With 80th anniversary of U.N. looming countries seek urgent reform

With the United Nations (UN) approaching its 80th anniversary next year, the Group of Four (G4) countries — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — seeking permanent membership and reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) called for urgent reform of the world body. Other plurilateral groupings, such as the L69 and C-10 also echoed these calls.

The G4 meeting. held on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the Foreign Minister level on September 23, reviewed progress made on these reforms.

In the joint statement released on September 26, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his G4 counterparts noted the “significant challenges” to the multilateral system, centred around the UN, as they welcomed the urgent call for reform at the UN’s ‘Summit of the Future’, held earlier this week.

The G4 Ministers reiterated the need for an increase in both permanent and non-permanent categories of UNSC membership, to enhance the participation of developing countries, as well as “ those significantly contributing to international peace and security” at the UNSC .

The group highlighted the need for better representation for regions such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean in permanent and non-permanent categories.

The Ministers “voiced strong concern” over progress in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) and said text-based negotiations needed to start urgently.

The L69 group of countries, of which India is a part, met on Thursday, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph E. Gonsalves. The group held a joint meeting with the C-10 group of ten African countries.

“Encouraged by the first - ever Joint Ministerial Meeting of L-69 and C-10 groupings of nations,” Mr Jaishankar tweeted.

They emphasized that transformative reform of the Security Council must include greater representation for the Global South. The ministers said developing countries had an “indispensable” role in safeguarding the relevance and effectiveness of the Security Council.

“The Ministers reiterated the urgent need to make the Security Council more representative, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable, and recognised that the Summit of the Future provided an opportunity for renewed commitment to Security Council reform,” the group said in a statement released on Thursday.

Both the L69 and the G4 areffirmed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) based on Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

The countries said further delays in comprehensive reform impacted the UN’s “credibility and legitimacy”.

On Thursday, Mr Jaishankar announced that he had also met his counterparts Foreign Ministers Mauro Vieira of Brazil and Ronald Lamola of South Africa in the IBSA (India Brazil South Africa) group.

“We share convergent views on reforms of UN system and of its Security Council. Our consultations should intensify as these debates acquire greater urgency,” he said.

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