Indian officials presenting their case in the United Nations. (symbolic)
United Nations: India has once again shown a strong stance regarding reform in the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). India has cautioned against attempts to make “minor changes” in the existing structure of the UNSC, saying that this could indefinitely postpone important elements like expansion of permanent membership and focus on under-representation of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Is. These comments were made by Ambassador P Harish, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Monday at the annual plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly on the topic ‘Question of equitable representation and increase in membership in the Security Council’.
He said that despite the urgent need for reform of the UNSC having been repeatedly reiterated for decades, it is “disappointing that we have no results to show in this regard since 1965, when the last expansion of the Security Council was only In the year 1965, the membership of the Council was increased from six elected members to 10. Pointing to the nature of the process of Inter-Governmental Dialogue (IGN), Harish said that 16 years after its inception, the IGN is mainly limited to exchange of statements rather than dialogue with each other. “No conversation text,” he said. No time limit. And no definite end goal.”
India said – now there is no situation of waiting
India has stressed that while it seeks real concrete progress at the IGN, including progress with respect to the development of a new ‘model’ of Security Council reform as a precursor to text-based negotiations, Delhi urges caution in two respects. Harish said the first is that requiring member states to submit a minimum threshold of information should not force them to wait indefinitely to present their model. Furthermore, the development of an ensemble model based on ‘convergence’ should not lead to a race to find the lowest common ‘denominator’. He cautioned that this could lead to important elements like expanding the permanent category and focusing on the under-representation of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, being postponed indefinitely or ‘long into the future’.
putting the cart before the horse
India has also expressed concern that the argument of ‘consensus’ is being made by a few select countries favoring ‘status quo’. “Their argument is that ‘we must all agree on everything’ before even starting text-based negotiations! Surely, we cannot have a more strange case of ‘putting the cart before the horse’.” Harish said that as a member of the ‘Global South’, India believes that ‘representation’ It is an indispensable condition for both the ‘legitimacy’ and ‘effectiveness’ not only of the Council, but of the entire United Nations. The term ‘Global South’ is generally used to refer to economically less developed countries. India has been at the forefront of efforts over the years to reform the Security Council, including the expansion of both its permanent and non-permanent categories.
Council not suitable for 21st century use
India says the 15-member council, established in 1945, is not fit for purpose for the 21st century and does not reflect contemporary geopolitical realities. India has emphasized that it rightfully deserves a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. In his address at the historic UN ‘Summit for the Future’ in September this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasized that reforms in global institutions are necessary for global peace and development and reforms are the key to relevance. (Language)
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