UK joins UN veto restraint push on mass atrocities

The United Kingdom has joined an initiative urging permanent members of the UN Security Council not to use their vetoes on matters involving mass atrocities such as genocide, France and Mexico said Monday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Mexican counterpart Roberto Velasco said in a joint statement that the initiative now has 128 countries behind it. That leaves it one country short of a two-thirds threshold of UN member states.

Mexico and France first proposed the initiative in 2015. Even if it reaches a two-thirds majority, it would be non-binding.

The five permanent Security Council members are France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and the United States. Each has veto power. The council has been blocked on many issues in recent years because of divisions among those members.

Barrot and Velasco said support for the declaration showed a commitment to helping the Security Council carry out its responsibility for international peace and security. Officials hope wider support would make veto use more politically difficult in cases of severe emergencies.