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15 October 2004

Five Nations Win Two-Year Seats on U.N. Security Council

Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Tanzania join council

Washington -- Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan, and Tanzania were elected to the U.N. Security Council October 15 for two-year terms beginning in January 2005.

They join the five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and five other nonpermanent members -- Algeria, Benin, Brazil, the Philippines and Romania -- who serve on the council until December 2005, the United Nations said in a prepared statement.

The Security Council is responsible for international security issues, and its decisions and resolutions can be legally binding on all 191 U.N. General Assembly members. The five permanent Security Council members have veto power over any council decisions; the 10 nonpermanent members have voting power but no veto.

The 10 elected Security Council members are nominated by regional groups to give the council broad geographical representation. The 10 countries are elected for two-year terms, with five elected every year.

The newly elected members replace Angola, Chile, Germany, Pakistan and Spain, whose terms expire December 31.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)