Hamdi Abdulaziz
The Kingdom of Bahrain joined the United Nations on September 21, 1971, by Resolution No. 296, which the Security Council made unanimously on August 18, 1971, and participated for the first time in the 26th session of the General Assembly.
Since then, it became an active member of the United Nations bodies and organizations and supporting the organization’s efforts in preserving international peace, then the Kingdom obtained the non-permanent membership of the Security Council 1998-1999 and chaired the Council during its membership in December 1998. Sheikha Haya Bint Al Khalifa was also elected President of the United Nations General Assembly of its 61st session in 2006, and she was the first Arab and Muslim woman to hold this position.
Bahrain nominates the membership of the Council 2026-2027 armed with its positive and effective contributions in the UN Organization to enhance the priorities of its diplomatic approach based on dialogue, cooperation, peace, development, prosperity and coexistence.
The contributions of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations extend for more than 5 decades through multiple fields, as they participate effectively, and contribute to the development and implementation of international policies. The UN Security Council consists of 15 members, including 5 permanent memberships: the United Kingdom, China, the United States of America, France, Russia, and 10 non -permanent memberships that are elected by the General Assembly representing the 193 member states at the United Nations.
The goals of Bahraini foreign policy since the joining of Bahrain as a member of the United Nations 1971 as an independent Muslim Arab country, were to confirm the sovereignty, independence and unity of Bahrain’s lands, maintaining and protecting its strategic interests abroad and defending it, developing and strengthening ties and relations between them and states and organizations, and the representation of Bahrain in Arab and international forums, in addition to supporting the fair issues of the Arab and Islamic nations, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue.
During the reform project of His Majesty the King, the economic and development dimension entered strongly at the heart of Bahrain’s foreign relations, and occupied a large part of diplomatic interests, and after 2011 he entered after another important in the international relations of the Kingdom, and crystallized with the calls and initiatives of His Majesty the King about the importance of the convergence of civilizations of the world, through a dialogue that opens up a spacious horizons for peace, cooperation and prosperity for the peoples of the world.
Returning to the first membership in the Security Council, the pioneer of Bahraini diplomacy, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, was working to consolidate the feet of Bahraini diplomacy on the international scene, so the Kingdom presented its candidacy for the non -permanent membership of the Security Council, and the work began promoting this nomination, and requesting the support of brotherly and friendly countries. The diplomatic efforts of Bahrain resulted in great support from member states to nominate Bahrain.
It resulted in a landslide victory for Bahrain on October 14, 1997 through the elections in the General Assembly, where it received great support from the members of 172 votes from the total votes of the participating countries in that session, which amounted to 174 countries. This was the highest percentage of votes among the five countries with which it was elected at that time to membership of the Council for the two years 1998-1999.
This overwhelming victory, in which Bahrain won the highest percentage of votes, was the culmination of extensive diplomatic efforts made by the leadership wisely, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, and with the participation of effective Bahraini diplomatic missions and the permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.
The Bahraini diplomacy seeks to repeat this achievement of the Security Council membership 2026-2027, through intensive preparatory efforts and cooperation with the Group of Asia and the Pacific Ocean and other countries and sister and friendly groups, which trust in its principles, and its ancient civilizational heritage, noble human and civilizational values, and creative capabilities to face challenges.
In the event that it reaches the non -permanent membership seat, the priorities of the Kingdom of Bahrain will be: peace and stability, unconventional challenges, participation and integration, and pluralism, and its balanced policy is supported and its keenness to stabilize, prosper and advance the peoples of the region and the world. It will also be among the priorities to implement the decisions of the Security Council itself to play its basic role in maintaining international peace and security, and to engage again to calls for its reform to be a representative of all geographical and regional groups in a fair and appropriate manner, whether in permanent or non -permanent seats, to become more effective in facing the current and emerging challenges and threats and ensuring the prevention of conflicts.
The Kingdom will also work through its non -permanent membership in the Security Council to activate the role of the international community in consolidating solidarity and prosperity and preserving international peace and security, putting at the forefront of its priorities: consolidating sustainable peace and dialogue in settling conflicts, enhancing humanitarian action in the relief of those affected by disasters and crises, combating extremism and terrorism, ensuring cybersecurity, environmental, food, water, and sea security, And strengthening the effectiveness of multilateral international cooperation, under the umbrella of the United Nations, and raising confidence in the performance of the Security Council with its duties with transparency, efficiency and comprehensiveness.
It will also approve an international agreement to criminalize the speeches of religious, sectarian and racist hatred, spreading a culture of peace, understanding and acceptance of the other, and enhancing the nakedness of brotherhood and friendship between nations, and will continue its efforts to follow up the activation of the leading initiatives of His Majesty the King, which was approved by the thirty -third Arab summit “Bahrain Summit” regarding the holding of an international peace conference in the Middle East, supporting full recognition of the state of Palestine and accepting its membership in The United Nations, providing educational and health services for those affected by conflicts, developing Arab and international cooperation in the field of financial technology and digital transformation, supporting sustainable development goals and principles of future charter, and its high purposes.
