Strong possibility of expansion of UN Security Council: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the possibility of expanding the Security Council is now being "seriously considered". However, he expressed disappointment over the issue of the right of veto. Guterres said that of course, the main question relates to the composition of the Security Council and the right of veto. Now it is a matter of the member states and the secretariat has no influence in these negotiations. Guterres was responding to a question during a press conference at the UN Security Council on how to make the UN body more effective in dealing with crises such as the Ukraine war. He said that I think during our General Assembly session in September, I heard for the first time a clear indication from the US and Russia that they are in favor of increasing the number of permanent members of the Security Council.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed strong hope that the Ukraine war will end in 2023. At the same time, he condemned the Iranian government's actions against the protesters and urged all countries to deal with the terrorist threats emanating from the far right. Guterres said he sees no prospect of talks to end the war in Ukraine in the near future, but fears a continuation of the already escalating military conflict. However, he called for everything possible to bring the most devastating conflict in Europe since World War II to an end by the end of 2023, and he has every hope of that happening.

Guterres said he was not interested in who was running Twitter but was "extremely interested" in how the internet media platform was being run. Guterres said this at a press conference here on Monday, underlining the importance of ensuring freedom of expression, preventing the use of hate speech on Internet media forums. Guterres was asked whether he thought Twitter owner Elon Musk was a threat to freedom of expression and whether he would be relieved if he stepped down as head of the internet media platform.