India: UNSC reforms will be a failure if only non-permanent membership is expanded

New Delhi: India has warned that reform of the UN Security Council will border on "failure" if only its non-permanent category of membership is expanded.

Permanent representative of India to the UN, P Harish, made these remarks on Monday (New York time) while addressing the Inter-Governmental Negotiations meeting on Security Council reforms. "UNSC reform would be grossly inadequate, bordering on failure, if expansion is limited only to the non-permanent category as it would fundamentally not change the decision-making power structure of the P5," Harish said.

He stressed that by advocating expansion of the permanent category, India's consistent effort has been to bring in a "greater sense of balance and equity" in the Security Council, and change the decision-making parameters of the five veto-wielding permanent members: China, France, Russia, UK and the US.


Also read | Oman unveils Muscat Peace Plan to prevent future regional conflicts

Harish was critical of the 'Elements Paper' tabled for discussion, saying that it neither captures the overall state of play accurately nor accounts for the overwhelming sentiment of a majority of member states. He pointed out that support of a majority for expansion in the permanent category of UNSC has been reduced to 'a significant number of delegations' in the 'Elements Paper'.

Also read | External shocks expose India's slide into middle-income stagnation