The Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) is a concept and a process within the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that serves as a framework for nation-states to discuss and negotiate the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The formal discussion on reform began with the establishment of the Open-ended Working Group in 1993. The IGN process itself was formally established in 2008 through the UN General Assembly's Decision 62/557, and it first met on February 19, 2009. The IGN was created to solve the problem of the UNSC's outdated power structure, which reflects the geopolitical realities of 1945 and lacks representation for the world's current economic and political landscape.
The mechanism works through informal plenary meetings of the General Assembly, focusing on five core issues outlined in Decision 62/557: categories of membership (permanent, non-permanent), the question of the veto, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Council and working methods, and the relationship between the Council and the General Assembly. Any reform requires an amendment to the UN Charter, which, under Article 108, needs a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of member states, including all five permanent members of the UNSC.
The IGN connects directly to the UNSC and the UNGA. Key groups involved include the G4 nations (India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan), which collectively seek permanent seats, and the opposing Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, also known as the "Coffee Club," which argues against new permanent members. While the core issues remain, the process has recently changed to enhance transparency, with the first segments of the IGN meetings being webcast since 2023.