The Security Council Reforms is a long-standing concept and ongoing intergovernmental negotiation process aimed at making the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) more representative and effective. The UNSC was created in 1945 with 11 members—five permanent (P5) and six non-permanent—to reflect the post-World War II power structure. The only successful reform occurred in 1965, when the UN Charter was amended to increase the non-permanent members from six to ten, bringing the total membership to 15. The need for reform arose because the Council's composition, fixed in 1945, no longer reflects contemporary geopolitical realities, with UN membership having grown from 51 to 193 states.
The mechanism for reform is the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), mandated by General Assembly decision 62/557 in 2008. The IGN debates five key issues: categories of membership, the question of the veto, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Council, and working methods. Any amendment to the UN Charter is governed by Article 108, requiring a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of member states, including all P5 members. The process connects directly to the G4 Nations (Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan), which advocate for expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories. The G4's 2005 proposal sought to enlarge the Council to 25 members, adding six new permanent seats. This is opposed by the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, which favors expansion only in the non-permanent category. The process is currently ongoing, with the General Assembly deciding to continue the IGN in its eightieth session, building on the July 2025 "Revised Co-Chairs' Elements Paper".