close_game
close_game

G4 draft resolution not in haste: India

PTI | ByMayank Chhaya (IANS), United Nations
Jul 13, 2005 01:19 PM IST

It rather represents a broad consensus to change UNSC structure, says India.

India has said that the draft resolution tabled in the UN by India, Japan, Germany and Brazil - the G4 - has not been brought in haste but is one that represents a broad consensus to "change the structure of the Security Council".

HT Image
HT Image

"The critics of the resolution - and there are not many - have alleged that we have put up the proposal in haste, that we have not been inclusive in approach and that a decision on the matter should only be taken on the basis of consensus," India's Permanent Representative Nirupam Sen said.

He was making a statement in the General Assembly on the "Question of Equitable Representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters".

"The debate on Security Council reform has been taking place for over 12 years now, and the issues are widely known. These discussions have intensified over the past year.

"In the past six months, there has been a particularly intense process of consultations. The substance of the proposal has been discussed by G4 with every group and member state in the United Nations, both in New York and capitals," he said.

"Not only is the resolution the culmination of discussions that have taken place for well over a decade, but it is the consequence of a broad-based consultation process that takes on board the concerns and views of all," he said.

Sen said: "The G4 have introduced a historic resolution that seeks to reform the Security Council in such a manner and through such a process that would revitalise the General Assembly through praxis and not mere promises, through action and not through mere aspiration.

"The General Assembly cannot be revitalised through wishing and desiring this but through hard thought and harder exercise of will," he said. Sen said the G4 proposal "seeks to change the structure of the Security Council - a structure that is outdated and that has hitherto militated against the interests of the developing countries which constitute the majority of the member states of the organisation".

"Our critics wish to square the circle in traditional mathematics: they wish to increase UN Security Council efficiency and authority and improve its working methods but without breaking the charmed circle of the P-5.

"Efficiency is not an arithmetical or managerial concept; it is a function of optimal and just decisions; authority comes from wide acceptability of decisions perceived to be fair and just," he said in apparent reference to the so-called members of the Coffee Club, including Pakistan, which have opposed India's entry into the council.

"Our critics add that their reform model is better because it would be ratified by the P-5. Precisely for this reason it would be worse for the General Assembly. In a discussion with friends from the African Union a few weeks back, I quoted a 19th century thinker who favoured a 'radical reform, reform that is permitted by reason and not permitted by the police'.

"Our critics offer us a reform that is permitted by the police and not permitted by reason," he said.

On the question of differences between the G4 resolution and the one offered by the African Union (AU), Sen said, "Most astonishing of all is the complete reinterpretation of the African Union Summit. Not providing for one non- permanent seat makes the G4 proposal totally incompatible with AU positions.

"But denying both permanent seats to AU makes the Uniting for Consensus proposal fully compatible. The G4 is saying that the question of veto should be discussed after 15 years; the AU that it should be discussed now. Our critics however say that the AU is not interested in the veto but in something else. This is to reinterpret the Ezulwini consensus and the AU Summit document and claim to know what the AU wants better than the AU itself."

Get Current Updates on India News, Weather Today, Latest News at Hindustan Times.
See More
Get Current Updates on India News, Weather Today, Latest News at Hindustan Times.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On