The UK reaffirmed support for India’s permanent membership at the UN Security Council as part of a renewed push for reform to ensure the body is stronger able to address the pressing challenges the world faces today. While making a statement at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) plenary in New York on Monday, UK Ambassador to the General Assembly, Archie Young, noted that change must occur to the Security Council to make it more representative of and responsive to present realities.
UK pushes for wider UNSC reform
Young quoted that while, speaking before UNGA in September, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, underscored reforms in UNSC and stated that the Council needs to make it “more representative and more responsive.” He also talked about acknowledging while India was in their list, that for many other countries such as Brazil, Germany, Japan and permanent representation for Africa were also supported by the UK.
The UK believes that a reformed Council, along with a renewed collective commitment to the UN Charter, would strengthen the Council in enabling it to better rise to the challenges that the world is facing,” Young said. He further stated, “We continue to support an expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership to a total in the mid-twenties. We want to see permanent African representation, and permanent seats for Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.
Security Council Reform: A Growing Necessity
While reflecting on the state of global affairs, Young reiterated the critical need for UNSC reform. “A year later, the situation is even more acute, and the need to strengthen our multilateral system through reform is ever more pressing,” he remarked. The complexity and interrelation of the challenges that face the world were recognised because at no other time in the history of the United Nations have countries been at war with each other more times than at the present, and the present crises – surely and large – are there to be found in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, and elsewhere.
“The role of the Security Council – and its responsibility for international peace and security – is as important today as it has ever been,” he said underlining the body’s crucial role in addressing global security concerns.
Challenges in Coming to Agreement on Reform Model
However, though recognizing the challenges in achieving consensus on the model of UNSC reform, Young underlined the need for continued dialogue. “It is our collective responsibility to strive together, in the spirit of compromise, to make that change we know is required,” he said. “The UK stands committed to that and looks forward to detailed and constructive discussions in the intergovernmental negotiations we hope will be taking us closer to text-based negotiations.”
India’s advocacy for UNSC Reform
As if vindicating this opinion, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, took the plenary floor to again reiterate the imperative urgency for UNSC reform. He reminded delegates that over time, reforming the Security Council had become more an urgent priority since it was last expanded in the nonpermanent category back in 1965.
As we begin this year’s deliberations, we recall that the reform of the UN Security Council had once again been cited as one of the critical and immediate priorities in the summit of the future discussions by our leaders, Harish said. He lamented that despite decades of calls for reform, nothing fundamentally changed.
Shared Vision for Reform
UK, along with other reform advocates in India, still urges all-inclusive and balanced reform process that more accurately reflects the reality of the world in the 21st century. Thus, although agreeing on any reform model is a big challenge, the UK’s continued support for India and other nations that seek permanent seats to become part of the UNSC is a shared testament to making the UNSC a more effective and representative body for the 21st century.
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