In a bold push, India and the other three G-4 nations have submitted their draft framework resolution to expand the UN Security Council and plan to request a General Assembly debate and vote on the subject as early as next week.
On Wednesday, the representatives of India, Japan, Germany and Brazil presented the draft to the UN Secretariat, undeterred by the strong opposition from the US and China to their plan.
The first of three resolutions that they propose to move on the contentious issue requires a two-thirds approval by the 191-member General Assembly for adoption.
The draft seeks to raise the strength of the 15-member UNSC to 25 with the addition of six more permanent members and four more non-permanent members.
Consideration by the General Assembly will start after the draft is translated into UN's six official languages and distributed among the member-nations, possibly by Friday.
The G-4 move to press ahead comes close on the heels of the decision of the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) to support its expansion plan. However, the group is still in negotiation with the 53-member African Union (AU) to reconcile the marginal differences in respective positions.
The AU agrees with the G-4 draft on raising permanent membership by six, including two set apart for Africa. But in the non-permanent category, it favours five additional seats, with two of them for Africa, as opposed to G-4's plan of four new seats with one going to Africa.
{{/usCountry}}The AU agrees with the G-4 draft on raising permanent membership by six, including two set apart for Africa. But in the non-permanent category, it favours five additional seats, with two of them for Africa, as opposed to G-4's plan of four new seats with one going to Africa.
{{/usCountry}}Another difference to be sorted out relates to the veto issue. While G-4 has settled for freezing the veto question for 15 years, the AU says the new permanent members should also enjoy veto powers.
The draft submitted by G-4 is of an enabling nature and does not name any country for permanent
membership. Naming the aspirants will be the subject of the next resolution. The G-4 plan talks of the General Assembly electing the new permanent members through a secret ballot -- no later than 12 weeks after the adoption of the draft.
The draft is co-sponsored by 23 countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Afghanistan, Fiji, Bhutan, Greece, Ukraine, Kiribati, Palau, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, Portugal, Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Haiti, Nauru, the Maldives, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Latvia.
In contrast to the G-4 plan, the US is for a modest expansion of the UNSC with the addition of "two or so" new permanent members, including Japan and a developing country, and two or three new non-permanent members.
China, while rejecting the G-4 proposal, has talked of a consensus approach to resolve the issue. The other opponents include Pakistan, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Algeria and some other countries, who have put forth another alternative: retaining the present permanent membership, but raising the non-permanent seats from 10 to 20.