Background
As per the United Nations (UN) Charter, Article 23, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is to consist of 15 members, of which there are 5 permanent members with veto power and 10 non-permanent members.[1] The non-permanent members are elected each year by the General Assembly for a 2-year term. Non-permanent members have the same responsibilities and powers as permanent members, but they do not have the right to veto resolutions. The election of the non-permanent members is done on a regional basis, where 5 seats are reserved for African and Asian states, 1 for Eastern European states, 2 for Latin American and Caribbean states, and 2 for Western European and other states.[2]
On the 9th of June 2022, the yearly elections for 5 non-permanent member seats had been undertaken by the General Assembly wherein Japan was elected to serve as one of the 5 new non-permanent members of the UNSC for the years 2023 and 2024. This is the 12th time that Japan has assumed non-permanent membership at the UNSC since joining the UN in 1956, which is the most for any UN member state.[3] The last time Japan held the non-permanent seat was for the 2016-2017 term.[4] The rest of the non-permanent members elected to serve till 2024 were Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. The members would replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway. Apart from the newly elected non-permanent members there are 5 other countries, namely Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates, whose term would end in 2023,[5] thus making the total of 10 non-permanent members. Japan and Brazil will be the two countries from the G4 grouping that are at helm of the UNSC as non-permanent members for this year. The newly elected non-permanent members have started their terms from 1 January 2023.
Japan’s Priorities as a Non-Permanent Member of the UNSC
On 20 September 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had delivered a statement at the General Assembly in New York outlining their objectives as a newly elected non-permanent member. Prime Minister Kishida stated that Japan, as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, will be “listening not only to the big voices but also to the small voices” and intends to “take action to strengthen the rule of law in the international community”.[6] The assumption of charge by Japan for the non-permanent seat at the UNSC comes at a vital time, when Tokyo has been vocalising about the several challenges in the international security environment occurring on a scale unprecedented since the end of the Second World War. The release of Japan’s newly revised National Security Strategy (NSS) 2022, after almost a decade, also signalled how Tokyo is aiming to redirect its foreign and national security policies to overcome the complex geopolitical scenario where in its views nation-states with permanent membership at the UNSC are looking to upend the rules-based international norms and order in the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict.[7]
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had declared Tokyo’s commitment to the UN as well as to multilateralism while asserting their determination to realise the vision of the UN. Foremost, Japan will work towards the reform of the UN, including the Security Council, so that the organisation can return to the vision and principles of the UN Charter while promoting the rule of law in the international community.[8] As the only country that ever suffered the effects of the atomic bomb during the Second World War, Japan also believes it has an integral and historically unique role to achieve the goals of disarmament and non-proliferation. Therefore, it aims “to reach consensus on an outcome document that would maintain and strengthen the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT)”.[9]
Another important area of priority that Japan has highlighted is to promote efforts based on the “concept of human security in the new era”.[10] Through the concept of human security, Japan has emphasised how “global pandemics, the use of force and coercion against other countries, food and energy insecurity, inflation and climate change are all interconnected and threaten the safety of people now more than ever, further exacerbating poverty and disease”.[11] Tokyo states that in order to even achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), it is vital to acquire human security through enhancing resilience of individuals, societies and nations in order to cope with the unprecedented challenges.
Japan has also been emphasising on “investment in people”, by which Tokyo highlighted its investments of USD 30 billion in Africa.[12] Through this total sum of public and private investment in Africa, Japan aims to improve the quality of people’s lives, support entrepreneurship of young people, develop human resources, comprehensively develop the private sector, tackle infectious diseases, and provide food assistance and food production facilities through the African Development Bank.[13] These endeavours bode well for Japan-Africa relations. Additionally, Japan with its non-permanent membership at the UNSC has also stated its desire to push for Africa to be represented through a permanent membership on the UNSC, to redress the historical injustices against Africa.[14] Similarly, Japan being a member of the G20 has already stated its support for the entry of the African Union (AU) into the G20 grouping as well, citing the importance of giving African countries an increasing role in international society.[15]
Way Forward
Japan has clearly stated how the world is standing at a time of trial where the UNSC has not been able to function effectively. On 10 June 2022, the initial statement regarding the election of Japan as a non-permanent member by Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa identified the aggression against Ukraine by Russia (permanent member), the nuclear and advance missile capabilities of North Korea violating UNSC resolutions as some of the primary concerns for peace and security in the international community.[16] With the additional challenge to reform the United Nations, including the Security Council, it will be an ever-complex situation for Japan and Brazil as G4 nations to call for concrete outcomes.
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*Dr Tunchinmang Langel, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[1] United Nations, “United Nations Charter, Chapter V: The Security Council”, https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-5, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[2] UN General Assembly Resolutions Table, “Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its 18th Session”, A/RES/1991(XVIII) A, https://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/18, Accessed on 3 January 2023
[3] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022, “On the election of Japan as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (Statement by Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa), 3 June 2022, https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press1e_000300.html, Accessed on 3 January 2023
[4] Kyodo News, 2022, “Japan joins U.N. Security Council as new nonpermanent member”, 1 January 2023, https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/01/6c679e2ec5bf-japan-joins-un-security-council-as-new-nonpermanent-member.html, Accessed on 3 January 2023
[5] United Nations Security Council, “Current members: Permanent and non-permanent members”, https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/current-members, Accessed on 3 January 2023
[6] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022, “Address by Prime Minister Kishida at the Seventy-Seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly”, 20 September 2022, https://www.mofa.go.jp/fp/unp_a/page3e_001242.html, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[7] The Japan Times, 2023, “Japan to be tested as nonpermanent U.N. Security Council member”, 2 January 2023, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/02/national/politics-diplomacy/japan-un-security-council-tested/, Accessed on 3 January 2023
[8] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022, “Address by Prime Minister Kishida at the Seventy-Seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly”, 20 September 2022, https://www.mofa.go.jp/fp/unp_a/page3e_001242.html, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2022, “Remarks by Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan Joint Press Conference, Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8)”, 28 August 2022, https://www.mofa.go.jp/afr/af2/page1e_000478.html, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[14] South China Morning Post, 2022, “Japan to push for African seat on UN Security Council, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says”, 28 August 2022, https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3190482/japan-push-african-seat-un-security-council-prime-minister, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[15] Reuters, 2022, “Japan backs African Union entry to G20, PM Kishida says”, 19 December 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/japan-backs-african-union-entry-g20-pm-kishida-says-2022-12-19/, Accessed on 30 December 2022
[16] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022, “On the election of Japan as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (Statement by Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa), 3 June 2022, https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press1e_000300.html, Accessed on 3 January 2023