Making UNGA more effective can’t be divorced from UNSC reforms: India
Making the General Assembly more effective cannot be divorced from the wider context of the reform of the UN, including the Security Council, according to India.
President of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis on Wednesday acknowledged that the current “outdated structure” of the Security Council fails to reflect the current geopolitical realities and wished India succeed in its quest to become a permanent member of the Council.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Francis, who is on a five-day visit to India, said, ”The Security Council of the UN as it currently exists harks back to a period in world history that no longer exists. Since then, the world has changed radically,” remarked Francis, highlighting the council’s inability to make crucial decisions for international peace and security, often due to geopolitical influences leading to the use of the veto.”
He said the fact of the matter is that the Council has, in recent years, been progressively unable to take the decisions necessary in order to assist and support the strengthening of international peace and security largely for geopolitical reasons. The geopolitics, the global dynamics of the geopolitics, get imported into the Council, and that results invariably in the use of the veto by one or the other party, he added.
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On India’s inclusion in the UNSC, he said, “India is a mature, highly respected member of the United Nations. It is a leader in many ways. And I’m sure that that fact is not lost on the members of the General Assembly. So, I wish the government and the people of India every success in their quest to assume membership of the council on a permanent basis. Whether that occurs or not will be a matter for the members to determine.”
Mr Francis also lauded India’s outreach to Africa, particularly in regard to its facilitating the membership of the African Union in the G20. This demonstrates India’s leadership in the international arena. “But more than that demonstrates its long-standing commitment to assist and facilitate development in the third world, in the global South,” he added.
On terrorism, he said it’s a global phenomenon today, adding India has been a victim of the menace.
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