The UK has joined a French-Mexican initiative calling for restrictions on the use of the UN Security Council veto in cases involving genocide and crimes against humanity, the French Foreign Ministry said late Monday.
In a written statement, the ministry said 21 additional countries from the Caribbean, South America and Asia had endorsed the initiative over the previous four months.
The initiative seeks to prevent the Security Council from becoming deadlocked in the face of mass atrocities.
The ministry said the UK’s endorsement marked the first time this year that a second permanent member of the council with veto power had joined the initiative.
With the UK’s participation, the number of supporting countries has risen to 128, it added.
France and Mexico launched the joint initiative in 2015, calling on the Security Council’s permanent members to voluntarily refrain from using their veto when genocide, crimes against humanity or large-scale war crimes are being committed.
China, France, Russia, the UK and the US are the five permanent members of the Security Council and have the power to veto its resolutions.
