The five new members are Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia, who were elected by vote at the UN General Assembly in June last year. This marked the end of the provisional membership of Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.
The flags of the countries joining the Security Council in 2025 and 2026 were raised in a special ceremony outside the Security Council chamber on Thursday.
Under the UN Charter, the main responsibility of the Security Council, which consists of 15 member states, is to maintain international peace and security, and all UN member states are responsible for abiding by its decisions.
Its five permanent member countries are: United States, Russian Federation, France, Britain and China. At the same time, 10 non-permanent members are elected by vote to the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.
Emphasis on multilateralism
Algeria is the President of the Security Council for the month of January. Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendizma expressed his gratitude to the countries that have terminated their membership and warmly welcomed the new provisional members.
He warned that the world is facing many challenges, which threaten international peace and security. The situation in the Middle East is very worrying.
The Algerian Ambassador called on Member States to make tireless, effective efforts to uphold the values of multilateralism.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Khaled Khiri noted that membership of the Council is a great responsibility and reflects the confidence of the organization and its member states.
Election for temporary membership
Each year, the United Nations General Assembly, which consists of 193 member states, elects five non-permanent member states through voting, which also takes regional representation into account.
This election is done by secret ballot and to get this provisional membership, countries need to get at least two-thirds of the votes, which is 128.
The selection of temporary member states is distributed on a geographical basis into four regional groups: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; Western Europeans and other groups.