Reform needed at UN – UN Envoy says as Security Council term winds down

Speaking on Sunday’s episode of the Starting Point podcast, Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, offered a candid and sweeping breakdown of the Security Council’s mandate, structure, and the outsized role Guyana has played as a small state shaping global debates in a climate of growing geopolitical tension. Responding to international criticism over whether the UN has become “unfit for purpose”, particularly as wars continue in Gaza and Ukraine, Rodrigues-Birkett distinguished institutional failure from majority responsibility, attributing most obstruction to a small bloc of powerful states wielding veto authority.
Guyana, she said however, still believes in the UN’s value.
“The UN has served the world well. It delivered decolonisation, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, human rights frameworks, and diplomatic arbitration in dozens of conflicts,” she argued. “Most countries said in high-level debate week, ‘If we did not have the United Nations, we would have to create it.’ That tells you the world has faith—but wants reform.”
But Rodrigues-Birkett did not shy away from critiquing the institution she serves. When pressed on the issue of reforming the veto system, she said change is imperative. “There is no international organisation where one country can kill a decision,” she stated. “Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) remain unrepresented in the permanent category—a historical injustice, especially for the African continent. Reform is needed to make the Council more democratic, more representative and more regionally balanced.”
She described the Security Council as “the most undemocratic body” of the UN, comprising 15 members—five permanent veto-holding nations and 10 elected every two years. Each permanent member can unilaterally strike down a resolution even if 14 other states support it. The permanent members include the United States (US), China, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK) and France.
She explained that the UN Security Council is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security—the founding mission at the heart of the UN, formed after World War Two to prevent the scourge of war from ever taking root again. When the Council issues a decision, it is legally binding across all 192 UN member states, making it the sole law-making body within the UN system.

Guyana’s at the UN
She recalled that Guyana’s landmark entry into the Council in 2023 was fuelled by overwhelming global backing. The country secured 191 out of a possible 192 ballots—the highest margin recorded in that election cycle, signalling international trust not only in its leadership but its ability to represent small states with principled diplomacy, not political conciliation. “Being small does not mean you have small ideas,” she told the audience. “Small countries are the sticklers for multilateralism. We know military solutions are not the answer to conflict anymore. We do not have large militaries, so we must insist on rule of law, territorial integrity, sovereignty, human rights and international humanitarian law. And that is exactly what Guyana has done every day for the past 23 months.” The diplomat also referenced a defining moment early in Guyana’s Security Council term in April 2024, when the mission abstained from a United States-led resolution that “recognised” the need for a ceasefire but did not explicitly “demand” one in Gaza. Under UN protocol, without the use of a non-negotiable directive—words such as “decide” or “demand”—warring parties are not obliged to comply. Guyana recommended abstention. The resolution failed but, she said, the moment made one thing clear to the world: Guyana was not going to merely echo powerful states’ interests.
“That was the day the world recognised that Guyana would not enter this body just to follow—it would lead, explain, advocate and hold firm,” she said. “That has served us well since.”
She closed the exchange by placing Guyana’s rise into context—just over 50 years old as an independent nation, yet steadily building diplomatic capital through global leadership and representation. She name-checked Guyanese diplomats and leaders who expanded the nation’s reach long before the discovery of oil transformed investor interest.
Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo was named Champion of the Earth for his climate change advocacy while President Dr Irfaan Ali has since become a global voice on reparations, food security, biodiversity and a just transition to clean energy in fossil-fuel producing economies.
“Oil has only lubricated and amplified what was already present—an ambitious, cohesive, strategic approach to foreign policy,” Rodrigues-Birkett concluded. “Our Parliament speaks one language when it comes to sovereignty. Our leadership speaks one language abroad. So whether on our own or through CARICOM, whether coordinating Council reform or reshaping multilateral frameworks on oceans, biodiversity and climate—Guyana has held its own, expanded its reach and earned the world’s respect.”
As the Security Council term winds down, the message from the UN envoy remains unmistakable: Guyana will exit the Council’s seat, but not the world’s conscience. Its foreign policy, she said, is not a chapter ending—but a bridge built to a larger diplomatic horizon. Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said too that the country will not retreat from the global stage, affirming that its diplomatic voice will continue to carry weight well beyond its final month in the Council’s chamber.