The Security Council and Mexico: the challenges to face for the period 2021-2022

On June 17 of this year, Mexico was elected to occupy a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) for the period 2021-2022. Our country has occupied this place on several occasions, in each of them has faced various multilateral challenges and this time will not be the exception. Therefore, it is the reason for this analysis to identify some of the possible challenges that Mexico will face as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the coming year.

The General Assembly and the Security Council

As a first point, it is necessary to briefly review the functioning of the United Nations Security Council. Currently, the UN is made up of six main bodies[1], in this case we will only focus on the General Assembly - deliberative body of the United Nations since the 193 Member States are represented in it. which meet annually to discuss general issues of the organization - and the Security Council - the body in charge of maintaining peace and international security. It is made up of 15 members, of which 5 are permanent (United States, France, China, United Kingdom and Russia) and another 10 non-permanent members who are elected for a period of two years.

Every year, the General Assembly is in charge of voting for five of the non-permanent members of the Council, that is, five members are voted one year and five the other and so on. To ensure that voting is balanced among the 193 Member States, five geographical groups with a determined number of seats were established: i. Africa group with three seats, ii. Asia-Pacific Group with two seats, iii. Eastern European group with one seat, iv. Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) with two seats and v. Group of Western Europe and other States with two seats.

Mexico and the Security Council: challenges for the period 2021 – 2022

Since the founding of the UN in 1945, Mexico has occupied the seat of the Security Council belonging to GRULAC four times in the periods corresponding to 1946, 1980 - 1981, 2002 - 2003 and 2009 - 2010; On these occasions, the Security Council has been used as a means to influence the international scene and “put the country's interests on the table” in terms of foreign policy. At the same time, Mexico has faced various multilateral challenges in each of these periods, for example, the beginnings of the cold war in 1946 or the war between the United States and Afghanistan in 2002; this fifth occasion will not be the exception.

In international matters, for the period 2021 - 2022, Mexico, as part of the Security Council, will face the economic, social and political consequences that COVID-19 leaves throughout the world. At the same time, it will have to face the growing tensions between the United States and China, the rejection of some countries by multilateral channels and organizations, the situation of specific countries such as Venezuela or Yemen, among other situations that already exist or that can be develop in the near future.

Internally, Mexico will also have challenges to face, the first of which is the lack of a sectoral program for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), which means that there are no clear objectives or lines of action for the action of this secretariat. This is highly related to the budget reduction that said institution has suffered, only from 2019 to 2020 the budget was reduced by 2.24%[2], which means that, probably, more will have to be done with less or that activities are eliminated and others are reconsidered, especially in the General Directorate for the United Nations Organization (DGONU), which is in charge of issues related to the organization.

Another of the internal challenges will be to establish and maintain a foreign policy of the State and not of a party; As it belongs to the body in charge of peace and international security, Mexico will have to define clear lines in terms of foreign policy that allow the diplomatic corps to pronounce itself on a certain issue. The clearest example of this is that if there is a conflict, the country will have to make decisions and reflect its pronouncement in a positive, negative or abstention vote, each of these options with a background, and not just stick to the principles of foreign policy listed in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, as it has been done up to now.

Finally, the last challenge identified in this analysis is that Mexico will have to be consistent and coherent at home to be so abroad and comply with the statement of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, "the best foreign policy is the domestic one"[ 3]. This has a lot of significance in issues such as the environment, in which it has been left aside internally and without much importance, but abroad it is the primary issue for various States. Mexico will have to be coherent with what it mentions abroad, but does the same internally with issues such as gender violence.

However, despite the fact that there are many challenges to face, in the interior, this achievement is very important for the country since it is the result of the support of three Mexican governments since the candidacy was presented since 2011 and was maintained all these years until its ratification in 2019.[4] In addition, this candidacy will help Mexico defend its tradition and multilateral interests and cooperation in a world where more and more reference is made to unilateralism and to the isolation of States in the only body whose resolutions are binding; "Ultimately, returning to the Council means a reaffirmation of our pacifist national vocation in favor of a more just and inclusive world for all." [5]