Somalia was elected on Thursday, June 6, to serve a two-year term on the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member, along with Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, and Panama. The 193-member General Assembly conducted a secret ballot to fill five non-permanent seats, allotted to regional groups that usually agree on candidates.
This year, Somalia was chosen for an African seat, Pakistan for an Asia-Pacific seat, Panama for a Latin America and Caribbean seat, and Denmark and Greece for two Western seats. The newly elected members will begin their terms on January 1, replacing Mozambique, Japan, Ecuador, Malta, and Switzerland, joining the five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France — and the five countries elected last year — Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia.
The Security Council is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, but has faced challenges in acting on conflicts such as the Ukraine war due to Russia’s veto power and hostilities in Gaza due to close U.S. ties to Israel.
All five newly elected countries have previously served on the Security Council, with Pakistan serving seven times, Panama five, Denmark four, Greece twice, and Somalia once. Despite widespread agreement on the need to expand and modernize the Security Council to reflect the 21st century, significant reform has been blocked for decades due to disagreements among the 193 member countries on how to achieve this.
