The UN General Assembly elected Friday five new non-permanent members to join the ranks of the Security Council, including two nations who had never before served.
TWO-YEARS TERMS
Estonia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Caribbean island nation, were reportedly elected alongside Niger, Tunisia, and Vietnam. Each has been elected to a two-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2020 after acquiring the required two-thirds majority from the General Assembly.
While China, Russia, the US, UK, and France serve as the council’s five permanent members who wield veto power, the rest of the 15-member council is elected to staggered two-year terms and is drawn from global regions.
Belgium, Cote d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland, and South Africa currently comprise the 10 non-permanent member states.