echo chamber, oblivious to the cacophony of uninvited dissenting voices, but it is a contravention of both the spirit and the letter of our Charter. It is our most sincere wish that the voices of small states, who generally have no geopolitical axes to grind, are heard and respected, individually and collectively, in these pivotal issues within our global family.”

After difficult negotiations throughout the day, a decision was ultimately agreed upon that calls for the beginning of negotiations by March 2009.