India has sought the expansion of the UN Security Council to reflect current realities, saying the world body cannot remain the cornerstone of i'tnl architecture.
UNITED NATIONS: India has sought the expansion of the UN Security Council to reflect current realities, saying the world body cannot remain the cornerstone of international architecture if it remains mired in the realities of 1940s.
"The international system cannot be reordered meaningfully without comprehensively reforming the United Nations" and any reform without expansion of the 15-member Council and revitalisation of the Assembly will be incomplete," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here.
Mukherjee's remarks to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday assume significance in the context of inter-governmental negotiations that are likely to begin shortly on the reforms of the world body.
India along with Japan, Germany and Brazil, known as Group of Four (G-4) are expected to give a new push to take the reform process forward during the current session of the Assembly. The four are strong contenders for permanent seats in an expanded Council.
Welcoming the statements at the ongoing high level segment of the Assembly session by US President George W Bush and other world leaders on the need for expansion of the Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories, Mukherjee said, "It is high time that we collectively brought these ideas to implementation."
Elements and ideas on the reform of the Council, Mukherjee said, have been discussed for well over a decade, through numerous reports and interminable consultations. "It is now time for inter-governmental negotiations to commence in order to make the Security Council more democratic, representative and responsive".
He said the expansion should be based on principles.
The principles, he said, are expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, greater representation for developing countries, including representation for developed countries that is reflective of contemporary world realities, and comprehensive improvement in the working methods of the Security Council, including ensuring greater access to island and small states.
Reform of the United Nations would also be incomplete, he said, without revitalization of the General Assembly. "The central goal of such revitalization must be the restoration and enhancement of the role and authority of the General Assembly, as originally envisaged in the Charter," he told the delegates.
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