Indian Ambassador Nirupama Sen likened the Security Council's failure in West Asia to Emperor Nero, who was fiddling while Rome was burning.
UNITED NATIONS: India has lambasted the 15-member Security Council for failing to meet its obligations of maintaining international peace and security, saying it is the result of its "un-representative" character and consequent lack of political will.
In a sharp criticism of the Council's inaction as the "tragic events" unfolded in Lebanon recently and the West Asian peace process was derailed, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Sen likened the Council to Emperor Nero who was fiddling while Rome was burning.
"The main problem that beset peacekeeping are not lack of resources or even personnel, but an un-representative Security Council which lacks the political will to act and when it does, does so in a manner that is entirely inadequate," he told the United Nations General Assembly.
Asking the Council members to shore up their participation in the peacekeeping operations, Sen said it is a "distressing reflection" on their willingness to share the burden of maintaining international peace and security when overwhelming number of troops in the peacekeeping operations are contributed by the developing nations.
Stressing that reform of the United Nations, which the major power are demanding, would be incomplete without the expansion of the 15-member Council, he said it needs to be made more representative and effective if it is to satisfactorily perform the role mandated to it by the Charter.
It is imperative, Sen said, that any expansion and restructuring of the Council must include developing countries in both permanent and non permanent categories.
Pointing out that developing countries remain "grossly under-represented" in the Council even though most of its decision affect them, Sen said the voice of developing nations and their empowerment in the international arena is vital for levelling the "so called playing fields."
"We are committed to undertake intensive consultations with other developing countries in the spirit of solidarity and to embark on South-initiative for reform of the organization in a manner that is reflective of the aspirations of the developing countries and that ensures that the reformed structures are responsive to their needs," he emphasized.
Criticizing the permanent five members (P-5) of the Council for hindering real reforms, Sen said, "What some of the P-5 suffer from -- a virtue they share with the Russian Tsars, the French Bourbons and the English Stuarts -- is a reification of the present - an unwillingness to accept that institutions can be different."
The P-5 includes the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China who have veto power. —PTI
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