If the Security Council is not reconstituted, there will be less trust in the organization: Ruchira Kamboj

United Nations: India has said that retaining the UN Security Council in its old form would mean a continued loss of trust in the world organisation. India’s Permanent Representative to the Council Ruchira Kamboj said that in order to maintain the effectiveness and credibility of the United Nations, the representation of the Security Council has to be expanded to more developing countries. He said that if we continue with the conservative mindset of 1945 (the post-World War II era), we will continue to lose our people’s faith in the United Nations. Secretary-General António Guterres and several countries stressed the need for council reform. He said that Russia and America have also agreed on this. Speaking at the Council meeting, Guterres said that most people now accept that the reformed Security Council itself would benefit from reforms that reflect today’s geopolitical reality. The same is true of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he added.

Gabon’s deputy foreign minister, Herman Emongault, said that while it is clear that Africa will not wait forever for a reversal of the intergovernmental reform process (for council reforms), in the eyes of our people this process is just an endless distraction. Is. Kamboj took a dig at the United Nations Charter document which still gives permanent seats to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which no longer exists. “When we see that the world’s largest democracy, along with Africa and Latin America, are being excluded from global decision-making, we demand a major reform,” he said. That, he said, was the recommendation of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, which called for a renewed effort for reforms. Kamboj warned, multilateral institutions rarely die, they simply fade into irrelevance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield agreed on the need for council reform. Lavrov said the council needs to be reformed to increase the representation of Asian, African and Latin American countries.

Thomas-Greenfield said the council must better reflect today’s global realities and find viable pathways for the 21st century. Brazil’s Deputy Permanent Representative João Genesio de Almeida Filho supported reform of the Council. He said that while the Council reflects the balance of power of 1945, it is not suited to the current geopolitical realities. Brazil, India, Japan and Germany advocate for Council reforms and also support each other for permanent seats. India is currently chairing the G20, a group of developed and emerging countries, where it seeks to articulate the voice of the developing world. Emphasizing on reforms, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar said, status quo structures will not take us further than the status quo. He said that from the Security Council to institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, reforms should be done.

Ghana’s Deputy Foreign Minister Thomas Mbomba said injustice to Africa is a weakness of the multilateral framework and nations must take action to rectify it. Egypt’s Permanent Representative Osama Abdel Khalek said the exclusion of Arab and African countries from permanent seats calls for immediate reform. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Munir Akram made an unpleasant remark by opposing the inclusion of permanent members in the Council. China’s Permanent Representative Zhang Jun supported calls for reform of international financial institutions, but remained silent on the council. In his speech, Guterres criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. Lavrov said the world has reached a dangerous threshold that is perhaps even more dangerous than during the Cold War. He said that the situation has worsened due to loss of faith in multilateralism. Thomas-Greenfield accused Lavrov of hypocrisy and said that Russia, through wars of aggression and territorial conquest, struck at the heart of the UN Charter. While Lavrov complained about the denial of visas to Russian journalists to cover the Council meeting.