It’s often the details that suddenly bring hidden changes to light. A very good illustration of Germany’s new self-confidence is the playful use of the national colours. In the summer of 2010, during the World Cup in South Africa, German city centres were bedecked with a sea of black-red-and-gold flags. A few months later, on 12 October 2010, numerous press observers couldn’t help but notice the black-red-and-gold striped tie worn by Ambassador Peter Wittig, Germany’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Germany immediately received two-thirds of the votes cast by the 192 member states in the first ballot to decide on a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Following 1995/96 and 2003/04, this is the third time that Germany has taken a seat on the United Nations’ most important body since the country’s reunification in 1990.
The decision to stand, which was already made in 2006 under the previous government, was seen as a somewhat daring diplomatic gamble in the run-up to the elections, since it turned into a contest with two strong competitors, Canada and Portugal, for the two vacant Security Council seats. The vote for Germany in the first round came as a surprise in view of the strong competitors. Portugal finally gained a seat in the third ballot.
The 15 members of the Security Council include the five permanent member states, China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the USA, each of which holds a right of veto. The remaining ten non-permanent members sit on the council for a two-year term, with five new members being elected each year. In 2011 the members of the Security Council include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria; until the end of 2012 the council will also include India, South Africa and Colombia, in addition to Germany and Portugal. This means that in the coming years all of the BRIC countries and nine of the G20 states will be members of the most important UN body.
According to the UN Charter, the Security Council is the sole body with the power to make decisions on questions of war and peace. The council has primary responsibility for “the maintenance of international peace and security”. Since the end of the East-West conflict such threats to world peace include not only traditional conflicts between states but also those within individual states. A seat in this circle enables the 15 Security Council members to discuss security policy issues and, if necessary, to take measures ranging from sanctions to military intervention. Consequently, the statement made by Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, that Germany’s election is “a sign of trust and confidence”, is correct. It displays confidence in the constructive role that Germany has played in recent years, for instance in the consultations on the Iranian nuclear programme together with the five permanent Security Council members (E3+3). At the same time it is a sign of trust that Germany now has to take on more responsibility.
If Germany wants to fulfil its ambition and assume greater global responsibility, it will mean not only contributing financially to the UN, and Germany ranks third in this respect, but also in terms of ideas and German personnel: police officers, blue-helmet soldiers, development, aid workers and diplomats. Foreign Minister Westerwelle clearly outlined Germany’s future commitment, when he drew the conclusion from the lessons of the past decade’s “state-building missions”: he said the possibilities of stabilizing failed or disintegrating states are limited. There is a need, not for missionary zeal, but to recognize what can be achieved. Intervening as a moderating peace broker and convincingly drawing on the country’s own experiences of the past is a bonus that Germany can bring into the work of the Security Council.
Numerous conflicts remain unresolved. Somalia is still without a functioning government that is able to maintain public order and control the country’s territory. The situations in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan remain unstable. Peace still has to be restored in Iraq, and its recently formed government is fragile. In Sudan progress has been made on paper. The peace agreement between the central government and the SPLA in the south of the country was made in 2005, and another followed between Khartoum and the SLM in 2006. The agreements are being monitored by the United Nations missions UNMIS and UNAMID.
These fragile states show that the Security Council still has to be in the position to make security policy changes at short notice in the coming years. In view of budgetary developments and the reductions in the numbers of troops in the western countries, new stragegies will be required for carrying out stabilization missions under UN mandate, and such concepts will also have to be strengthened beyond the level of personnel involvement.
Further instruments for the containment of the conflicts already mentioned and for the protection of basic human rights could well be the strengthening of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and further consultations on the Responsibility to Protect, or R2P. Both of these projects were supported by Germany, its European and other like-minded partners. The work of the International Criminal Court and the R2P principle help to prevent human rights violations, because individuals can be brought to justice for their crimes (ICC), or inhuman regimes can expect sanctions due to their behaviour, and in extreme cases they will face humanitarian intervention (R2P). The adoption of the Responsibility to Protect by the 60th General Assembly in 2005 and the reference to R2P in Resolution 1674 have made it clear, that the protection of human rights in armed conflicts is to assume greater importance.
Since the Federal Government moved to Berlin in 1999, German foreign policy has been able to convincingly underscore its commitment to the United Nations beyond the realm of working in the Security Council, with the development of the UN Campus in Bonn. Meanwhile the Federal City of Bonn is home to 18 United Nations institutions, including the UN Climate Secretariat (UNFCCC). Within the framework of the conferences of the parties, 2009 in Copenhagen (COP15) and 2010 in Cancún (COP16), it is aiming to achieve a permanent and binding agreement on the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Federal Government has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to this goal within the framework of the EU and in the shape of ambitious voluntary reduction targets at home.
However, the failure so far to adopt a global climate agreement is not the only issue waiting for a breakthrough. The reform of the United Nations and the Security Council also needs additional diplomatic initiatives. Numerous reform proposals have been discussed since the setting up of an open-ended working group on the reform of the Security Council in 1995. Yet so far it has not been possible to achieve the necessary acceptance by two-thirds of the states in the General Assembly as well as by the permanent members of the Security Council.
The hope of the G4 states (Germany, Japan, India and Brazil) for a breakthrough in the reform debate of 2005 did not come to fruition. Nevertheless, Germany has continued its strong participation in the debate under Foreign Minister Westerwelle, and the long-term political goal is still the establishment of a permanent seat on the Security Council for the European Union. The reform process is now receiving an additional boost, because several competitors for a permanent seat are also represented on the Security Council in 2011: Brazil and India, as well as Nigeria and South Africa. So the prospects of renewed impetus in the reform debate are better than ever before.////
David Bosold is programme director of the International Forum on Strategic Thinking of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin.
