Seeking a security council voice: Murray McCully provides an update on new Zealand's campaign to secure a seat on the UN Security Council and discusses reform of the council.

• Author: McCully, Murray

In this article I will put on record the ground rules under which we are contesting a UN Security Council seat--because in some respects we appear to be testing what seems to have become conventional wisdom about such campaigns, and I want to make it clear that we are doing so with our eyes open. And I want to set out the government's thinking on the question of Security Council reform--on which matter I took a paper to the Cabinet during 2011.

But, of course, it is impossible to address any of these matters meaningfully without first answering two underlying questions: does the Security Council matter? And does New Zealand's membership of that body matter?

A quick glance at the newspaper headlines any day in recent months should have been sufficient to convince most New Zealanders of the importance of the role of the UN Security Council. The appalling tragedy that is Syria continues to unfold before our eyes.

Sadly, such a glance at the media is also sufficient to remind us that the council often falls very far short of meeting our reasonable expectations as UN members and good international citizens, not just in Syria, but in other zones of actual or potential conflict. However, I want to present a slightly blunter and less emotional response to this question.

For many decades New Zealand ministers and diplomats have affirmed our support for the United Nations and its associated bodies. They have generally pointed out that as a small nation, New Zealand is more dependent than most upon strong multilateral institutions and respected bodies of rules to regulate international behaviour. And I want to strongly endorse that view.

Serious challenges

Over half of the UN members are smaller countries like New Zealand. And we all look to the United Nations to provide a strong and effective institutional framework in order to confront the world's serious challenges. It follows from that statement that we must also have a significant investment in the effectiveness of the UN Security Council. The council administers a budget that is four times larger than that of the whole of the rest of the United Nations. The peacekeeping operations of the Security Council alone cost over $8 billion a year--with over 100,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world. Only the Pentagon manages more troops in theatre.

The Security Council is the body that now meets virtually daily to contend with the serious challenges to regional and international stability and security. It is where the rubber meets the road. A commitment to a strong, effective United Nations must, therefore, entail a commitment to a strong, effective UN Security Council. If we really do believe that multilateral institutions play a part in dealing with the challenges we confront, then it follows that we would want to play our full part in those institutions.

The decision that New Zealand would campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council for the 2015-16 term was made by the Clark-led government in 2004. The Key-led government confirmed that decision in 2009. That confirmation occurred in an environment when there were two countries, New Zealand and Spain, seeking election to the two seats available to the Western Europe and others group for that period. When, Turkey, barely off the council at the end of 2010, decided to...