President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Ghana has officially presented itself as a candidate to get a seat at the 2022-2023 United Nations Security Council. It would be facing competition from Central Africa’s Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to clinch one of the two seats reserved for Africa by the world body.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who would be leading the campaign, is expected to launch the country’s bid in early June while the UN’s election has been slated for June 11. The last time the nation had a seat at the United Nations Security Council was in 2006-2007.
Ghana’s active involvement with the United Nations commenced from the period of decolonization of the African continent, during which Ghana leveraged the United Nations as a platform to advocate freedom from colonialism and to formulate joint African positions. Sixty-four years thereon, the African continent has transformed significantly, and Ghana continues to play an active role in the continent’s advancement.
Since Ghana’s admission to the United Nations (UN) on March 8, 1957, successive governments have made full and effective use of her membership to the global body to advance Ghana’s foreign policy and to become a global player in the promotion of international peace and security, human rights and sustainable development.
The nation brings forth strong democratic credentials, political maturity and independent thinking, respect for the rule of law and human rights, active advocacy for international law, socio-economic successes and previous experiences as a non-permanent member of the Security Council which constitute an attestation to the country’s resolve to play an active role as well as fully contribute to the work of the Security Council.
Ghana’s contributions to the work of the United Nations has historically received broad-based support from the diplomatic community, most especially from the African Group, to serve on several UN institutions including the Security Council for the term 1962-1963. Ghana returned to the Council two decades later for the 1986-1987 term, and then for the third time from 2006-2007.
Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to the Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda by increasing the deployment of uniformed women in UN peacekeeping operations as well as launched the second Ghana National Action Plan (GHANAPII) in March 2020 towards the implementation of UNSCR1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
The nation hopes to ride strongly on the back of experience gained during the outbreak of the Ebola Virus in 2014 to aid in addressing the challenges brought on the world by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ghana’s presence at the UN has also been largely boosted by the several Ghanaian nationals serving with distinction in the global body since the sixties, as exemplified by the appointment of Kofi Annan in 1997 as the UN Secretary-General.
The experience garnered by serving in these offices and the investments the country continues to make in both human and financial resources over the years in search of sustainable global peace and security will no doubt enable Ghana to creditably serve the interests of the international community.