Flashback.

On 10 December 1963, 21 States submitted a draft resolution calling for the United Nations Charter to be amended to increase the membership of the Security Council from 11 to 13 by the addition of two non-permanent members.The sponsors maintained that the suggestion that the question of equitable representation on the Council could be solved by a redistribution of existing seats was not justified.

On 13 December, a further draft resolution was submitted by 37 Member States proposing the number of non-permanent members of the Council be increased from 6 to 10, of whom 5 would be drawn from African and Asian States, 1 from Eastern European and other States.

During the discussion of this item, representatives of several States emphasized the need of better representation for the newly-independent States. They were gratified to note that there appeared to be unanimous agreement on that question. The African delegations in particular pointed out that without the full participation of African States in the work of all the major organs, their membership in the United Nations could not be considered complete.

A number of Western representatives stated that, while they fully accepted the validity of the claims of new Members to more equitable representation, those claims should not be satisfied at the expense of the older Members; for that reason, it was necessary to expand the Council and not merely to redistribute the seats. The "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1946 should not be scrapped without the participation of all the parties concerned.

The USSR recalled that at the fifteenth session of the General Assembly in 1960 it had called for a radical change in the structure of United Nations organs, including a change in the composition of the Security Council. The present preferential position of the "Western Powers" operated to the disadvantage not only of the African and Asian States, but also of the socialist States. The "Western Powers" had also sabotaged the settlement of the important question of restoring the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. As long as that question was not settled, the redistribution of the existing non-permanent seats of the Council offered the best possibilities of equitable representation for the African and Asian States. The 1946 Agreement should be superseded by another agreement on the distribution of the non-permanent seats in the Council under which each of the six main geographical areas of the world - Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and the Middle East - should be assigned one of the six non-permanent seats. This did not mean, however, that the USSR was not in favour of an increase in the membership. But amendment of the Charter would be invalid and unlawful without the approval of all five permanent members of the Council, and this could not be obtained until the lawful fights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations were restored.

The representative of Guinea, however, maintained that the restitution to the People's Republic of China of its legitimate rights and the just reparation claimed by the countries of Africa and Asia were two different questions which the People's Republic leaders had not bound together.

While the United States supported enlargement, it was also concerned that it should not become unwieldy in size. A membership of 13 would permit the African and Asian States to hold 4 of the elective seats, which would be a fair division, since they constituted about half the total membership of the Organization. The United Kingdom said it attached particular importance to the retention of Commonwealth seats in the enlarged Council.

After a series of consultations among the delegations, the sponsors of the 21-power draft resolutions agreed to incorporate in their texts amendments proposed by 56 African and Asian States. As amended, the 21-power proposals called for a 15-instead of a 13-member Security Council. In the election of the ten non-permanent members, 5 were to be drawn from African and Asian States, 1 from Eastern European States, 2 from Latin American States, and 2 from West European and other States. Before proceeding to the vote, the Chairmen of the African-Asian group and the African group of States explained that it was understood that of the 5 African and Asian seats, 3 would be allocated to Africa and 2 to Asia.

On 16 December 1963, the Committee adopted the 21-power draft resolution relating to the Security Council, as amended, by a roll-call vote of 96 to 11, with 4 abstentions.