JURIST - Paper Chase: US calls for opposition to G-4 Security Council expansion plan

[JURIST] The US Tuesday urged the UN General Assembly [official website] to vote against a draft resolution by the so-called G-4 to expand the UN Security Council [official website] by adding six additional permanent seats and four non-permanent seats to the current 15 members. The debate over the resolution [JURIST report] submitted by Germany, Japan, India, and Brazil has split the General Assembly and it is unlikely it will gain the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass. US diplomat Shirin Tahir-Kheli [White House biography] said that the G-4 are "friends of Washington" and expressed a desire to discuss the expansion plan, but also noted that the competing African proposal [text, PDF] and the Uniting for Consensus proposal [text, PDF] have "valuable assets" as well. Tahir-Kheli said an amendment to the UN charter would be necessary for any expansion and also any US endorsement was subject to approval by two-thirds of the US Senate. AFP has more.

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