Lack of adequate geographic representation hobbling UNSC: India

United Nations: The lack of adequate geographic representation in the Security Council is responsible for its failures, and giving Africa permanent membership will be essential to make the highest decision-making body effective, R. Ravindra, charge d’affaires of India’s UN mission has said.

Speaking on behalf of the G-4, the group of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, on Monday at an open debate of the Council on reforming itself, he said, “A primary reason for the underperformance of this critical institution remains the non-representation of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and the under-representation of Asia-Pacific in the permanent category”.

“We are convinced that African representation in both permanent and non-permanent categories will be an indispensable part of UNSC reform for a more representative and effective Council,” he said.

The meeting of the Council was convened by Sierra Leone, which holds the rotating presidency, to push Africa’s case for reforming the Council to give the continent better representation.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio said, “Despite being home to over 1.3 billion people, and the 54 African countries making up 28 per cent of the total membership of the UN,” Africa continues to suffer from the historic injustice of being deprived of permanent seats at the Council.

“Nearly 80 years after its creation, the Council has been stuck in time” — 1945 when the UN was created while most of Africa was under the colonial yoke perpetuating the injustice, he said.

“Africa demands two permanent seats in the UN Security Council and two additional non-permanent seats” to the existing three, he said.

Ravindra said, “We as G-4 continue to support fully these legitimate demands and aspirations from the people of Africa” and its relationship with the continent “ is anchored in trust and mutual respect and is focused on ensuring that Africa finds its rightful place in a new age of reformed multilateralism”.

“It is also inconceivable that Africa which constitutes over 70 per cent of the UNSC’s agenda items under discussions, does not get a permanent voice at the horse-shoe table” at the Council chamber, he said.

Ravindra said the Inter-governmental Negotiations (IGN) for Council reforms should expedite text-based negotiations so that it can proceed with the reform process in time for the 80th anniversary of the UN next year.

He said that at the summit of G-20 last year under India’s leadership, Africa was given membership in the group of the major industrialised and emerging economies, which was also noted by Bio.

Bio said that Africa’s claim should be treated as a “special case” and given priority in reforming the Council in time for the 80th anniversary next year.

Many speakers at the meeting also emphasised Africa’s case for special expedited treatment in the reform process mired for decades by opposition by a small group of countries that call themselves Uniting for Consensus (UfC) hoping to detach the continent from the controversies involving other countries.

India, its G4 partners that work together to expand the Council, and other countries have counted on Africa’s case for reform to break the stalemate.

But the calls for treating Africa as a “special case” ahead of the Summit of the Future in September and the UN’s 80th anniversary next year seek to make the reform a piecemeal effort — if it happens at all.

Marco Romiti, a Minister Counsellor in the UN Mission of Italy which heads the UfC, spoke out against adding more permanent members.

Munir Akram, the permanent representative of Pakistan, which is also a member of UfC, opposed expanding permanent membership but said that Africa can be considered a special case and be given long-term seats in the Council.

But he, too, was firm against adding permanent members.

Bio was asked outside the Council chamber at his meeting with the media how he hoped to overcome the UfC opposition.

He said Africa has a very compelling case and that is what we are pushing for.

“We don’t consider the opposition,” he said. “We have a genuine case and that is what we are pushing. We know that there are others … it is a total reform, but we are talking for Africa”.

He said he was confident that it was only a matter of time before Africa got its due.

“The gatekeepers will find it difficult to let us in, but as you can see, there is already willingness and as you can see we are gradually inching towards the next steps in order to be able to reach our goal,” he said.

Akram took a dig at India and the G4 saying, “Africa is critically different from the demand of four states for permanent membership for themselves”.

China’s Permanent Representative Fu Cong also threw in criticism against India and the G4, saying that there were “a few countries and interest groups who pursue their own selfish and small-circle interests when it comes to Council reform”.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the “cracks” in the Council’s “foundation are becoming too large to ignore”.

“They are contributing to deadlock, stalemate and stagnation around today’s most pressing crises and they are feeding a broader crisis of credibility and legitimacy that is affecting multilateralism itself,” he said.

“We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people — a young and rapidly growing population — making up 28 per cent of the membership of the United Nations,” he said.

IANS