The United Nations General Assembly held a session on Wednesday, May 1 to discuss the US veto on the Palestinian bid for full UN membership on April 18. The session was mandated by the UN resolution adopted in 2022 to make the permanent members more accountable in their use of veto power and increase the efficiency of the Security Council.
In the session, the US’ action was criticized by several countries including China which termed the repeated use of veto by it as “irresponsible” and antithetical to the objectives of the UN.
The Chinese permanent representative at the UN Fu Cong said that “with intransigence based on its own interests and geopolitical calculations, the United States has repeatedly resorted to veto in an abusive manner, which is not commensurate with the role of a responsible power.”
Dennis Francis, the president of the assembly, said in his opening remarks that “divisions in the Security Council” hinder its ability to effectively discharge its responsibilities, asking the members to deliberate on devising new ways for greater coordination between the General Assembly and the Security Council to find a lasting solution for Palestine.
Robert Wood explained his country’s use of veto against Palestinian bid for full membership, reiterating that the US wishes to see Palestine’s membership come after a negotiated settlement of the disputes between Palestine and Israel.
Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour rejected the US explanation for its veto saying that “we will never accept that the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, to statehood, and admission to the UN, could be in any way subject to an Israeli veto.”
Fu said that his country is completely disappointed with the use of veto by the US to block Palestinian aspiration to become a full member of the UN despite them facing over seven decades of Israeli occupation. He also demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The veto against Palestine
Accepting Palestine as a full member would allow it to enjoy equal status with Israel in the international body and an international guarantee for the implementation of the two-state solution, the Chinese representative claimed.
Palestine is an observer state in the UN with no voting rights despite the fact that its statehood is recognized by over 140 countries across the world. Israel is a full member.
Palestine first applied for full membership in 2011. However, the bid was put on hold fearing the US veto at the time. The bid was reopened earlier this year with the hope that full membership would lead to greater pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and the ongoing siege on Gaza. The bid was favored by 12 members including China, Russia and France. Two countries including the UK abstained. The bid was defeated due to a lone negative vote, called the veto, by the US.
Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly also held a general review session on the repeated use of veto by permanent members on April 24. During the meeting, Francis had said “at this precarious time of heightened geopolitical tensions and when ongoing and emerging crises demand our urgent and decisive action, it would be a derogation of our duty as the General Assembly if we stood idle and allowed the unrestrained use of the veto to paralyze not only the Council itself but the United Nations’ ability to respond efficiently to questions of peace and security.”
The review meeting was held on the occasion of the second anniversary of the “veto initiative,” a resolution which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in April 2022 with the objective of reviewing each use of veto in order to hold permanent members accountable while using their privileges and to make the Security Council more effective.
According to the resolution, the General Assembly meets within 10 days of every invocation of veto in the Security Council.
In the last seven months of the Israeli war in Gaza, the veto has been used six times by the permanent members with the US using it for the maximum allowed five times. The first four times to block ceasefire resolutions, and for the fifth time on April 18 to block the Palestinian bid for a full membership.
Noting the effect of these repeated vetoes on the overall working of the UN, some members also called for the elimination of this privilege available to only five permanent members of the Security Council, namely, the US, the UK, Russia, France and China. However, Russia defended the need of the veto calling it the “cornerstone” of the entire UN architecture and “a last resort” without which the Council would turn into a “rubber stamp.”
