India has emphasised that the only way to achieve “genuine reform” of the UN Security Council to make it legitimate, representative, responsive and effective is through the expansion of the its membership in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.
India has been at the forefront, especially leading the Global South, demanding reforms in the United Nations and seeking a place as a permanent member of the 15-member UN Security Council.
“India is in favour of the expansion of UN Security Council membership in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, as this is the only way to achieve genuine reform of the Security Council and make it legitimate, representative, responsive and effective,” Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, India’s permanent representative at the UN, said in her remarks in the General Assembly at the sixth round of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform late on Monday.
“In a nutshell, we need a reformed Security Council that better reflects the geographical and developmental diversity of the United Nations today. A Security Council where voices of developing countries and unrepresented regions, including Africa, Latin America and the vast majority of Asia and Pacific, also find their due place at the horseshoe table,” she said.
“And for this, an expansion of the Council in both categories of membership is absolutely essential,” she emphasised. The current UNSC comprises five permanent members (the US, the UK, China, France and Russia) and 10 non-permanent members.
She followed up the point raised on categories of membership by stating that in the 2015 Framework Document, on the issue of Categories of Membership,’ a total of 113 Member States, out of 122 who submitted their positions in the Framework Document, supported expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter.
This means that more than 90 per cent of the written submissions in the document were in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter.
On the contrary, longer term non-permanent seats which was an idea mooted during the inception of the UN, to only be discarded due to its ineffectiveness cannot be treated as a convergence, as it is only backed by a handful of member states, she asserted.
Kamboj also said the concerns presented by India and many other delegations on procedural issues and working methods (including a call for a single consolidated document), needs clear attribution, to indicate the high level of support on these issues.
Soon after her speech, the official X handle of the Indian Mission at the UN posted the video of her speech with the caption: India calls for decisive action on Security Council reform, championing an inclusive framework that truly represents the dynamic global landscape of today.
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