India at the United Nations General Assembly has said that the UNSC should be more representative of developing nations, including Africa.
The Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Security Council, Ambassador R Ravindra, made the remarks at the first meeting of plenary on the intergovernmental negotiations on the issue of “Equitable representation in the Security Council and the increase in the number of its members and other matters related to the Council.’
In his statement on the topic of “regional representation”, R Ravindra said it is clear that outdated systems that were created to meet the challenges of the past cannot be expected to address the multitude of challenges of “today’s dynamic and interdependent world “. .
“The Security Council must be more representative of developing countries, including those in Africa. A truly representative Security Council is the most pressing need of the moment. Otherwise, there is a real danger that the United Nations will be replaced by other plurilateral and multilateral groupings that are more representative, more transparent and more democratic and therefore more effective,” R Ravindra said at the UNGA meeting.
“The Security Council can provide effective solutions only if it gives a voice to the voiceless instead of jealously protecting the status quo of the powerful,” he added.
R Ravindra said that the Inter-Governmental Negotiation (IGN) approach needs a “comprehensive review”, according to the statement issued by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. He stressed that an intergovernmental negotiation should become a regular negotiation process focused on discussing a single text with attributed positions and higher levels of transparency, which will make the process “more inclusive.”
“We strongly believe that our approach to the IGN process needs a comprehensive review. IGN must become, before it is too late, a regular negotiation process within the General Assembly, focused on the discussion of a single text with clearly attributed positions, and with higher levels of transparency and documentation, making it a more inclusive process,” R Ravindra said in a statement.
R Ravindra emphasized that they have been meeting in an informal format for 15 years. She said that they do not have a zero draft that consolidates the attributed positions of the stakeholders to discuss. Ravindra said that they do not have a single factual record of the IGN proceedings, according to the statement issued by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
In his statement, R Ravindra said that India will engage directly with the relevant section of the Co-Chairs’ Revised Elements Document of 16 May 2022 and will issue a statement on the text as G4. He said that India believes that there is no need to have a lengthy introduction to the document and that a factual account of the IGN meetings should be presented as a separate document.
“It is important to include attributions of positions in all parts of the document, as in any normal UN process. The fact that some sections of the members do not want their positions to be clearly stated, should not impede the right of others to have their views duly reflected and attributed. The attribution of positions contributes to the promotion of convergences”, said R Ravindra.
“The line between convergence and divergence throughout the document should eventually be removed. The language used in all items grouped under “divergence” already makes it clear that those topics require further discussion. Furthermore, the inclusion of attributions would also make it clear that different there are positions on the table on a particular issue,” he added.