UN Regional Groups
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United Nations is unofficially divided into five geopolitical regional groupings. What began as an informal means of sharing the distribution of posts for General Assembly committees has taken on a much more expansive role. Depending on the UN context, regional groups control elections to UN-related positions, dividing up the pie on the basis of geographic representation, as well as coordinate substantive policy, and form common fronts for negotiations and voting.
The five groups are
- the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), with 29 member states;
- the Eastern European Group, with 23 member states;
- Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), with 33 member states;
- the Asian Group, with 54 member states;
- the African Group, with 53 member states.
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[edit] Members of Each Group
[edit] The African Group
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
[edit] The Asian Group
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen.
[edit] The Eastern European Group
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.
[edit] The Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC)
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
[edit] The Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel (New York activities only), Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.
[edit] Question of Israel
Israel is the only UN member state which is not a full member of any regional group. Without a regional membership, Israel had been unable to be elected to various UN activities and bodies. In 2000, Israel, though naturally a part of the Asian Group in geographical terms but with membership withheld, was admitted on a temporary basis (subject to renewal) to WEOG's New York activities, thereby enabling it to be a candidate for election to various UN bodies [1]. In 2004, Israel obtained a permanent renewal to its membership to the WEOG for New York activities [2].
[edit] Oceania
In 2000, the government of Nauru – at present, a member of the Asian group – called for a new regional group titled Oceania. It would include Nauru, Australia and New Zealand – now in WEOG – among others [3].
[edit] New Groupings
A criticism of the regional grouping system is the pressure brought to bear on members to vote consist with the majority of their regional group. For countries which may have political differences, this can weaken their negotiating positions on a number of issues and an inability to be elected to key leadership positions in the UN.
One attempt to provide political cover for democratic countries in predominantly non-democratic regional groups is the creation of the UN Democracy Caucus. The purpose behind the UN Democracy Caucus is to create a forum in which democratic countries come together to collaborate on UN resolutions and actions related to democracy and human rights. Analysis of voting patterns at both the General Assembly and the Commission for Human Rights demonstrate that non-democratic countries vote as a bloc against resolutions that strengthen human rights measures. Democratic countries could thus restore credibility to the UN human rights system by working together to support strong UN action on democracy and human rights.
The effort for the creation of a democracy caucus is being driven at the governmental level primarily by the Community of Democracies, an association of democratic states working to promote the values of democracy and human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Warsaw Declaration at home and abroad. The UN Democracy Caucus helps NGO's to back up the governmental effort.
