UNITED NATIONS – Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Wednesday told aministerial-level meeting of Uniting for Consenus, which opposes additionalpermanent members in a restructured UN Security Council (UNSC), thatPakistan supported a comprehensive reform of the 15-member body to make itmore democratic, representative, transparent and accountable.
“The Security Council reform can not become an instrument to further narrowself-serving interests of a few, who seek permanent seats at the expense ofthe wider UN membership,” he said at the annual meeting held to review thestalled reform process and to chart a progressive way forward.
Full-scale negotiations to restructure the Security Council began in theGeneral Assembly in February 2009. Despite a general agreement on enlargingthe Council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain sharplydivided over the details.
Known as the ‘Group of Four’ — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan have shownno flexibility in their campaign to expand the Security Council by 10seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.
On the other hand, the Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) groupsay that additional permanent members will not make the Security Councilmore effective and also undermine the fundamental principle of democracythat is based on periodic elections.
The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members —Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and 10 non-permanentmembers.
Foreign Minister Qureshi, in his remarks to the meeting held on thesidelines of the 73rd session of UN General Assembly, said given itsstrategic importance for member states, it was imperative that all viewsand perspectives must be taken on board.
“Bad reform is no reform; We don’t want to sign up for regression in thename of reform,” he added.
An inclusive and transparent process within the framework ofIntergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) was essential to that end, Qureshisaid. “Anything less would be counter-productive, for the membership knowsall too well that any divisive or non-consensual approaches with a view toartificially pace the process have only served to accentuate existingdifferences instead of bridging gaps in respective positions.”Taking note of the principled position of the UfC for a more representativeand democratic Security Council, he said only a solution that calibratedinterests of all member states – small, medium and large, would be able togarner the widest support of the membership. It had remained the loadstarof UfC’s active engagement with the reform process and would continue toguide it going forward.
Expressing satisfaction at the constructive role played by the UfC duringthe 72nd session of the General Assembly, the meeting undertook to broadenexisting efforts with a view to gain further traction and support.