MNA – Five new non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council assumed their seat in the international body on January 1, 2019.

The United General Assembly voted in June 2018 for Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, and Belgium as five new non-permanent members of UN Security Council. Each of these countries will serve a two-year term.

They filled the seats being vacated by Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Sweden at the end the year 2018, having each served two-year terms on the 15-member Security Council, as well as the seat occupied by the Netherlands during the course of this year, the official website of UNSC reported, adding that the other five non-permanent members who will remain on the Council are Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru, and Poland.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security, with all UN Member States required to comply with Council decisions.

The Council’s ten non-permanent seats, are allocated according to a rotation pattern set by the Assembly in 1963, to ensure fair regional representation on the Council: five from African and Asian and Pacific States; one from Eastern Europe; two from Latin American States; and two from Western European and Other States (WEOG).

China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are the five member states which have permanent seats on the Council.