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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 2

Publication Date: February 25, 2024

DOI:10.14738/assrj.112.16539.

Christensen, H. (2024). The Role of Small United Nations Member States. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(2). 345-

350.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

The Role of Small United Nations Member States

Hanne Christensen

Independent UN Reform Analyst

ABSTRACT

This article outlines the situation of small member states of the United Nations

which make up the majority of the membership. It shows that smallness is far from

insignificance. Small UN members are active, diligent, and necessary partners for

significant member states in the endeavor to get resolutions through in the General

Assembly. They work in close collaboration with and assist one another, share

insightful knowledge and through networking can cover the entire field of activities

of the United Nations. Yet being short staffed, getting through valuable information

of a heavy-written nature issued by the UN to do their job presents a challenge.

Keywords: small member states, impact on United Nations, United Nations General

Assembly, the UN Security Council.

INTRODUCTION

Information presented here is based on available published sources and insights obtained from

work at the UN intermittently during the past four decades.

Opinions differ on what a small UN member state is. Several definitions exist. The World Bank,

for instance, defines it as states with up to 1.5 million inhabitants. If this upper level is applied,

some very active UN member states could get attention for what they are known for.

Luxembourg, for instance, with a population of about 650.000, played a crucial role for years as

co-chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform in the United

Nations General Assembly.

1 Council reform is of utmost importance to scores of UN member

states, including members of the Council, as mentioned in speeches by France and the USA at

the General Assembly in September 2023. Yet it would not consider the importance of a

member state such as Sweden (about 10,5 million inhabitants),

2 which for years was

considered a major humanitarian player at the UN, as the proposer of General Assembly

resolution A/46/182 of 16 December 1991: A groundbreaking resolution that prescribed a

transition from emergency assistance to development aid. The message was to provide the

transition as a continuum of assistance measures tailored to one another. Sweden has been

hosting sizable numbers of refugees during past decades, including 277.000 refugees registered

with the UNHCR at the end of 2022. The country endeavored to improve UN humanitarian

1

See the “Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform” H. E. Olivier Maes, New York, 22 May

2022.

2 Population figures published by the United Nations in its List of Countries by Population, accessible at.

http://en.wikipedia.org./wik/List_of_countries_by_population_(United_Nations).