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No real progress on UN Security Council expansion, say former Ambassadors
India and G-4 partners express frustration at the process, ahead of the Summit of the Future in September
United Nations Security Council.
| Photo Credit: AP
Despite consistent efforts by India and other countries, the move for United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform and expansion has made “no progress” so far, conceded two former Indian Ambassadors to the United Nations, stressing that India must, however, continue to push its demand for inclusion in the top global decision-making body.
The lack of progress has been the subject of considerable frustration ahead of this year’s Summit of the Future at the UN (September 22-23) that is expected to bring in more than 150 world leaders to discuss plans to “reboot” the UN, with India and its partners in the G-4 (Brazil, Germany and Japan), all of whom claim a permanent seat at the UNSC, lashing out in recent statements about the proposed “Pact of the Future” that will be released.
“The short answer to whether there is progress in concrete terms, is no,” said India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Khamboj (2022-2024), who retired at the end of June, at a seminar organised at the India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi. She added that since 2023, there has only been movement in making the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on UN reforms more transparent.
“You now have a live broadcast of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations. This wasn’t the case until last year, and there’s also a digital repository where you can put your proposals, and India’s proposals are very much there on expansion and reforms on their website, but in terms of real progress, let’s be very honest… the answer is no,” Ms. Khamboj said in response to a question from The Hindu.
‘Time-bound negotiations’
Last week, India’s Acting Permanent Representative R. Ravindra delivered a sharp address during an open debate at the UNSC , blaming the failure of the multilateral system on the “1945-vintage binary outlook reflected clearly in the composition of the Security Council”, referring to the fact that the five permanent members of the Security Council, or P5, are still those who are considered “victors” of the Second World War.
“Disillusionment with the existing multilateral system has led member states to consider various alternatives, such as replacing multilateral agreements with bilateral deals or replacing multilateral rules with rules for like-minded countries,” Mr. Ravindra said, calling for “time-bound” negotiations to be included in the “Pact of the Future” to be adopted during the summit in September.
In an equally strongly worded joint statement for the G-4 delivered in June to the IGN, Brazil’s Permanent Representative Sérgio França Danese lashed out at the wording of the “Pact of the Future” that has been “significantly watered down” from the original discussions as a result of “pressure from those who have been stalling this process in every possible way for decades”.
“It amounts to submitting the imperative for change, the future of global governance, to the narrow interests of a few,” he said, indicating the P-5 members China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. as well as members of a group called the Uniting for Consensus (UfC), which includes Canada, Italy, and Pakistan, that have opposed the process for more permanent members, and favour more non-permanent, rotational membership.
Despite the growing “disillusionment” among the G-4 countries and others, diplomats maintained that India must continue its pursuit of a seat at the UN high table.
“India is an aspirational country, and aspirational countries should have goals”, said Syed Akbaruddin, who served as India’s Permanent Representative from 2016 to 2020, at the IIC seminar in Delhi on Monday. “We feel there is an opportunity and we would want that irrespective of whether it happens now, 20 years ago or 20 years later, we will still pursue that as a goal,” he added.
Officials said it was too early to confirm what India’s strategy at the UNGA this year would be and whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Summit of the Future himself.
An earlier plan for the G-4 leaders to appear together at the summit to highlight their demand for permanent membership of the Security Council may have to be shelved, given that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces a crucial ruling party leadership contest at the end of September. Another opportunity would be presented at the G-20 Summit in Brazil in November.
Mr. Modi has a fairly packed international travel schedule, as well as domestic commitments and State elections later this year. In September, he is expected to travel to Thailand for the BIMSTEC Summit, and in October, he will be expected to attend the ASEAN-India Summit in Laos. In October, Russia will host the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the first time the grouping will include new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
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