thumb|upright=1.4|WEOG member and observer states
The Group of Western European and Other States, also known as the Western European and Other States Group or WEOG, is one of the five United Nations regional groups. It is composed of 28 member states. Most of these are in Western Europe, but the group also includes countries of North America, the Eastern Mediterranean, Fennoscandia and Oceania. The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) participate as observers.
The Group is a non-binding dialogue group where subjects concerning regional and international matters are discussed. Additionally, the Group works to help allocate seats on United Nations bodies by nominating candidates from the region.
Unlike most other Regional Groups, WEOG is unusual in that geography is not the sole defining factor of its membership. Instead, its membership is based on geopolitical breakdown, based on the cultural concept of the "Western world" of affluent, developed liberal democracies, and are either part of Western Europe or a majority European-descended state (except Israel), and part of the NATO military alliance and/or the US-led western military-economic community.
As of 2024, the Western European and Others Group makes up 56%<!--22+4.318+4.375+0.005+2.111+0.679+0.828+2.628+0.553+0.417+6.111+0.036+0.439+0.561+3.189+0.010+0.068+0.019+0.011+1.377+0.309+0.679+0.353+0.002+2.134+0.871+1.134+0.325+0.845--> of the United Nations budget.
Membership
Member states
The following are the current Member States of the Western European and Others Group:
Observer states
- The United States of America is not formally a member of any regional group, but attends meetings of WEOG as an observer and is considered to be a member of the group for electoral purposes. In 1964, Israel applied to join WEOG and was rejected.
On 30 April 2004, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the full inclusion of Israel in WEOG, directing the U.S. Government to pursue action to "ensure the extension and upgrade of Israel's membership in the Western European and Others Group at the United Nations." This was accomplished in May 2004, when Israel was granted a permanent renewal for WEOG proceedings in New York.
However, it was not until November 2013 when Israel was finally admitted into WEOG proceedings at the United Nations Geneva Office, 1 January 2014.
Suggested reform
In his address before the General Assembly at the 55th General Debate, Vinci Niel Clodumar, the head of the Nauru Delegation, advocated for the creation of a new Oceania regional group to include both Australia and New Zealand, as well as the ASEAN member countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Pacific island countries. In his speech he mentioned that "the 11 Pacific island countries are drowning in the Asian Group, while Australia and New Zealand...are marooned in the Group of Western European and other States."
Representation
Security Council
The Western European and Other States Group holds 5 seats on the Security Council, 2 non-permanent and 3 permanent. The current members of the Security Council from the Group are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Term
|-
|
| Permanent
|-
|
| Permanent
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| Permanent
|-
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| 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2026
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| 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2026
|}
Economic and Social Council
The Western European and Other States Group holds 13 seats on the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Term
|-
|
|1 January 2023 – 31 December 2025
|-
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| rowspan="5" | 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2026
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
| rowspan="7" |1 January 2025 – 31 December 2027
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
|}
Human Rights Council
The Western European and Other States Group holds 7 seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Term
|-
|
| rowspan=2 | 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2026
|-
|
|-
|
| rowspan=3 | 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2027
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
| rowspan=2 | 1 January 2023 – 31 December 2025
|-
|
|}
Presidency of the General Assembly
Every five years in the years ending in 0 and 5, the Western European and Other States Group is eligible to elect a president to the General Assembly.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year Elected !! Session !! Name of President !! Country !! Note
|-
| 1965 || 20th || Amintore Fanfani|| ||
|-
| 1970 || 25th || Edvard Hambro || ||
|-
| 1975 || 30th || Gaston Thorn || ||
|-
| 1980 || 35th || Rüdiger von Wechmar || || Also chaired the eighth emergency special session of the General Assembly
|-
| 1985 || 40th || Jaime de Piniés || || Also chaired the thirteenth special session of the General Assembly
|-
| 1990 || 45th || Guido de Marco || ||
|-
| 1995 || 50th || Diogo de Freitas do Amaral || ||
|-
| 2000 || 55th || Harri Holkeri || || Also chaired the tenth emergency special, twenty-fifth special and twenty-sixth special sessions of the General Assembly
|-
| 2005 || 60th || Jan Eliasson || ||
|-
| 2010 || 65th || Joseph Deiss || ||
|-
| 2015 || 70th || Mogens Lykketoft || ||
|-
| 2020 || 75th || Volkan Bozkır || ||
|-
| 2025 || 80th || Annalena Baerbock|| ||
|-
| colspan="5" style="text-align: center;" | Future
|-
| 2030 || 85th || TBD || TBD ||
|-
| 2035 || 90th || TBD || TBD ||
|}
Timeline of electoral membership
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Years!!Number of members!!Notes
|-
|1957||13||Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden
|-
|1958||14||Australia
|-
|1959||16||Canada, South Africa
|-
|1961||17||Finland
|-
|1963||19||Turkey, Israel
|-
|1964||19||New Zealand, Malta. South Africa and Israel were excluded.
|-
|1965||22||France, United Kingdom, United States
|-
|1973||23||West Germany
|-
|1990||24||Liechtenstein, German reunification
|-
|1992||25||San Marino
|-
|1993||27||Monaco, Andorra
|-
|2000||28||Israel
|-
|2002||29||Switzerland
|}
The Western European and Others Group was originally created in 1957 against its wishes, after Latin America, Asia and Africa, and Eastern Europe made their own groups. States like Australia wanted to keep the previous Commonwealth group, while states like France did not want to caucus with the Commonwealth states. At first, Canada considered applying for the Latin American group and renaming it a "Western Hemisphere" group, while Australia and New Zealand considered applying for the Asian group. and obtained a seat in 1960, and South Africa obtained a seat in 1959. In 1963, Israel unsuccessfully ran for a seat and was counted by the General Assembly as running for a WEOG seat. In 1964, the Western European states formally invited Canada, Australia, and New Zealand into their caucus, while refusing to invite Israel and South Africa.
Turkey was a member of the Asian group electorally until at least 1961, switching to WEOG by 1963. The General Assembly does not have a record of which group Turkey was a member of electorally in 1962.
The wording of the 1957 General Assembly resolution placed the permanent members of the Security Council in their own group, causing France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to not count as part of WEOG electorally. When ECOSOC was expanded, the wording of the 1963 General Assembly resolution only assigned groups to the nine new seats, leaving the aforementioned permanent three still outside of WEOG electorally. The permanent three were formally placed into WEOG electorally in November 1965, when the United Nations Development Programme was created and groups were assigned to all its executive board seats.
The above table excludes states who attended WEOG meetings prior to having electoral weight. West Germany, Monaco, Switzerland, and the Holy See became WEOG observers in 1967, while the first record from the US Department of State of the United States attending a WEOG meeting is from 1970.
In approximately the first half of the 1960s, Yugoslavia participated in both WEOG and the Eastern European Group (similar to Turkey participating in two groups), but was only ever counted in the Eastern European Group electorally. Also during this time, Cyprus participated in both WEOG and the Asian group, but was only ever counted in the Asian group electorally. Both eventually left WEOG around the mid-1960s.), whose members informally coordinate with each other for seats on the UN Security Council and UN Economic and Social Council. Iceland joined the Nordic caucus in 1998.
See also
- United Nations Regional Groups
- Israel and the United Nations
- List of members of the United Nations Security Council
- List of members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
- JUSCANZ