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US ‘Not Encouraged’ By IBSA Performance on UN Security Council
September 14, 2011
By: Carlos Aramayo | Printer Friendly

On September 13, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that United States (US) Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Susan Rice stated that the US “has not been encouraged” by the countries of India, Brazil and South Africa during their temporary tenures on the UN Security Council. The three countries, which are commonly referred to as a cluster under the name of IBSA (short for India-Brazil-South Africa), has most recently repeatedly disagreed with the US on the handling of the Arab Spring. According to the article, Rice raised concerns about the IBSA group on issues related to the protection of human rights, democracy and the protection of civilians. All of the IBSA countries have stated intentions to secure permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

Recently IBSA, along with Germany and Russia, abstained from the UN resolution that granted NATO the legal authority to militarily intervene in Libya. Additionally, the IBSA group blocked US-led moves to pressure the Assad regime as the Syrian government sent troops to repress protesters. In turn, the IBSA group pushed for a different strategy and sent diplomats to Damascus to engage Assad’s government.

According to Bloomberg, Rice stated that the IBSA country’s presence in the UN Security Council has been a “very interesting opportunity to see how they respond to the issues of the day, how they relate to us and others, how they do or don’t act consistent with their own democratic institutions and stated values.” Furthermore, Rice added, “Whether in the context of Libya, or Cote d’Ivoire or Sudan, they have taken positions that one might not have anticipated, given that each of them come out of strong and proud democratic traditions.”

According to Fabienne Hara, the Vice President of Multilateral Affairs at the International Crisis Group, this sort of “criticism is simplistic.” In Hara’s view, the IBSA countries approached the Libya situation with their own set of concerns: “They were all quite surprised that this turned into a NATO-led operation with a bombing campaign, with a variety of targets including Tripoli.” Additionally, in Hara’s view, “The reason why there is no resolution on Syria now is because of Libya…, and the aftermath of this bitter debate.” She points out that the IBSA countries now are “extremely reluctant” to authorize a resolution that would put pressure on the Syrian government to stop repressing protestors.  

On the issue of the IBSA countries desire to permanently join the UN Security Council, Brett Schaefer, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation stated, “Expanding the Council doesn’t mean it would be more effective or responsive to the world’s problems.” In his view, “a larger security council would be more paralyzed, and less likely to act to address political crises around the world.”

Challenging the existing global power structure, emerging nations such as the IBSA countries have called for reforms to international bodies such as the UN and others. Emerging countries who are wielding more international weight are also looking for international financial institutions to accommodate their aspirations.

Source:
Bloomberg BusinessWeek – U.S. ‘Not Encouraged’ by India, South Africa, Brazil at UN