India calls for major role of UNGA

Calling for a major role of the General Assembly in the election of the Secretary-General, India has questioned the current system in which the Security Council decides on a name for the top UN post and the 192-member Assembly rubber stamps the decision.

Calling for a major role of the General Assembly in the election of the Secretary-General, India has questioned the current system in which the Security Council decides on a name for the top UN post and the 192-member Assembly rubber stamps the decision.

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"Obviously, visibility and outreach of the General Assembly are important too," India's UN Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri told the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the UN General Assembly.

"While concrete proposals in this regard should be considered, we believe that real visibility of the General Assembly can only be generated if the Assembly takes important decisions or contributes meaningfully to important decisions," he said.

India's considered view, he said, is that role of the General Assembly as the chief deliberative, legislative, policy-making and representative body of the international community needs to be strengthened.

In this context a critical issue is the appointment of the Secretary-General, Puri said.

Stating that the mandate for the appointment of the UN Secretary-General flows from Article 97 of the UN Charter, he said this inter alia states that the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.