When the United Nations 2020-2021 term begins, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will make history in several ways. For the nation of just over 100,000, it will be the first time it has sat on the UN Security Council. Its election in June of this year is also historic as St. Vincent is the smallest nation in population to be elected to the Security Council. These facts are rightfully now points of pride for the country’s citizens.
St. Vincent will hold a place on the Security Council for two years as a non-permanent rotating member of the world’s most important diplomatic body. So what may St. Vincent hope to achieve with its newfound diplomatic weight? And what contribution could St. Vincent make to the international community in its new role?
Voice for the Caribbean and Latin America
St. Vincent’s candidacy was endorsed by the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean at the UN (GRULAC), and cheered on by CARICOM, with the nation becoming the fourth member state to win a term on the Security Council. High expectations are therefore placed on Kingstown to be a leading voice for regional issues, especially surrounding the threat posed by climate change to Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
As well as the risk of rising sea levels, St. Vincent has also known the carnage of hurricanes and the anguish of droughts. Those in the Caribbean understand that a natural disaster’s impact isn’t confined to the initial stage but has a painful period of recovery that can stretch for years. Accordingly, St. Vincent could be a powerful champion for a more responsive UN to these crises in the region. However, such a pursuit won’t be simple, especially given St. Vincent’s unique national relationships and the outlook of other members of the Security Council to climate change.
St. Vincent’s National Goals and the Dynamics of the UN Security Council
St. Vincent is one of the few states that retains formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The deepening of ties between the two nations, including the opening of a St. Vincentian embassy in Taiwan during Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’s visit there in August, is surely valued by Taipei, especially given China’s recent success in enticing countries to switch sides and recognise Beijing.
The significance of the UN victory was not lost on Taipei, with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeting his congratulations and indicating that his nation had “every confidence you will successfully promote international peace & security”. Although the addition of this seat gives St. Vincent new diplomatic sway in the world, it doesn’t change the economic importance of its relationship with Taipei, with the latter notably providing almost 20 per cent of the funding for the nation’s US$270 million Argyle International Airport which opened in 2017. Kingstown can expect Taipei to lobby it heavily for action on the Security Council that will assist it, particularly given Taiwan’s recent setbacks in diplomatic recognition.
When combined with the addition to the Security Council of Vietnam – a nation which, despite sharing a similar political ideology with China, has increasingly seen tensions raised between Hanoi and Beijing over South China sea incursions – one can expect Beijing’s representatives to encounter challenges with these two new members. However, this will be offset by the addition to the Security Council of Niger and Tunisia, African nations that in recent years have cultivated close economic ties with Beijing.
Collective Approach to Security
China, the United States and Russia are three of the world’s five biggest emitters of CO2. As a body charged with protecting international peace and security, these three permanent members of the Security Council know that the years ahead will demand they drive down emissions at home to prevent the impact of international instability brought on by climate change. Possible scenarios are the disappearance of land, the mass displacement of people, and conflicts over resources such as water. Yet none of these nations’ leaders wants to risk an economic slowdown at home, especially as this current crop of President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin have staked their legitimacy to lead on the promise of continued economic growth.
Combatting climate change may be urgent to St. Vincent but remains, by many measures, a second order priority to other Security Council members, despite the risks to international peace and security.
Small Contribution to a Big Goal
There is a growing consensus that the United Nations will require reform in the years ahead due to ‘push and pull’ factors, with the dynamic having changed in recent years. Immediately following the Cold War the call for reforms was largely due to the pull factors: the USSR had fallen, there was a new optimism for an international liberal order, and there was consideration of how the UN could be reformed to enhance this new era. The prominence of many UN missions throughout the 1990s is an example of this optimism in action.
Recently it’s the push factors that have driven calls for UN reform. Although the power structure of the UN Security Council was formed to favour the victors of World War II, threats to global stability, like climate change, continue to grow in prominence, requiring a true international collaboration that even the great powers combined cannot solve alone.
As well as smaller nations demanding a louder voice in the UN to draw attention to such issues, new powers are emerging with a strong claim to a permanent Security Council seat – and could make waves if not granted it. Brazil, India and Japan all have a good case for such membership. It is unlikely that any of them will join the Security Council full-time as it requires unanimous support by all current permanent members, and disputes remain. China doesn’t want India, Russia is resistant to Japan, and Germany has called for its own seat – or for France to cede its seat to the EU; unsurprisingly Paris is resistant to this.
In the absence of reform that incorporates these rising powers, there is a risk that a breakaway UN could arise. Some suggest we see the early makings of this with BRICS, a body that already holds the UN-sceptic nations of Russia and China, plus two members, in Brazil and India, that lust for greater recognition of their increasing power on the international stage. If the UN continues to ignore a need for modernisation, the consequences could be severe.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines will soon sit among the giants. It will not end its term with influence such as the great powers hold but, if Kingstown uses its time at the top table to push for real reform, it could find that the legacy of its tenure helps to create a UN that is modern, responsive and better able to meet the challenges that face all nations, great and small, in the 21st century.
