The 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly are to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would require the five permanent members of the Security Council to justify their use of the veto in future. The AFP news agency, in an article that can be read on the News Blog page of the Future Media website, says that directly targeting the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom — who are the only holders of the veto right — the measure would “make them pay a higher political price” when they opt to use their veto to strike down a Security Council resolution, but it is not yet clear if the reform would push the five permanent members to use the veto less, or if it would create even more vetoes as permanent members propose controversial texts they know their rivals to veto only to force them to justify their stance publicly.
