India on Thursday called for reforms of the UN Security Council even as it regretted that the global discourse about combating terrorism…
External Affairs Sushma Swaraj (Photo: AFP)
India on Thursday called for reforms of the UN Security Council even as it regretted that the global discourse about combating terrorism had not been matched by actions of the international community.
Addressing the 18th ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at Baku in Azerbaijan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj recalled that at the last UN General Assembly high level segment, a strong desire was voiced by the international community for change and reforms at the UN. ‘’No effort to reform the UN will be complete without reforms of the Security Council,’’ she added.
The Indian minister said the Inter-Governmental Negotiation process at the UN had been to date carefully nurtured into a credible collective process for negotiation on this important subject. “The time has come to move to the next phase and commence text- based negotiations – a demand made by an overwhelming majority of UN members, including most NAM members,” she said.
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On terrorism, she said it was one of the foremost threats to international peace and security. ‘’It (terrorism) maims and kills our citizens and undermines our ability to attain our development goals.‘’
Swaraj said the strengthening and implementation, without double standards, of existing international laws and mechanisms to fight the menace of terrorism was an imperative.
‘’The challenges we face today such as nuclear escalation, armed conflict, refugee flows, terrorism, poverty and worsening environmental degradation – all require more effective multilateralism,’’ she added.
The fundamental values and principles on which the NAM was based were, therefore, even more relevant today, she told the ministers or senior representatives from more than 100 countries attending the meeting.
She said NAM had been a votary of universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament and of pursuit of that goal through multilateralism, adding that India remained committed to the shared goal of the global elimination of nuclear weapons.
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