ISLAMABAD: The UN General Assembly is set to discuss the Security Council's annual report on Friday, a document whose introduction was drafted by Pakistan as part of its elected membership on the 15-nation body, the Security Council Report (SCR), a think tank said on Thursday.
The report’s draft, covering the Security Council's work from January to December 2025, was formally adopted by the UNSC on May 22 and will now be presented to the 193-member General Assembly for consideration.
Under Article 24(3) of the UN Charter, the Security Council is required to submit an annual report to the General Assembly, making it one of the few formal mechanisms through which the broader UN membership can assess the Council's performance.
Pakistan, which is serving a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2025-26, was responsible for drafting the report's introduction in its capacity as the Council's president in July 2025.
Push for greater transparency
According to the SCR, Pakistan sought to make the report more substantive by incorporating views from the wider UN membership, particularly calls for greater transparency and more analytical content.
The think tank said the agreed introduction represented an effort to "produce a more analytical report, demonstrating that suggestions advanced by the wider UN membership over the years are gradually being taken on board".
Speaking at the report's adoption in May, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said it captures "the breadth of contemporary threats to international peace and security, including ongoing and emerging conflicts, humanitarian emergencies and evolving risks."
"We regard this process as a vital instrument of transparency, accountability and institutional dialogue between the Security Council and the wider UN membership," Ahmad said.
For the first time, the introduction acknowledges that heightened geopolitical tensions and divisions among Council members have hindered the body's efforts to address protracted conflicts and large-scale humanitarian crises, according to the SCR.
Complex negotiations
According to the SCR, Pakistan circulated an initial draft to Council members shortly after an informal consultation with the wider UN membership in January and worked through two revisions before the text was approved in early February.
SCR said the introduction was constructive but involved careful diplomacy. The negotiations involved several contentious issues, including references to the use of the veto and the Council's engagement on the Middle East, Ukraine, Western Sahara, and Iran's nuclear program.
"Pakistan apparently engaged extensively with Council members in order to find acceptable formulations for some contentious matters, including language on the use of the veto", the SCR said.
The report also highlights several institutional developments during 2025, including the launch of the process to select the next UN secretary-general and an unprecedented delay in appointing chairs and vice-chairs of Security Council subsidiary bodies.
According to the report, the delay "significantly hindered" the Council's ability to fulfill its mandate.
The Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) Group, a coalition of 27 small and medium-sized countries advocating reforms to Security Council working methods, is expected to address Friday's General Assembly meeting.
The SCR said the group is likely to welcome efforts to make the report more analytical while also proposing ways to make future reports more substantive, including “describing how Council decisions are implemented and their impact on the ground and elaborating on the proceedings of informal meetings such as closed consultations.”
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