The Small Five Group or S-5 is a group of five small member states of the United Nations that works to improve the working methods of the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. Its main goal is to increase transparency, accountability, and access for non-members.

Members

The S-5 Group is composed of five small states: *

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Background

Since the early 1990s, the working methods of the

have been a source of concern to the wider membership of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. With an increase in conflicts after the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the workload of the Council increased: In 1988, the Council adopted 20 resolutions, while in 1993 it adopted 93. As the world's principal actor to promote and maintain international peace and security and the principal organ of the

, the Council moved to the center of attention with scathing criticism and doubts about its effectiveness. With the increase in workload and the rising attention of the international media, many meetings took place in a private, closed manner. The wider UN membership started to become more vocal about the Council's practices and procedures, being particularly disturbed about transparency, participation, accountability, and efficiency.

History

Encouraged by the recommendations of the World Summit Outcome five small member states of the

, later known as the S-5 Group, began to work together in late 2005, with a view to improve the

's working methods. Their main objective was to increase the involvement of States that are not members of the Security Council in its work, enhance its accountability to the rest of the UN, and increase the transparency of its work. In March 2006, the S-5 Group circulated a draft resolution with the following major proposals: * Improvement of the relationship between the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

and the

* Regular and timely consultations between members and non-members * Informal, interactive discussions of the annual report of the

with the members of the

* Restrictions on the veto in cases of genocides,

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, and serious violations of

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

* Better interaction between the Council and

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...

contributors * Better and more effective integration of new members of the Council For strategic reasons, the resolution was never put to a vote. However, in 2006, the

adopted Presidential note S/2006/507, which was in large part inspired by the appeals of the S-5 Group and contained a number of measures aimed at improving the working methods of the Council. Nevertheless, the note did not become part of the standard operating procedure of the Security Council.

References

{{UN Security Council United Nations Security Council Costa Rica and the United Nations Jordan and the United Nations Liechtenstein and the United Nations Singapore and the United Nations Switzerland and the United Nations

Members

Background

History

See also

References