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Uniting for Consensus (UfC) is a movement (nicknamed the Coffee Club) that developed in the 1990s in opposition to the possible expansion of the United Nations Security Council. Recently revived by Italy, it now has about 40 members aiming to counter the G4 nations' bids for permanent seats. The leaders are Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina and Pakistan.^[2]

The countries that have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil, Germany, India and Japan. Japan and Germany are the UN's second and third largest funders, respectively, while Brazil, the largest Latin American nation, and India, the world's largest democracy and second most populous country, are two of the largest contributors of troops to UN-mandated peace-keeping missions.

A UN General Assembly in September 2005 marked the 60th anniversary of the UN and the members were to decide on a number of necessary reforms—including the enlarged SC. However the unwillingness to find a negotiable position stopped even the most urgent reforms meant the September 2005 General Assembly was a setback for the UN. The G4 retain their goal of permanent UNSC membership for all four nations (plus two African nations). However, Japan announced in January 2006 that it would not support a retabling of the G4 resolution and was working on a resolution of its own.

Some of the members of the Uniting For Consensus group are:

• Argentina, Colombia, Mexico - opposed to a bid for Brazil
• Italy, Netherlands, Spain - opposed to a bid for Germany (wishing for a seat for the whole European Union)
• South Korea - opposed to a bid for Japan
• Pakistan - opposed to a bid for India
• Canada - opposed in principle to expansion not achieved by consensus or near-consensus

References

External links

• Text of the 2005 proposal to General Assembly