UPDATE - Finland to propose scrapping veto power of all UN Security Council members

UPDATES WITH ITALIAN PREMIER'S REMARKS

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Finland’s president said Monday that the UN Security Council has failed in its main task to preserve peace, adding that his country will make three proposals, including scrapping the veto powers of UN Security Council members.

Speaking at the Summit of the Future at the UN, Alexander Stubb said that the UN is not achieving its targets on the global crisis as the world now is simultaneously witnessing four major wars, in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, and Syria.

Underlining the need for joint efforts to tackle these problems, he said that the Security Council has failed in its main task.

"The main task of the UNSC (Security Council) is to preserve peace, and let's be honest, it has failed to do so. And you know what the UNSC, in my mind, does not reflect the world of today," he said.

Stubb decried the lack of representation on the council, as there is only one country from Asia and no representation from Latin America and Africa.

He went on to say that he would make three proposals for reform in the Security Council on Wednesday.

"The first one is to expand it by five members, one from Latin America, two from Africa, and two from Asia. My second proposal is that the veto power of all permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council should be scrapped."

He added: "The third one is that if a member of the Security Council blatantly violates the UN Charter, its voting rights in the council should be suspended."

- 'Reform cannot disregard principles of equality, representativeness'

For her part, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni underlined the importance of having fair and mutually agreed rules for an organization for effectiveness.

"That is why we are persuaded that any reform of the UN governance, notably of its Security Council, cannot disregard the principles of equality, democracy, and representativeness," she said.

Meloni stressed that reform makes sense "if performed for everyone and not just for some."

"We're not interested in creating new hierarchies, and we don't believe that there are Class A nations and Class B nations, there are simply nations with their own histories, specificities, and citizens who have the same rights," she said.

"In our view, all humans are born free and equal, it also means rethinking in new ways about cooperation between nations," she added.