This House would phase out the United Nations Security Council veto.

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Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the 2023 Gaza war both produced UNSC paralysis. The veto was the price of getting the great powers into the UN in 1945. Whether it's still the price in 2026 is the live question.

Background

The P5 veto has been used 320+ times since 1945, with Russia (formerly USSR) accounting for over half. The 2022 General Assembly Resolution 76/262 (the "veto initiative") requires automatic GA debate within 10 working days of any veto; a transparency mechanism that does not remove the veto itself. The Uniting for Consensus group (Italy, Pakistan, Mexico, others) supports veto-elimination; the G4 (Germany, Japan, India, Brazil) want UNSC expansion with veto rights for new permanent members. The institutional question of who actually loses if the UNSC becomes irrelevant: every power except the P5.

Government opens with

The veto turns the UNSC into a forum that ratifies what the great powers were going to do anyway.

Opposition responds with

No-veto UNSC = no great-power UNSC = irrelevance, like the League of Nations.