Five countries – Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia – were elected by secret ballot at the UN General Assembly on Thursday to serve on the Security Council for the 2025-2026 term.
The UN’s highest body, tasked with maintaining international peace and security, is made up of 15 countries, including the five veto-holding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
The other 10 are elected to two-year terms, half of which are renewable annually.
The five countries elected on Thursday were unopposed.
“Our term will be based on a full commitment to multilateralism and respect for the principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter,” said Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiki, who last month called for the withdrawal of the UN mission in his country by the end of the year.
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“We will work to strengthen cooperation with the Security Council and regional organizations, including the African Union,” he added.
Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis stressed how the country’s location at the “crossroads” of three continents helps build bridges between North and South, East and West.
“We aim to give new meaning to the idea of peaceful resolution of conflicts,” he said.
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Human Rights Watch condemned the non-competitive vote.
“Holding uncontested elections for seats on the Security Council and other UN bodies makes a mockery of the word ‘election,'” the NGO’s UN director, Louis Charbonneau, said on former Twitter user X.
“Member states should give themselves the option to reject governments responsible for serious human rights violations,” he said.
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Charbonneau pointed out that Belarus, a Russian ally, lost to Slovenia last year in a fierce election for a seat in the Eastern European regional group because the member state strongly opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
From 1 January 2025, the five countries will join, replacing Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.
These countries will join five other non-permanent members elected last year: Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea.
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