Pakistan Calls for Abolishing or Restricting UN Veto, Opposes New Permanent Seats

Pakistan has told the United Nations General Assembly that the UN veto should be abolished or at least severely restricted, warning that extending it to more countries would deepen inequality rather than fix the Security Council. The position was set out in New York on Monday by Gul Qaiser Sarwani, counsellor and political coordinator at Pakistan’s mission to the UN, in an Assembly debate on the use of the veto.

Sarwani argued that misuse of the veto has weakened the Council’s effectiveness and the UN’s wider credibility, while handing the five permanent members unmatched influence across the UN system. Reform, he said, must serve the whole membership and correct existing imbalances, not entrench them.

FAKTA

• Speaker: Gul Qaiser Sarwani, counsellor and political coordinator, Pakistan Mission to the UN
• Forum: UN General Assembly debate on the use of the veto, New York
• When: Monday, 26 October 2026
• Procedure: Resolution 76/262 (April 2022): the Assembly must meet within 10 working days of a veto in the Security Council
• Pakistan’s core demand: The veto should be abolished or at least severely restricted; it must not be expanded
• Council makeup: 15 members, including five veto-holding permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom

Why Pakistan opposes a wider UN veto

Pakistan’s objection targets proposals to add new permanent members, a campaign led by India, Brazil, Germany and Japan. Sarwani said more permanent members and more vetoes would deepen inequalities, perpetuate historical privileges, create new centres of power and risk further institutional paralysis.

“Let us be clear: the problems cannot be the solution,” he told the Assembly. Pakistan, together with Italy, leads the Uniting for Consensus group, which opposes adding any new individual permanent member to an expanded Council.

What Pakistan proposes instead

Instead of new permanent seats, Pakistan wants the elected, non-permanent membership to grow, giving more countries a democratic turn at the table. It also backs adjusting voting thresholds so elected members can better counterbalance the permanent five.

Sarwani said Pakistan supports resolution 76/262 and any veto-restraint measures consistent with the UN Charter. The goal, he said, is comprehensive, democratic and equitable reform that strengthens accountability and makes the Council more responsive to its primary task of maintaining international peace and security.

A divided debate

Some speakers proposed extending veto power to new permanent members; others rejected any change to the present permanent membership. South Africa’s representative said his country opposes the veto in principle, but argued that pending abolition it must extend to any new permanent members, or inequality would be institutionalised.

Norway, speaking for the Nordic countries, said the Assembly must play a greater role when the Council is deadlocked, citing failures over civilians in Sudan and Gaza and the war in Ukraine. Russia’s delegate defended the veto as a tool that can prevent escalation, citing a joint veto with China on a draft resolution on navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

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