NEW YORK – Speaking in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) debate onSecurity Council reforms, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United NationsMaleeha Lodhi has once again warned against addition of more permanentseats in the Security Council saying it will have disastrous consequencesfor the Council.
In fact Pakistan has been consistent in its stance that reforms in the UNSCshould make this vital organ for peace and security more democratic,effective and responsive to the aspirations of the member states. And areformed UNSC should reflect interests of wider membership of the UN.Full-scale negotiations to restructure the Security Council kick started inthe General Assembly in February 2009 on five key areas: categories ofmembership, the question of veto, regional representation, size of anenlarged Council, and working methods of the body and its relationship withthe 193-member Assembly. Despite a general agreement on expanding theCouncil as part of the UN reform process, member states remain divided overthe details. Known as the ‘Group of Four’, India, Brazil, Germany and Japanhave shown no flexibility in their campaign for expanding the SecurityCouncil by ten seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanentmembers.
On the other hand, Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) groupmaintains that additional permanent members will not make the SecurityCouncil more effective. As a compromise, UfC has proposed a new category ofmembers — not permanent — with longer duration of terms and a possibilityto get re-elected once.
The fact of matter is that the US wanted India to be included in the UNSCwhile Pakistan’s stance is that New Delhi does not qualify to become a fullmember of the Council given its record of violations of UN resolutionsparticularly pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir. In fact this stance is basedon facts and ground realities and it has nothing to do with the animosity.In various meetings, Pakistan has taken the position that non-permanentmembers’ representation be increased and be given to several other regions,which would help democratise the UN.
In fact this is the way forward and as also pointed by Ambassador Lodhi inher remarks will ensure inclusiveness and transparency in the work of theCouncil and help counterbalance the issue of veto by strengthening thevoice of elected members. It is also time that Pakistan and Turkey alsoactively engage with the Gulf countries in order to secure duerepresentation and share for Muslim countries in the reformed UNSC.