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Madam President,
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the ten elected members of the Security Council: Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia.
We thank Denmark, as President of the Security Council for the month of August, for convening this timely open debate on the implementation of Note S/2024/507. We also express our appreciation to Ms. Shamala Kandiah Thompson, Executive Director of Security Council Report, for her valuable briefing. We welcome this opportunity to engage with the wider membership on the Council’s working methods, and we believe that the views of the broader United Nations membership should inform the Council’s ongoing efforts to improve its practices.
Madam President,
The elected members attach paramount importance to the Council’s working methods. They are not merely procedural formalities. They are essential tools for strengthening the credibility, effectiveness, transparency, inclusivity, and accountability of the Council, and ultimately for enabling it to discharge its mandate for the maintenance of international peace and security. Article 24 of the Charter entrusts the Security Council with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and provides that, in carrying out its duties, the Council acts on behalf of the membership of the United Nations. Article 25 further underscores the obligation of Member States to accept and carry out the decisions of the Council in accordance with the Charter. These provisions establish a solemn relationship of trust, responsibility, and mutual reinforcement between the Council and the wider membership. The manner in which the Council conducts its work, from agenda-setting and deliberation to decision-making, implementation, monitoring, and follow-up, is therefore of legitimate concern to all Member States.
As elected members, we take seriously the responsibility entrusted to us by the General Assembly. We remain committed to a Council that is more transparent, inclusive, representative, responsive, democratic and accountable and capable of translating its deliberations into timely and concrete action in response to threats to international peace and security. We reaffirm support for comprehensive reform of the Council through the intergovernmental negotiations mandated by the General Assembly.
Note S/2024/507 remains the principal framework governing the Council’s working methods. It must remain a living document, reviewed and adapted as practice reveals operational gaps and as experience demonstrates where existing safeguards are insufficient. Its implementation should be reviewed regularly, including through open debates and through the work of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions. Such reviews should be guided by transparency, inclusivity, respect for the Charter, and the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, with the objective of ensuring that the Council’s working methods remain fit for purpose in addressing evolving threats to international peace and security.
Madam President,
We express our grave concern over unprecedented eight-month delay in the appointment of Chairs and Vice-Chairs of subsidiary bodies, the longest such impasse in the Council’s history. The elected members deeply regret this situation. While we note the efforts of successive Presidencies since January 2026 to ensure operational continuity, exceptional measures cannot replace duly appointed leadership and must not become the new normal. This continued uncertainty has affected the delivery of the Council’s mandate. It has disrupted the work of subsidiary bodies, delayed decision-making, weakened transparency and engagement with the wider membership, and undermined the Council’s institutional effectiveness and credibility. It is therefore institutionally, politically, and operationally untenable.
The requirement, first established in Note S/2017/507 and reaffirmed in Note S/2024/507, to provisionally agree on subsidiary body leadership by 1 October exists to ensure predictability and an orderly transition. The experience of the past two years demonstrates the need to strengthen these arrangements so that future allocations are timely, structured, transparent, predictable, and resilient.
In this regard, Note 507 should be updated to include time-bound contingency arrangements when agreement cannot be reached within the established timeframe. Such arrangements could include aligning the tenure of appointed Chairs and Vice-Chairs more closely with the two-year mandate of elected members, coupled with interim leadership continuity provisions and enhanced clarity on the process with the meaningful participation of elected members from an early stage. These safeguards would preserve operational stability and avoid future institutional paralysis, while respecting the principle of consensus.
Madam President,
Beyond subsidiary bodies, the Council must continue to strengthen operational inclusivity, transparency, representativeness, and a sense of shared responsibility among all its members. The E10 represents two-thirds of the membership of this Council. Our united view is clear: the Council’s legitimacy and effectiveness are strengthened when its workload is shared more equitably, when all members participate meaningfully, and when the views of those directly affected by the Council’s work are genuinely considered.
We therefore call for systematic shared penholdership and an equitable division of labor between permanent and elected members. All fifteen members share responsibility for the Council’s work and should have genuine opportunities to shape its agenda and outcomes. Elected members should be engaged from the outset in drafting and negotiating Council products, including on files traditionally led by permanent members including through co-penholdership arrangements, where appropriate. The conduct of penholders and co-penholders is equally important. Drafting and negotiations should be conducted in an inclusive, respectful, timely, and transparent manner, guided by objectivity and impartiality while accounting for the views and concerns of all Council members.
Penholders and co-penholders should also consult, in an inclusive and respectful manner, with countries directly involved in or specifically affected by matters under consideration. In doing so, the Council can improve the quality, legitimacy, and implementability of its decisions, while strengthening unity and consensus.
Equal access to documentation is also essential to fairness and effective participation. All Council members should receive the same level of access to documents concerning matters under active consideration, sufficiently early to permit meaningful examination and engagement. Although Note 507 includes relevant provisions in this regard, further efforts are required to streamline procedures and ensure that access to relevant documentation is automatic and equal for all members of the Council, including members of its subsidiary bodies.
We also underscore the importance of continuity among outgoing, current, and incoming elected members. Timely access to meetings of the Council and its subsidiary bodies, informal consultations and communications, as appropriate and in accordance with Note 507, can help prepare incoming members to assume their responsibilities and contribute effectively to the Council’s work, while promoting equality.
We reiterate the distinct and complementary importance of both Rules 37 and 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure. Rule 37 is essential to ensure the participation of States directly affected by, specifically involved in, or with a direct regional interest in situations under the Council’s consideration. Their perspectives provide essential political, contextual, and first-hand information and contribute to more informed deliberations. Rule 39, likewise, enables the Council to benefit from the expertise of the Secretariat, regional organizations, civil society, including women briefers, and other relevant stakeholders. These rules should be applied fairly, clearly, and consistently, while preserving the Council’s discretion to determine appropriate modalities. Participation should not be symbolic. It should lead to genuine consideration of the views and expertise presented to the Council. We also underline the importance of ensuring that those who engage with the Council, including civil society briefers, can do so safely and without intimidation.
We further underscore the importance of continued cooperation and engagement with regional and sub-regional organizations, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter. Such cooperation can strengthen conflict prevention, mediation, burden-sharing, and the Council’s response to regional crises. In this context, the Council should continue to make effective use of regional perspectives and partnerships in addressing threats to international peace and security.
The provisions contained in Note 507 on enhancing interaction and consultation with troop- and police-contributing countries must also be fully implemented. Those who contribute personnel to United Nations peace operations bring indispensable operational experience and must be meaningfully consulted, particularly when mandates are established, renewed, or adjusted.
Madam President,
In the context of working methods, we also underscore the importance of greater emphasis on the Council’s role in promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the Charter, as was also reaffirmed by UNSC Resolution 2788 (2025). Preventive diplomacy, negotiation, mediation, conciliation, good offices, and other peaceful means remain indispensable tools for preventing disputes from escalating into threats to international peace and security. The Council’s working methods should facilitate the timely consideration of emerging tensions, appropriate use of preventive tools, early engagement with the parties to a dispute, before situations escalate into threats to international peace and security and cooperation with relevant regional and sub-regional organizations.
We also recognize the importance of targeted sanctions as a tool available to the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security. At the same time, we reiterate the need to strengthen due process, fairness, clarity, and transparency in United Nations sanctions procedures, thereby increasing the legitimacy and effectiveness of sanctions regimes. Sanctions must not have adverse humanitarian consequences for civilian populations or negatively affect humanitarian activities carried out by humanitarian organizations or United Nations agencies. In this regard, we recall the importance of the cross-cutting humanitarian exemptions established by relevant Council resolutions and underline the need for their full and effective implementation. The ability of relevant subsidiary bodies, including the Informal Working Group on Sanctions, to function effectively depends on timely and predictable leadership arrangements.
Madam President,
Transparency must also guide major institutional processes, including the selection and recommendation of the Secretary-General. The appointment of the Secretary-General is one of the most consequential responsibilities in which the Security Council participates. It concerns the entire membership of the United Nations, and the Council’s role in making a recommendation carries a corresponding responsibility to conduct its part of the process with transparency, inclusivity, predictability, fairness, and merit, while respecting the confidentiality required at appropriate stages. The Council should maintain effective engagement with candidates and keep the broader membership regularly informed, in a structured and timely manner. Once the process is completed, it would be useful to review and reflect on lessons learned, with a view to further improving the Council’s working methods in future selection processes.
Madam President,
We remain concerned about the impact of the veto on the Council’s ability to act. The use, or threat of use, of the veto may prevent the Council from responding to urgent situations and from acting on matters at the very heart of its mandate. We recall the importance of General Assembly resolution 76/262 in fostering transparency and accountability, and we encourage continued restraint in the use of the veto, particularly where the Council is called upon to prevent or respond to the most serious crimes of international concern or to address grave threats to international peace and security. No Council member should be shielded from the responsibility to explain its actions to the wider membership.
Finally, we reaffirm support for comprehensive reform through the intergovernmental negotiations mandated by the General Assembly, with a view to making the Council more representative, inclusive, transparent, democratic, accountable, efficient and effective.
Madam President,
The strength of the Security Council does not rest only on the powers conferred upon it by the Charter. It also rests on the confidence that Member States place in the Council to exercise those powers fairly, effectively, transparently, and responsibly. For the E10, improving working methods means strengthening the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Council.
The E10 stands ready to work constructively with all members to uphold the trust reposed in the Council under the Charter, to live up to the responsibility bestowed upon us through our election by the members of the United Nations, and to help build a Council that is more effective, transparent, inclusive, representative, and responsive.
I thank you
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