The Small Five Group or S-5 is a group of five small member states of the United Nations that works to improve the working methods of the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. Its main goal is to increase transparency, accountability, and access for non-members.

Members

The S-5 Group is composed of five small states: * Costa Rica *

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

* Switzerland

Background

Since the early 1990s, the working methods of the

have been a source of concern to the wider membership of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. With an increase in conflicts after the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the work load of the Council increased: In 1988, the Council adopted 20 resolutions, while in 1993 it adopted 93. As the world's principal actor to promote and maintain international peace and security and the principal organ of the

, the Council moved to the center of attention with scathing criticism and doubts about its effectiveness. With the increase in work load and the rising attention of the international media, many meetings took place in a private, closed manner. The wider UN membership started to become more vocal about the Council's practices and procedures, being particularly disturbed about transparency, participation, accountability, and efficiency.

History

Encouraged by the recommendations of the

World Summit The 2005 World Summit, held between 14 and 16 September 2005, was a follow-up summit meeting to the United Nations' 2000 Millennium Summit, which had led to the Millennium Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Representatives ( ...

Outcome five small member states of the

, later known as the S-5 Group, began to work together in late 2005, with a view to improve the

's working methods. Their main objective was to increase the involvement of States that are not members of the Security Council in its work, enhance its accountability to the rest of the UN, and increase the transparency of its work. In March 2006, the S-5 Group circulated a draft resolution with the following major proposals: * Improvement of the relationship between the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...

and the

* Regular and timely consultations between members and non-members * Informal, interactive discussions of the annual report of the

with the members of the

* Restrictions on the veto in cases of

genocides Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lati ...

, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war ('' jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by pro ...

* Better interaction between the Council and

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Tr ...

contributors * Better and more effective integration of new members of the Council For strategic reasons, the resolution was never put to a vote. However, in 2006, the

adopted Presidential note S/2006/507, which was in large part inspired by the appeals of the S-5 Group and contained a number of measures aimed at improving the working methods of the Council. Nevertheless, the note did not become part of the standard operating procedure of the Security Council.

References

{{UN Security Council United Nations Security Council Costa Rica and the United Nations Jordan and the United Nations Liechtenstein and the United Nations Singapore and the United Nations Switzerland and the United Nations