Belarusian-Norwegian cooperation on the issue of UN reform: current state and prospects

The article examines one of the most pressing problems of modern world politics, which is the reform of the United Nations that is studied in the context of regional cooperation of the member states and its possible intensification in this area. Based on the analysis of diplomatic documents introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, a detailed description of the current state and prospects of cooperation between Norway and Belarus in the direction of reforming the UN is given. Recently, there has been noticed a significant intensification of interaction between the two countries in various spheres of public life both at the European and global levels (consultations between the ministries of foreign affairs and the dialogue of their leaders, the growth of trade turnover, the exchange of technologies, the development of tourism).That stimulates the activities of diplomatic missions of Norway and Belarus to the UN, aimed at adapting and updating the work of the Organization in the light of new trends and processes in international life. The key directions of the UN institutional reform, according to which it is possible to implement the Belarusian-Norwegian cooperation in the studied area, include the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Council, the institute of peacekeeping. Twenty initiatives supported by Minsk and Oslo were considered, which could become the basis for cooperation in this direction. It is emphasized that the reform of the Security Council is most likely to become a starting point for fruitful interaction. At the same time, it will be possible to speak about the significance of steps to deepen it only if at least ten mutually complementary initiatives are implemented. The conditions for realizing the potential of cooperation have been determined as well; they include the creation of a developed legal framework for bilateral relations, their transfer to the level of embassies, the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the ACT Group of which Norway is a member.

considering it as an integral element of the modern system of international relations and global security. At the beginning of the XXI century, many states, supporting the trend towards polycentrism in the conditions of the US hegemony, expressed discontent with the declining role of the UN in international relations, and raised the question of a comprehensive reform of the Organization in order to strengthen its authority and influence in the world. Since then, the revitalization of the UN has been occupying an important place in the foreign policy of many states being defined as one of the priorities of world politics.
An intrinsic condition for the modernization of the United Nations is supposed to be the qualitative improvement of regional cooperation both at the level of country teams at headquarters (representative offices and delegations to forums) and at the level of regional organizations. The result of bilateral inter-state cooperation and joint efforts to strengthen and update the work of the UN can be the modification of ways out of the current crisis for the better when the number of critics of the post-1991 world order is constantly growing.
In this regard, considering the possibilities of cooperation on the issue of UN reform can open up new horizons for Belarusian-Norwegian cooperation, and bring relations between Minsk and Oslo to a qualitatively new level.
The purpose of the study is toreveal and assess the prospects of interstate cooperation between Norway and Belarus in the direction of the United Nations reform.
The objectivesof the study are to characterize and compare the approaches of Belarus and Norway to the UN reform, to assess the possibilities of Belarusian-Norwegian cooperation on the organization's modernization, and to suggest measures to strengthen cooperation between Minsk and Oslo in this area.
The chronological framework of the study covers the period of the second half of the 2010 smarked by a significant intensification of cooperation between Belarus and Norway in different spheres of public life, both at the European and global levels. An actively promoted format of political dialogue in recent years has been consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries 1 , there has taken place a regular dialogue between the foreign ministers of the states 2,3 , including in the framework of the UN 4 , significant progress has been made in the field of trade, economy and technology exchange 5 . At the same time, Minsk and Oslo have emphasized the need for further participation in the development of multilateral diplomacy. The studied aspect of inter-state cooperation has been repeatedly discussed in the framework of the joint Belarusian-Norwegian dialogue 6,7 .
The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of the discussion on the ways to increase the effectiveness of the UN, the active development of the Norwegian-Belarusian relations in the context of global relations, as well as the insufficient development of the issue in historiography. For this reason, the research is based mainly on information gathered from primary sources including official reports of meetings of UN bodies and speeches of Belarusian and Norwegian diplomats from the UN rostrum stored in UN digital resources, as well as publications on the websites of the foreign ministries of the two states.
Research methods. When conducting the research, the systematic, value, macro-and microsociological approaches were applied, there were used both general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, induction, deduction) and special methods (institutional, structural and functional, analysis of political and diplomatic discourse).
The object of the research is the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Belarus at the present stage.
The subject of the research is the activity of the diplomatic missions of Norway and Belarus in the UN aimed at adapting and updating the work of the Organization in the light of new trends and processes in international life (initiatives, proposals, projects and their content).
Literature review. experts on this issue are V. Zaemskiy 8 , L. Grishaeva 9 , A. Nikitin 10 . In Western historiography the problem has been raised by Edward C. Luck 11 , Thomas G. Weiss 12 and others. Nevertheless, the approaches of some states, in particular Belarus and Norway, to UN reform are clearly not sufficiently represented.
Concerning Belarus' approaches to UN reform they were partly examined by a career diplomat A. Sychev in the article "Respublika Belarus' i OON [the Republic of Belarus and the UN]" [1]. Among the Belarusian priorities, he highlighted the adaptation of the Security Council to modern realities, the revitalization of the General Assembly and work on clarifying the provisions of the UN Charter.
The position of Belarus on the UN reform was analyzed by A. Tikhomirov in the monograph "Vneshnjaja politika Respubliki Belarus'  [Foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus (1991Belarus ( -2015]" [2], as well as in the article "Vzaimodejstvie Respubliki Belarus' i OON (1991OON ( -2015 [Interaction of the Republic of Belarus and the UN (1991UN ( -2015]" [3].The expert expressed the opinion that at the beginning of the XXI century, Belarus relied on rationalizing the activities of the central UN bodies by giving them "adequate opportunities for the effective implementation of the Charter goals and objectives".
Norwegian approaches to UN reform have not been studied in academic circles. The existing assessment of the potential and proposals of the Norwegian side is mainly contained in specialized reports of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 13 .
Thus, the historiography lacks a description of the current state of Belarusian-Norwegian relations and an assessment of their potential, including on the issue of the UN reform.
Results of the research. The study revealed that the key areas of institutional reform of the UN considered by the Norwegian side are the reform of the Security Council, modernization of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Council, as well as peacekeeping. This mainly coincides with the directions of the UN reform being developed by the Republic of Belarus, except that the Belarusian diplomacy also has a well-formed position on the issue of the UN Secretariat reform.
The study found that 20 initiatives supported simultaneously by the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Belarus can become the foundation for Norwegian-Belarusian cooperation in the framework of UN reform (see table 1). At the same time, significant steps to deepen such cooperation can be taken if more than 10 mutually complementary initiatives are implemented on a joint basis (these are the initiatives supported by either of the parties, but being estimated to meet the interests of the other party). It should be noted that the largest number of them was recorded in the analysis of Norwegian and Belarusian approaches to the reform of the UN Security Council. Such a situation may most likely indicate that the reform of this central UN body will serve as a starting point for the joint expression of the will of the states in the process of reforming the organization as a whole. It was found out that the potential of bilateral cooperation in the framework of UN reform is not limited exclusively to mutually complementary initiatives. There is a host of proposals, on which only one of the two states has formed an opinion. Finding a compromise on such issues could significantly deepen Norwegian-Belarusian cooperation in the UN.
To illustrate, let us consider some aspects of the reform of the abovementioned Security Council. Thus, the Belarusian diplomacy has not previously expressed the need to update the rules on the use of the veto by permanent members of the Council. At the same time, the Norwegian side has formed its position on this issue: "It must be recognised that in instances today where the Council fails to live up to its Charter obligations, a main source of this inability to act is the veto" 18 . In the framework of the research, an inversion of this example was found as well. The Republic of Belarus supports the creation of a clear mechanism for the introduction and lifting of sanctions, as well as countering their impact on non-involved states. According to the position of the Belarusian diplomacy, the "humanitarian limits" of sanctions must be determined and the likely consequences for third countries and the civilian population, especially the most vulnerable groups, must be calculated 19 . Nonetheless, when studying the Norwegian approaches to the reform of the UN Security Council the formulated position on the issue of sanctions was not found.
This example clearly demonstrates the potential of Belarusian-Norwegian cooperation in reforming the Security Council, as well as the UN system as a whole. Reaching an agreement and finding common ground on a wealth of such issues could greatly contribute to bringing Norway and Belarus closer together at both regional and global levels.
Along with that, there are certain contradictions in the positions of states in relation to some UN bodies (in particular, the Human Rights Council). Historically, there has been a "split" between Western and Eastern interpretations of the concept of "human dignity", which underlies the understanding of human rights. Western states (primarily, the United States, Western European countries, and other developed countries) focus on civil and political rights, while the opposition bloc (in particular, Russia, Belarus, and China) recognize the socio-economic rights of citizens as a basis [4]. Meanwhile, it is the Western interpretation that largely determines the work of the HRC, which explains a number of criticisms to this body from Eastern States.
Overall, the thesis about the importance of real respect for human rights throughout the world fully meets the interests of both countries. In addition, the issue of gender equality is of paramount importance for both Belarus and Norway. That is why both states highlight in their positions the crucial importance of achieving gender balance within the UN system 20, 21 .
If to sum up, it is possible to conclude that at the present stage and become one of the key elements of cooperation between the two countries. However, such cooperation cannot be conducted without proper preparation. In this regard, it is deemed expedient to initiate three practically implementable steps that make it possible to set up to the full the interaction between Norway and Belarus.
First, as has been repeatedly noted in the framework of interdepartmental consultations, one of the priorities of bilateral cooperation, for the time being, is the creation of a developed legal framework 22, 23 . In this context, it would be apt to pay special attention to the problem of UN reform and the joint capabilities of states. The development of a legal framework that takes into account such opportunities and promotes their practical implementation would be a significant step towards long-term and fruitful cooperation in this area.
Secondly, the transfer of bilateral relations to the level of embassies will be of help to strengthen cooperation. At the moment, relations are established at the level of the concurrent embassies: the role of the Embassy of Belarus to Norway performs the Embassy of Belarus in Sweden, while the role of the Royal Norwegian Embassy to Belarus performs the Royal Norwegian Embassy in the Ukraine. Taking the aforementioned step, in addition to the actual confirmation of the intentions to further develop interstate cooperation, will allow the embassies to become a kind of coordination centres.
Finally, the third significant step towards successful cooperation in implementing the UN reform can be the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the ACT (accountability, coherence and transparency) Group, of which Norway is a member. This group includes 25 small and mid-sized countries that are focusing on reforming the UN Security Council, primarily in its current composition. Even now, there are prerequisites for Belarus to consider the possibility of joining the ACT Group: of the eleven key measures proposed by the inter-state association, 45% is directly or indirectly in the interests of the Belarusian side (in the rest, the position has not been formed yet, which leaves a space for potential collaboration); of the five priorities of the association, 40% is Belarus' priorities as well in the reform of the Security Council (in respect of the others the situation is identical to the situation with the measures) 24,25,26,27 .
Discussion of the results. The historiography does not include research and publications on cooperation between Belarus and Norway in the field of UN reform.
In order to fill this gap, the source base was created and analyzed then which allowed identifying the key initiatives and proposals of both sides in the direction of reforming the Organization and comparing them, that, by and large, made it possible to state the existence of a significant potential for interstate cooperation.
In the future, the implementation of the proposed steps to enhance cooperation will increase its effectiveness, establish a truly fruitful dialogue on the reform of the United Nations and significantly strengthen bilateral relations between countries.
Conclusion. Thus, the study revealed favorable prospects for cooperation between Belarus and Norway in the field of UN reform, which is based on more than 20 common initiatives. The Belarusian-Norwegian dialogue will primarily be stimulated by the joint implementation of more than 10 complementary initiatives, as well as the discussion of a range of issues on which only one of the parties has formed an opinion to date.
There were also identified some difficulties that hinder the transition of relations between the two countries to a new level. This primarily concerns various approaches to the interpretation (definition) of the category of "human dignity" which is one of the starting points in the discussions of the UN Human Rights Council. At the same time, Belarus and Norway emphasize the need for real respect for human rights, which is confirmed, in particular, by their mutual desire to achieve gender balance within the system of UN bodies. vector can take an important place in the interaction of the two states. In order to move to partnership relations as soon as possible, Minsk and Oslo should take the following steps: first, to build a legal framework for bilateral cooperation, taking into account cooperation in the direction of UN reform; second, to raise the status of relations to the level of embassies instead of concurrent embassies; third, it is advisable for Minsk to consider joining forces with the ACT Group, the prerequisites for which already exist.
It is strongly believed that the progressive development of the Belarusian-Norwegian dialogue, especially within the UN framework, will bring the friendly peoples of Norway and Belarus closer together.