The Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) reiterated its support for Brazil and Africa in their aspirations to occupy permanent seats on the UN Security Council (UNSC) and called for broader reform of the organisation, Lusa reports.
The comments came Sunday, as government representatives and heads of state from the nine-member nations gathered in São Tomé for the 14th CPLP conference. The CPLP comprises Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Timor-Leste, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Their final declaration affirmed “the need to make progress in reforming the United Nations”, particularly the UNSC, “with a view to strengthening its representativeness, legitimacy and effectiveness, by incorporating new permanent and non-permanent members and improving its working methods.”
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The UNSC currently consists of five permanent members, who hold the power to veto any resolution, and 10 non-permanent members. The five permanent members – China, Russia, France, the UK and US – are original signatories to the UN Charter of 1945.
The 10 non-permanent members are elected to serve two-year terms, holding their seats on a rotating basis by geographic region, with five replaced each year. Gabon, Ghana, Albania, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil began their terms in 2022, while Japan, Ecuador, Malta, Switzerland and Mozambique began this year.
While the CPLP welcomed the election of two member nations, Brazil and Mozambique, to the current group of non-permanent members, they reaffirmed their support for Brazil and the African continent to occupy permanent seats “in an enlarged UNSC.”
The declaration did not specify which African nation should have the seat.
