Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, has called on the United Nations to "stop beating around the bush" and start talks on reforming the Security Council. A push for change has been ongoing since the early 1990s.
Image: Reuters/E. Munoz
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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged the UN General Assembly on Friday to finally start serious negotiations on reforms to the world body's Security Council. The foreign minister said the Council has barely changed since its founding in 1945, despite a tripling of the global population since then, and a quadrupling in the number of UN members during the same period.
A seat at the top table
Germany has long pushed for UN reforms with the ultimate goal of achieving a permanent seat on the Security Council. China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States are permanent members with a special veto right on the Council decisions.
Maas told the assembly during his speech it was "shameful" that the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) was running short of funds to help the millions of Syrians who have fled the country's civil war. He called on other wealthy countries to step up to the plate.
Maas said Germany would provide the refugee agency with an extra $135 million (€116 million) to help cope with the outpouring of Syrians into neighboring Arab countries.
"As the second-largest humanitarian donor, Germany is willing to provide the UNHCR with a further €116 million euros — that is half of the amount currently needed — to help Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon," Maas said.
"But others also need to step up," he said — a nod to the UN Charter which refers to the peoples of the UN being determined "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind."
The United Nations "thrives on our common pledge of 'together first,'" said Maas.
The UN headquarters - a house with history
When representatives of nearly 200 countries meet for a General Assembly, it’s at the UN headquarters in New York. It is a place where history was made and famous architects have left their mark.
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Meeting of the powerful
The United Nations headquarters is located in the Turtle Bay area of Manhattan, in New York City is a milestone of modern architecture. It was designed in the late 1940s by, amongst others, Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier.
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Hall of decisions
The great domed hall provides space for the delegations of the member states, which participate with up to six envoys at the meetings. In this picture from 2012, the delegates are voting in favor of a resolution granting the Palestinians a special observer status at the UN.
Image: Getty Images
Revamping the hall
The UN General Assembly is held in a vast meeting room that recently underwent an extensive 16-month renovation. Much of the hall's original 1950s design remained when it reopened in 2014, with the exception of a few modern technical updates. The background behind the UN's iconic emblem also had to be replaced as years of cigarette tar and nicotine had stained the surface.
Image: Reuters/L. Jackson
Bold curves
The curved gallery in the lobby is a symbol of the modernity of the building. As the architecture emerged after the Second World War, the gallery was to symbolize the dawn of a new era.
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The thing with the shoe
The UN General Assembly has time and again been a place where harsh verbal exchanges have taken place between countries. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (left, next to Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko) was in such a rage in 1960 that he took off his shoe in order to pound on the table. In the picture he is still holding the shoe in his hand.
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Scandals
Conflicts in the Middle East play an important role in UN meetings and often lead to scandals. In September 2012, the Iranian delegation left the hall as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech. This year observers expect conciliatory gestures from Iranian President Hassan Rohani.
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The sound of freedom
The complex is also notable for its gardens and outdoor sculptures. Here the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is ringing the Japanese Peace Bell. It was an official gift from Japan to the UN in 1954. It is made out of coins donated by children. The peace bell is rung at the opening of each General Assembly session.
Image: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
Knotted Art
Iconic sculptures include the "Knotted Gun," called Non-Violence, a statue of a revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. The famous sculpture by the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd stands near the entrance of the UN compound. The artist also gave a copy to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2005 for his opposition to the Iraq war.
Image: Fotolia/Jan-Dirk
Memorial
During the renovation of the United Nation's headquarters in New York, most of the this large composition in stained glass by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall is a memorial to Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the 15 others who lost their lives in a plane crash in Africa while on a peace mission in 1961.
Image: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Iconic art worldwide
In 1996, the "Sphere within a Sphere" by sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, was presented as a gift to the UN by Lamberto Dini, then Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy. Nowadays several versions of the sculpture can be seen in many settings worldwide, including the Vatican Museums in Rome.
Image: cc-by-nc-sa3.0/Hossen27
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Solving multilateral diplomacy
Maas also told the UN General Assembly that the crisis in multilateral diplomacy can be resolved, citing German's history following the defeat of Nazism.
He said that "our European neighbors' courage in seeking reconciliation" and the help of the United States had put a scarred continent on a path to freedom, security and prosperity after World War II.
The foreign minister added that "in a world faced with immense global problems, we can only safeguard sovereignty if we work together" on issues such as climate change and the conflict in Syria.
