The United Kingdom has become the 128th country and the second permanent member of the UN Security Council after France to join the Franco-Mexican initiative to renounce the use of the veto.
This was announced by France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, while speaking to journalists at the UN, Ukrinform reports.
The document provides that permanent members of the Security Council would voluntarily refrain from using the veto in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and large-scale war crimes. According to the head of French diplomacy, because of the irresponsible use of the veto by certain countries, the Security Council is currently unable to take decisions to stop mass atrocities. Over the past six months, the number of signatories to the declaration has risen from 107 to 128 states.
France first proposed this mechanism in 2013, and in 2015, together with Mexico, presented the corresponding political declaration.
Notably, the initiative does not envisage abolishing the veto or amending the UN Charter. It would be a voluntary political commitment by the five permanent members of the Security Council—France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and Russia—not to block decisions in cases of mass atrocities.