NEW DELHI: Presiding over a highlevel ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar pushed for reforming the body to take on the “multidimensional crises” staring at the world.
The push acquired a special significance as it was preceded by his meeting with UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi and Japan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yamada Kenji, with whom he discussed India’s UNSC experience, its G20 presidency and the importance of reformed multilateralism.
Japan is a member of G4, the group of countries that includes India, Brazil and Japan, which lobby together for Council reforms and support each other for permanent seats on an expanded Council. India is using its prerogative as the President of the Council, in the last month of its two-year elected membership, to take the long-delayed and contentious reforms issue right to its chamber.
Multidimensional crises
A note from India’s Permanent Mission to the Council said: “The multidimensional crises facing the world today demand a representative multilateral architecture that is reflective of contemporary global realities and is well equipped to meet the emerging challenges.”
Earlier, during the UNSC briefing on counter-terrorism, Jaishankar said this Council is well aware that terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security.
He highlighted how India faced the horrors of cross-border terrorism long before the world took serious note of it and lamented that some permanent members of the council had adopted a politically selective approach to cross- border terrorism targeting India.
While he doubled down on pushing reforms in the United Nations and its Security Council, India’s External Affairs Minister reprimanded Pakistan and China on the issue of terrorism. He regretted that multilateral platforms were being misused to justify and protect perpetrators, reflecting India’s multilateral security challenge related to the continued protection of Pakistan-harboured and sponsored terrorists by China in the UNSC.
Broad-based governance
Addressing the “knock-on effects” of conflict situations, Jaishankar emphasised on the need for “more broadbased global governance”. “Recent concerns over food, fertiliser and fuel security were not adequately articulated in the highest councils of decision making. Much of the world was therefore led to believe that their interests did not matter. We cannot let that happen again,” he added.
Reflecting on the debates on UNSC reforms since the last three decades, Jaishankar said the world has “nothing to show” in terms of reforms in multilateral institutions. He called for transforming the current moment of crisis into a moment of multilateralism.
“This is creating an intense sense of frustration among the wider membership. Attempts to propose piecemeal changes will not be accepted by them as an alternative,” Jaishankar said. India took over the presidency of UN Security Council on December 1, in the final month of its two-year stint as a non-permanent member in the Council.
“Reform is the need of the day. And I am confident that the Global South especially shares India’s determination to persevere,” Jaishankar said.
Problem is with IGN Pointing out the difficulties, he said the problem was with the nature of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) itself.
It is the only one in the UN that is conducted without any time frame. It is also singular in being negotiated without any text. Moreover, there is no record-keeping that allows progress to be recognised and carried forward. “Not just that, there are actually suggestions that negotiations start only when consensus has been achieved,” said the minister.
It is three decades since the OpenEnded Working Group on UNSC Reforms was constituted. Yet the group has nothing to show in terms of progress made. “While the debate on reforms has meandered aimlessly, the real world meanwhile has changed dramatically. We see that in terms of economic prosperity, technology capabilities, political influence and developmental progress,” the minister said. He hoped the latest debate in the UNSC and its outcome would not only help determine what kind of United Nations we wish to see, but also what kind of global order best reflects contemporary realities.
“We not only need to increase stakeholdership but also enhance the effectiveness and credibility of multilateralism in the eyes of the international community and in the eyes of global public opinion,” the minister said.
THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
- In August 2021, India assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the first time during its ongoing two-year term as an elected member.
- PM Modi distinguished himself as the first Indian PM to preside over an open debate during rotating tenure, when TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, was the President of the Council for a month.
- On December 1 this year, India again took charge of the Council’s presidency for the second and last time before the country exits the world’s high table. This time, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar opened the debate at the UNSC, underscoring the urgency of UN reforms.
- India’s term in the council ends on the last day of this month. Unlike in August last year, India is now overwhelmingly focused on its one-year presidency of the G20, which also began on December 1.
