HAMILTON, Canada

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday over "cracks" in the Security Council's foundation contributing to ongoing crises and "a broader crisis of credibility and legitimacy" in multilateralism.

Emphasizing the urgent need to reform the Council with African representation, Guterres told a Security Council session that "since 1945, the United Nations Security Council has been a bedrock of global peace and security, but the cracks in its foundation are becoming too large to ignore.”

“They are contributing to deadlock, stalemate and stagnation around today's most pressing crises. They are feeding a broader crisis of credibility and legitimacy that is affecting multilateralism itself," he added.

Noting that the Council "was designed by the victors of the Second World War and reflects the power structures of that time," Guterres said the world has changed significantly since 1945 and the composition of the Council has not kept pace.

"In 1945, most of today's African countries were still under colonial rule and had no voice in international affairs," he said.

This, he argued, has led to a "glaring omission" that remains unresolved: the lack of a permanent member representing Africa on the Security Council.

Guterres emphasized the importance of Africa's role in global peace and security, adding that nearly half of all country-specific or regional conflicts on the Council's agenda concern Africa.

"Africa is underrepresented in global governance structures, from the Security Council to international financial institutions, but overrepresented in the very challenges these structures are designed to address. Conflicts, emergencies and geopolitical divisions have an outsized impact on the African continent," he said.

Acknowledging Africa's significant contributions to UN peacekeeping, with over 40% of UN peacekeepers being African, Guterres called for democratizing the Council's working methods, including more systematic consultations with host states and regional organizations.

He urged all member states to participate in the upcoming Summit of the Future, insisting that "African voices, African insights and African participation must be brought to bear across the Council's deliberations and actions."

The Council session comes after Sierra Leone, the president of the Council for August, organized a high-level debate titled "Maintenance of international peace and security: addressing the historical injustice and enhancing Africa’s effective representation on the Security Council."