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UK agrees to voluntarily limit UN veto — envoy

The British diplomat reminded that his country last time used the veto right in 1989
UN Security Council AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin
UN Security Council
© AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin

UNITED NATIONS, August 11. /TASS/. The United Kingdom, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, backs France’s proposal to voluntarily undertake not to use the veto when urgent measures are needed to stop mass atrocity, Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft has told TASS.

"We support the principle of the French initiative — we do not envisage a situation where the UK would use its veto to block action in response to a mass atrocity. Implementation, with support of the other five permanent members of the Security Council, remains an unresolved question," Rycroft said in an interview.

The British diplomat reminded that his country last time used the veto right in 1989 when the draft resolution was being considered that called on the US to immediately stop military intervention in Panama. The US also voted against document.

French President Francois Hollande called on major powers — China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States — to voluntarily limit their UN veto in 2013.

Moscow opposes any changes to the order of using the veto right which allows the permanent members of the UN Security Council to block the resolutions even if they gain the necessary majority of the vote.