With India constantly calling for restructuring the United Nations Security Council(UNSC), envoys and policy experts have said the institution in its current structure is “perverse and immoral.” They also said the time to reform it is now adding the UNSC is “a perpetuation of the colonisation project” and does not reflect the rise of new powers and shifting geopolitical landscape. They also said status quo is untenable.
Speaking at a Roundtable on Security Council Reform at the UN headquarters hosted by the Permanent Missions of Brazil, India, South Africa and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines late Thursday, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said, “The current composition of the Security Council no longer aligns with the realities of our interconnected and multi-polar world.” “The Council structure, designed in a different era, does not reflect the rise of new powers, the shifting geopolitical landscape and the aspirations of nations striving for a fairer and more equitable global order,” she said. The roundtable was held with the aim to bring in the perspective of the Global South on the long-pending issue, keeping in mind the pressing urgency for reformed multilateralism architecture in the United Nations representative of contemporary geo-political realities.
Kamboj stressed that the urgency of UNSC reform is also underscored by the unprecedented global challenges that transcend borders.
“Climate change, terrorism, pandemics, and humanitarian crises require collective efforts and shared responsibilities,” she said, adding that a reformed Security Council will “enable us to pool resources, expertise and perspectives from a wider range of countries, empowering us to confront these issues with greater effectiveness and unity.”
Asserting that the “time for Security Council reform is now,” Kamboj called on the Member States to “seize” the opportunity to revitalize and strengthen the United Nations by making it more inclusive, representative and responsive to the needs and aspirations of all nations.
President of India’s leading think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Samir Saran said in a deeply heterogenous, multipolar world, it is “untenable” that a group of victors of war from another century should be in charge of managing the world of today. “The war is history and so is the influence and capabilities of some of the members in the room. I think the current structure of the UNSC is perverse and immoral. It is a perpetuation for many of us from the Global South of the colonisation project.
The burden of the war was borne by the colonies while the privileges of peace benefited the colonisers and their allies,” he said. Saran noted that in past decades, “we have seen how the will of the comity of nations has been negated by one or more of permanent members” of Council. China, France, Russia, the UK and the US make up the five permanent members of the 15-nation Council.
“More recently, Ukraine presents a classic example of the Security Council’s failure to deliver and is a stark reminder of why status quo is untenable,” he said.”
The voting patterns, the abstentions on Ukraine matter clearly point to the need to bring in others who can contribute to the global efforts around peace and stability.”
Calling the current UNSC as inefficient, undemocratic and non-representative, Saran questioned “How can we accept a structure that shuts out Africa, Latin America and democratic Asia, including the world’s largest nation and democracy,” making a reference to India.
Kamboj underlined that the inclusion in a reformed UNSC of emerging economies and regions with growing political influence is not just a matter of fairness but a “pragmatic necessity.”
Panelists at the roundtable ‘Shifting the Balance: Perspectives on United Nations Security Council Reforms from Global South Think Tanks’ included Professor of International Relations at FGV (Brazil) and Visiting Scholar at Princeton University Matias Spektor and Senior Researcher, South Africa Institute of International Affairs Gustavo de Carvalho.
