President John Dramani Mahama has made a compelling call for urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council, describing it as “static, archaic, and moribund”.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference 2025 in Germany, Mahama emphasized the need for the Security Council to adapt to the evolving global landscape, as it no longer reflects the realities of today’s world.
“I think that the UN itself has carried out many reforms in terms of trying to increase efficiencies that it has, but one place that has remained static, archaic, and moribund is the Security Council,” Mr. Mahama stated.
He highlighted the persistent calls from the developing world for reform, arguing that the current structure of the Security Council fails to adequately represent the global community, particularly emerging nations.
The veto power, he identified, is the primary obstacle to meaningful change. “The veto should not be a stumbling block to adding new permanent members to the Security Council,” Mr. Mahama argued.
He proposed that the first step towards reform should be an expansion of the council to include additional permanent members, with the veto issue to be addressed later.
For Mr. Mahama, the need for reform is not only about addressing the interests of the developing world but also ensuring the UN’s relevance in an increasingly fragmented global environment. “In order that they can respond to these challenges, the UN becomes more relevant even today in a fragmented world, because when there is fragmentism we need more multilateralism, more global cooperation,” he said.
“We have more challenges today, climate change and all that we need to work together, we can’t leave this planet,” he added. Mr. Mahama concluded his remarks with a passionate plea for global unity in the face of pressing challenges. “This is the only planet we have, the only way we can save this planet is when people are working together,” he stressed
