The Five Key Areas

Pros and Cons of Security Council Reform

(UN Reform Topics)

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By Jakob Silas Lund

Center for UN Reform

January 19. 2010

The Five Key Areas

In 2007, the President of the General Assembly (GA) Sheikha Al Khalifa introduced what she termed the " five key cluster areas [1]". These areas are: the size of an enlarged Security Council; the categories of membership; questions concerning regional representation; questions regarding extending the power of the veto to additional member states; and the working methods of the Security Council and its relationship with the General Assembly. All the proposals currently on the table build on the structure of these five areas. It soon becomes apparent that the five areas overlap to a great extent and the sharp division in which they are presented here-and by member states-is in many ways artificial. Nonetheless, viewing each of the areas separately provides us with a logical structure in which to focus on distinct aspects of each of the reform proposals.