1. What is Big Five?
2. Misuse of Veto Power.
3. What is S-five?
4. Reforms in UNSC
5. Result

What is Big Five?

The nickname given to the 5 permanent members of the UN Security council (UNSC)

1. Britain,
2. China,
3. France,
4. Russia
5. United States

Misuse of Veto Power.

They’ve been misusing their Veto power for personal aims, since a long time.
In the spring 2012, Russia’s and China’s used their veto-power to prevent UN Security council from passing resolutions criticizing the Syrian government for the human rights violation. [Recall the earlier article: why does Russia support Syria?]

What is S-five?

“Small Five”, is the group of

1. Costa Rica,
2. Jordan,
3. Liechtenstein,
4. Singapore
5. Switzerland.

They want reforms following reforms in UNSC, particularly the Veto mechanism.

Reforms in UNSC

1. Regular consultations between members and nonmembers of the council;
2. Greater role for nations that contribute troops for UN peacekeeping missions in africa etc.
3. Political restrictions of the use of the veto.
4. Permanent members should explain their reasons for resorting to a veto,
5. Permanent Members shouldn’t use their Veto power in following cases
   1. and in cases of genocide
   2. other serious violations of human rights / international humanitarian law

Result

• In the May 2012, The S-Five, tried to move a resolution in this regard, in the UN General Assembly, but the Big Five forced them to withdraw it.
• The other UN member nations, secretly appreciate the demands of S-5, but donot openly support S-5. (Besides, all the “powerful” UN members such as India, Germany want UNSC permanent seats with veto powers for themselves!)