UDOVENKO PUSHES UN SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM

Actually, Udovenko's main goal is to reform the UN. He is in charge of reforming the Security Council as chair of this particular work group. In addition, Ukraine intends to become a temporary member of the Security Council, which means official Kyiv has its own state interest.

Ukrainian Deputy UN Ambassador Ihor Kharchenko announced, that Ukraine has good chances of becoming for two years member of the club which rules the world. He admitted though, that not everything has been fixed so far and much diplomatic work still needed. The reason is simple: the competition between countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and some of them, in particular Russia, are pushing other candidates. Of course, Udovenko can influence these processes to some extent, but he is unable to openly lobby the interests of his country.

The issues of Security Council reform are very complex. In particular, the number of its permanent and temporary members has still not been defined. Japanese and German hopes of becoming permanent members cause much disagreement. Many countries want to eliminate the veto power of permanent members. Official Kyiv, for example, considers the veto no longer necessary with today’s rapid global changes. It also fails to conform to basic democratic principals. Veto supporters, according to Kharchenko, continue to insist on it relying on weak arguments. There are five permanent members with the veto power: Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France, and China.

Security Council decisions are obligatory on every UN member state.

At any rate, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed gratitude to Udovenko for launching the reform process.