Guyana to secure seat on UN Security Council today

Guyana is expected to secure a seat today on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, which is the international body tasked with ensuring international peace and security.

Elections for five non-permanent seats of the Security Council, for the 2024 to 2025 term, will be held at 10:00 hrs on Tuesday. Guyana has no rivals for the seat in the bloc of Latin American countries and is therefore guaranteed the seat.

At a recent reception in New York, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd highlighted Guyana’s active role in the UN and posited that the country is well-poised to represent the interests of small, developing countries while serving at this global level.

Prior to that reception, Todd also met with Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ahmed Attaf. Algeria is also seeking election for one of the non-permanent seats.

“Both Ministers expressed that they look forward, if elected, to working together on the Security Council.

“Minister Todd noted that, as developing countries with a common understanding of the challenges faced, the two countries can make a valuable and purposeful contribution to the Council and the United Nations as a whole,” a separate release from the Foreign Affairs Ministry noted.

This Security Council comprises 15 members, including five permanent members namely: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The remaining 10 members are non-permanent members elected to two-year terms.

Aside from Guyana and Algeria, the Republic of Korea, Belarus, Sierra Leone and Slovenia are also eyeing one of the five seats.

It is important to note that two seats are available for the African region while one seat per region is available for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Asia- Pacific.

Guyana, based on the countries that have expressed an interest for the five seats, is unopposed in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The country served on the Council twice before, in 1975 to 1976 and then again in 1982 to 1983.