In the picture the Foreign Minister of Estonia, H.E. Urmas Reinsalu.
Friday, 7 June 2019, UN: A ballot took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. All 193 UN member states were in represented to cast their votes. Therein Estonia was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021 with 132 votes.
The non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed on a regional basis. Estonia belongs to the Eastern European group and its main regional competitor for the seat was Romania. Estonia has not been a member of the Security Council before, while Romania has been a member on four occasions.
The Estonian foreign ministry, diplomats and the country’s President, Kersti Kaljulaid, campaigned long and actively for the seat. The Estonian government decided to put forward its candidacy for the Security Council as early as 2005, however, the campaign was merely officially launched on 13 July 2017.
Estonia already contributes to the UN peacekeeping operations and supports resolution of conflicts and rebuilding efforts. The country is also committed to supporting reduction of poverty, promoting sustainable development and fighting climate change.
The UN Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the UN and approving any changes to its charter.
Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorisation of military actions through resolutions; in fact being the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. The council held its first session on 17 January 1946.
The Security Council consists of fifteen members. The great powers that were the victors of World War II, that is, the Soviet Union (now represented by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the Republic of China (now represented by the People’s Republic of China) as well as the United States, serve as the body’s five permanent members. These can veto any substantive resolution.
The non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed on a regional basis. There are five regional groups: Western European and other countries, Eastern European, Asia-Pacific, Latin American and Caribbean, and African countries. Estonia belongs to the Eastern European group, which has one non-permanent seat on the Security Council. Estonian Foreign Minister, Urmas Reinsalu, highlighted in a statement, following the vote, that apart from standing up for the world order based on international law, Estonia would also have an opportunity to share its experience in running a digital state and its knowledge on cyber security.
Estonia will begin its membership at the UN Security Council in 2020 with four new members: Niger, Tunisia, Viêtnam, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Estonia is a member with these four countries until 2021.
Belgium, Germany, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and South Africa will continue as non-permanent members in 2020 alongside five permanent members, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the PRC.
For further information:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia: https://vm.ee/en/estonia-un-security-council-2020-2021
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Urmas Reinsalu – Picture by Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2017 through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license on Wikipedia English
