Marching Together: Ministerial Meeting on United Nations Security Council Reforms, New York, 24 September 2025

Press Statement

​ Foreign Ministers of the L.69 Group of countries met in New York on 24 September 2025, and had an interaction with the Chair of the AU Committee of 10 (C-10) on the margins of the High-Level Week of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The representatives of the two reform-oriented groups discussed some areas of synergy for action on reform of the United Nations Security Council.

2.​ The theme of the interaction was ‘No one left behind: Global South’s push for reform of the Security Council’. The meeting afforded the opportunity for participants to engage in a frank discussion on Security Council reform, including the consequences of delayed progress on countries from the Global South.

3.​ The Ministers underlined the urgency for reforming the UN Security Council and making it fit for purpose. They underscored that the architecture of the UN Security Council is outdated and not reflective of the current geopolitical realities. Countries from the Global South bear the brunt of conflicts across different regions. The inability of the UN Security Council to purposefully address these challenges and conflicts aggravates human suffering in the affected countries.

4. ​L.69 member states further stressed that the UN Security Council needs to be made more representative, more legitimate and more effective. It is important to ensure equitable geographical representation, especially for under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, both in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the Security Council. These reforms are critical to addressing questions related to relevance, credibility, effectiveness and legitimacy of the UN Security Council.

5.​ The participants at the meeting reaffirmed that Africa needs greater representation in both categories of membership in a reformed and expanded Security Council in a manner consistent with the Common African Position (CAP) as espoused by the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

6.​ The Ministers expressed their concern that the discussions on UN Security Council reforms under the framework of the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process are consistently falling below expectations of the Global South. In this context, the L.69 Ministers emphasized the group’s long-standing position on the importance of commencing Text-based Negotiations (TBN) and having clearly-defined milestones and timelines at the earliest. They further committed to exploring synergies between L.69, the African Group, and other groups in order to push for concrete progress in the reform process. They also explored potential avenues for carrying forward the discussions on UN Security Council reforms beyond the framework of the IGN process in light of the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations. They called on all countries of the Global South to double their efforts to seek the best interests of the developing world in this matter.

7.​ The meeting was an effective platform for an exchange of views of the Global South on UNSC reforms. The Ministers agreed to continue their interactions on the topic in different formats in the future and renewed their commitment to demonstrating the necessary political will to reinvigorate the efforts to reform the UN Security Council to achieve tangible, timely and meaningful outcomes

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New York
​24 September 2025