Ecuador will take its place between 2023 and 2024 as an elected member of the United Nations (UN) body in charge of maintaining peace and security in the world. The official ceremony will be this January 3th at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.
Ecuador was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in June 2022, along with Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. It is the fourth time that the country will integrate the organization.
Ecuador’s permanent representative to the UN, Hernán Pérez Loose, presented his credentials to the Deputy Secretary General, Amina Muhammed, on December 31. The South American country will officially take office on January 3.
“Our priorities are focused on supporting humanitarian assistance, the protection of civilians in situations of armed conflict, the women’s agenda, non-proliferation and fight against illicit arms trafficking, and attention to emerging threats in the context of sustainable peace efforts,” said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín.
An opportunity for Ecuador?
Ecuador’s membership is seen as an opportunity to get closer to the permanent members of the organization, and to present itself as “a country that respects international law and welcomes people and investments,” Ecuadorian analyst Esteban Santos told the newspaper El Universo.
“That Ecuador has a seat there is of particular importance, since it not only puts us in the international sphere, but they are spaces in which cooperation links with the powers can be achieved,” Santos said.
The Security Council is made up of 15 members; five of them permanent: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA. The other 10 are elected five by five each year at the UN General Assembly.
It is the fourth time that Ecuador will integrate the organization, after participating in the bienniums 1950-1951, 1960-1961 and 1991-1992. It will take the place of Mexico, which had been elected as a non-permanent member in 2020, and will be one of the two representatives corresponding to Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Brazil, a country that has one more year of membership remaining.
