Türkiye's Directorate of Communications on Monday held a panel discussion focusing on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms in Madrid.
During the discussions, a panel of academics and scholars stressed that the Security Council is in urgent need of reform to safeguard international security and peace, provide solutions to global conflicts and save lives. Organized by Türkiye's Directorate of Communications and titled "United Nations Security Council Reform: A New Approach to Reconstructing the International Order," the conference heard speeches from various senior scholars and academics well-versed in international relations who all see the need for the reform of global governance.
Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun sent a video message to a panel and emphasized that the "unjust structure" of the U.N. Security Council with its five permanent members "must change" and comprehensive reform is needed.
The United Nations is far from meeting the expectations of the international community, its credibility and reputation are eroding, and it does not produce solutions, Altun added.
Sergio Garcia-Magarino from Spain's Public University of Navarre said the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war shows how much countries depend on other countries for oil, food and other needs.
"No country can fight alone against new challenges and global problems. It is necessary to act globally," he told the panel, which was moderated by Turkish political scientist Ismail Erkam Sula.
"Although it is the U.N., we have seen that there is no structure to mediate. They find it difficult to conduct multi-state politics because purely national interests continue to outweigh them. We need a collaborative system," he stressed.
"The main goal of the U.N. is to protect international security and peace, but it is a fact that it cannot produce a solution in today's history," said Ipek Tekdemir, strategic communications and political advisor to the European Parliament.
"We have seen that the U.N. has failed to punish the perpetrator of atrocities, especially in the Russia-Ukraine war," she added.
"If the U.N. continues to be dysfunctional and useless, it will not be able to face global dangers such as climate change and nuclear armaments."
Jose Ventura Ballester, the senior analyst at the Spanish Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, also underlined that the U.N. Security Council has now "turned into an advisory board or a forum" instead of producing solutions, which was its initial goal.
"The U.N. is unable to respond to conflict of interests and the protection of borders," he stressed. "There are a lot of questions and doubts about the structure of the U.N., the veto system, the decision-making mechanism."
"We can make the U.N. more democratic because we know the world is bigger than five. We have to find more inclusive and common solutions," he said, alluding to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's motto for Security Council reform: "The world is bigger than five."