Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have reaffirmed their support for enhanced African representation on the United Nations Security Council, including a permanent seat for Africa, as they called for urgent reform of the council to reflect contemporary geopolitical realities.
The position was contained in a joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of the four Group of Four (G4) countries after they met in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The ministers said reform of the Security Council had become more urgent amid an increasingly challenging global geopolitical environment.
They argued that the council was currently unable to effectively fulfil its core responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, with its representativeness, legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness facing questions.
According to the ministers, the council’s eight-decade-old structure does not adequately reflect contemporary geopolitical realities and has become an obstacle to addressing current and emerging challenges to international peace and security.
They stressed that expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories should be central to any meaningful reform.
The G4 also called for greater representation of under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups, particularly Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ministers welcomed the reform model presented by the African Group during the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform during the 80th session of the General Assembly.
They reaffirmed their support for Africa’s case for enhanced representation on the Security Council, including in the permanent membership category.
The ministers, however, expressed concern over the slow pace of the reform process, noting that 18 years of discussions within the IGN framework had failed to produce a concrete outcome towards substantive Security Council reform.
They also raised reservations about the presentation of what they described as a “bridging proposal” before the commencement of text-based negotiations.
According to the G4, the proposal did not adequately reflect the position of what they described as a clear majority of UN member states supporting expansion of the council in both permanent and non-permanent categories.
The four countries further argued that consensus should not serve as the benchmark for decision-making on Security Council reform, citing the UN Charter and the mandate governing the IGN process.
They said they would work with other reform-oriented countries and groups to develop a consolidated model reflecting the views of the majority of UN member states.
The G4 also identified the commencement of text-based negotiations as a priority, saying such negotiations were necessary for achieving substantive reform of the Security Council.
The ministers said reform would help strengthen the council’s representativeness, legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness, while reinforcing the multilateral system with the United Nations at its centre.
They also maintained that discussions on Security Council reform should not be confined to the IGN, expressing readiness to engage the wider UN membership through other platforms, including the General Assembly.
The four countries pledged to continue coordinating their positions during the 81st General Assembly session and directed their officials to follow up on the discussions.
Progress on the issue is expected to be reviewed at the next Director General-level meeting in New Delhi.
