The United Nations General Assembly will meet on Tuesday to discuss a proposal from Liechtenstein that would limit the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
The proposal supports at least 50 countries, including the United States.
The proposal means that a General Assembly of all 193 member states will be held within ten working days of any veto to discuss the veto. Among the 50 countries that support the proposal are Japan and Germany, both of which hope to secure a permanent seat on the Security Council if it is ever expanded. However, countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa, which could also join by extension, are not known about their views on the proposal.
The idea of curtailing the right of veto has been around for some time but has resurfaced due to the situation in Ukraine. The UN Security Council has tried several times to pass resolutions condemning the violence in Ukraine, but each time they have been blocked by Russia. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky criticized this in early April.
In addition to five permanent members, the UN Security Council also has ten non-permanent members. They have no veto power.
In 1946, the Soviet Union was the first state to veto the Security Council. Since then, Moscow has had the most veto ever, with 143 vetoes, followed by the US (86 times), Great Britain (30 times) and China and France (both 18 times).