New UN Security Council members for 2026 install flags during ceremony

The Security Council welcomed Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Latvia and Liberia as the five new non-permanent members for the 2026 -2027 period.

Latvia joins the Council for the first time. The ceremonial flag-raising, introduced in 2018 at the initiative of Kazakhstan, marks the start of each country’s two-year term. Before that, the flags of the non-permanent members of the Council were installed and replaced in the normal course of work by the Protocol.