The General Assembly met on Thursday to examine the Security Council’s latest veto, cast by China and Russia over a United States-backed sanctions panel of experts on Iran nuclear facilities, according to UN News. 

Many nations have called for removing or limiting veto power in the Council, but reform of the 15-member organ remains a work in progress.

At last year’s annual veto debate, then-General Assembly president Annalena Baerbock called repeated veto use a “poster child” for global gridlock.

Thursday’s debate was triggered by the assembly’s landmark veto initiative, established in 2022.

No substitute for action

Khalilur Rahman, president of the assembly’s 81st session, said the veto initiative “cannot substitute for effective Security Council action”. 

Each invocation of the initiative “highlights both the value of this mechanism and the circumstances that make it necessary” and affirms the assembly’s complementary role, ensuring that veto use is accompanied by transparency, explanation and consideration by the wider membership.

While the initiative does not override the veto, it guarantees a public and accountable debate on each use and its implications in the General Assembly, where there is no veto power