UN Security Council (Hansard, 10 February 1993)

§ 2. Ms. Eagle
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy on the future structure of the United Nations Security Council; and if he will make a statement.

§ 7. Mr. Robathan
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy concerning reform of membership of the United Nations Security Council.

§ Mr. Hurd
The increased effectiveness of the Security Council has renewed interest in its role. Several countries would like permanent membership. Any expansion in membership would require an amendment to the United Nations charter. Negotiations on this would be long and complicated. Our aim is to ensure that the Security Council continues to operate effectively. We would not favour any arrangement that undermined its authority or prejudiced the position of the United Kingdom.

§ Ms. Eagle
Does the Foreign Secretary agree that the momentum gathering for Britain to lose its permanent place on the United Nations Security Council would not have built up if the Government had not delivered such a disastrous economic performance? Is it not the case that a third-rate economic performance means that we are now increasingly being regarded as third rate in the world at large?

§ Mr. Hurd
I do not know of anywhere except this country where it is suggested that we should lose our permanent seat. No such suggestion has been made by any of those who have suggested that new members should be added. The hon. Lady's conclusion is false and it is based on a false assumption.

§ Mr. Robathan
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the arguments being advanced for a change in the composition of the Security Council are not new and that they are far less valid now than they were before, in view of the increased effectiveness of which my right hon. Friend speaks, as illustrated by the Gulf war coalition and in other United Nations operations around the world?
Does my right hon. Friend also agree that although economic performance is obviously important, the contribution made to United Nations forces by other countries does not match Britain's contribution? Indeed, some of the countries put forward as potential permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are conspicuous by their absence when it comes to United Nations operations overseas.

§ Mr. Hurd
Some of those countries have constitutional restraints. However, my hon. Friend is entirely right: the two countries doing the most on the ground for United Nations peacekeeping across the world as a whole are France and Britain, and the two countries doing the most 966 for United Nations peacekeeping in terms of getting supplies to the towns and villages of Bosnia are Britain and France. The facts that my hon. Friend gives put the theoretical arguments in some perspective.

§ Mr. Rogers
The Opposition, like the Government, support the aims of the United Nations. We should like its remit to be broadened politically and to be supported financially. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that if the United Nations is to retain our support and trust, it must behave even-handedly with regard to resolutions that it has passed and that if there is to be any restructuring, it should be carried out on the basis of considered debate and not on the basis of gratuitous comment by any country?

§ Mr. Hurd
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will address that remark to those on the Opposition Back Benches, who seem to leap into the debate with very little regard to reality. I agree that a discussion has started and we cannot stifle that debate, but we have no intention of altering our own position as a result of it.

§ Sir Jim Spicer
Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is easy to pass United Nations resolutions—the number has probably increased 20-fold in the past 20 years—but that if the United Nations is to retain credibility it must expand its influence and that influence must be backed by the support of its member countries? As my right hon. Friend said, far too few countries put their money where their mouth is.

§ Mr. Hurd
I agree with my hon. Friend. As a result of the end of the cold war, quite suddenly over the past couple of years there has been a build-up in the number of conflicts in which the United Nations is expected, not least by hon. Members, to intervene. The difficulties of intervening effectively are clear: The resources of the United Nations—the assets available to the Secretary-General—are inadequate for the purpose.

§ 3. Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many resolutions he has proposed to the Security Council in the last 12 months on matters relating to international security.

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Douglas Hogg)
Since 1 January 1992, the United Nations Security Council has adopted 83 resolutions: 67 concerned matters relating to international security; 11 specifically invoked chapter VII of the charter. The United Kingdom voted in support of all the resolutions. Members of the council, the Secretary-General and parties to the disputes engage in close consultations during the drafting of Security Council resolutions. The United Kingdom has played a full and active part.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
In so far as the western powers appear to lack a strategy for getting rid of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'athist regime in Baghdad, is it not time that the British Government promoted, within the Security Council, resolutions that would underpin the position of the Iraqi National Conference—that is to say, the Iraqi opposition?

§ Mr. Hogg
Our first objective must be to ensure that Saddam Hussein complies with the existing resolutions of the Security Council and, incidentally, with the no-fly zones—and that we propose to do.

§ Mr. Brazier
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the staggering number of resolutions passed in a single year reminds us all of the importance of maintaining strong armed forces? Does he further agree that the proliiferation of nuclear weapons in many of the trouble spots that the resolutions affect—in the long term, potentially including Iraq—further reminds us of the importance of keeping a full range of nuclear capability?

§ Mr. Hogg
On the latter part of my hon. Friend's question, I agree. On the former part of his question, my hon. Friend will be pleased to know that we deploy some 3,756 soldiers in United Nations peacekeeping operations and are the second largest contributor to such operations.