The UN Security Council Reforms are a long-standing concept, not an act or a judgment, that involves modifying the structure and functions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to enhance its effectiveness and accountability. The need for reform originates from the Council's current composition, which was established in 1945 following World War II and reflects the geopolitical realities of that era. The UNSC currently has 15 members: five permanent members (P5) with veto power (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
The core problem the reforms aim to solve is the Council's lack of representativeness, as the number of UN member states has grown from 51 to 193 since 1945, leaving regions like Africa, Asia, and Latin America underrepresented. The only successful structural change occurred in 1965, when the non-permanent membership was increased from six to ten, an amendment to the Charter of the United Nations.
The mechanism for reform requires an amendment to the UN Charter under Article 108, needing a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of member states, including all five P5 members. The discussions are primarily held within the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) framework.
The concept connects to two main rival groups: the G4 nations (India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan), which advocate for expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, and the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, led by Italy and Pakistan, which opposes new permanent seats and instead favors expanding only the non-permanent category, sometimes proposing longer-term rotational seats. The key issues debated are the categories of members, the question of the veto, the size of an enlarged Council, and its working methods. Recent discussions have seen the G4 express concern over the IGN process being "ineffective" despite 18 years of activity.