Worldwide support for opening up UN Security Council
There is broad international support for widening membership of the United Nations Security Council and giving the organisation more power, according to a poll published today.
The poll by the BBC’s World Service, which surveyed 23,518 people in 23 countries, found a majority of people in 22 countries supported an expansion of the UN Security Council to include new permanent members. In Russia, however, only 44% of respondents backed the idea of expansion.
Germany and Japan were the most popular choices for new member countries, with 56% of all respondents supporting the inclusion of Germany and 54% in favour of including Japan.
Quizzed on changes to allow the UN Security Council the power to override a veto of a permanent member, 58% of respondents overall said they favoured the proposal.
In all but two countries, more citizens favoured than opposed giving the council the power to override a permanent member’s right to veto a decision that was backed by all the other council members.
In France, however, 44% of people favoured the move, while 43% opposed it – a difference that fell below the margin of error. In Russia, 25% supported such a change but 29% were against it.
There was also broad consensus in favour of the United Nations becoming “significantly more powerful in world affairs,” with 64% of all respondents seeing the prospect as a positive development.
Citizens of 23 countries were surveyed for the poll conducted for the BBC by international polling firm GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
GlobeScan conducted the poll on January 5. The margin of error per country ranged from more less 2.5% to more or less 4%.
The 23 countries where the poll was conducted were: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and US.
