G4 in pitch to expand UNSC permanent membership

Decrying the “out of date” structure of the UN Security Council, G4 nations, including India, have said the problem of “imbalance of influence” in the council cannot be corrected if only non-permanent members are added to the powerful world body as part of its reform.

“We have heard some oft-repeated arguments that expansion in the permanent category would be undemocratic... In our view, expansion in both categories, particularly in the permanent category, is essential to reform the Security Council and makes it democratic, legitimate, representative, responsive and effective,” India’s permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said in a statement on behalf of the G4 group here on Monday.

Besides India, other G-4 nations are Brazil, Germany and Japan.

Mr Akbaruddin stressed that the Security Council’s present structure is not reflective of contemporary realities and “not fit for purpose”.

Expansion in only the non-permanent category will not solve the problem presented by a council whose structure and composition is “out of date” of the present-day realities and not representative of the major shifts in the geo-political and economic order, he said at the informal meeting of the General Assembly on intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform.

“We do believe that the problem lies in the imbalance of influence within the Security Council between the permanent and non-permanent members. Expanding only in the non-permanent category is not going to solve the problem.”

“It will actually widen the difference between permanent and non-permanent members even more, tilting further the scales in favour of a dispensation that was valid in the special situation in 1945, but is no longer now,” he said at the meeting.

Mr Akbaruddin said the decision-making process in the Council must be more participative and democratic and expansion in both categories is the “only way” to ensure an equitable distribution of influence and equilibrium that reflects the current situation.

Taking the opposite view, Pakistan’s UN envoy Maleeha Lodhi said more permanent members would diminish, not enhance, the council’s democratic credentials and effectiveness.

Italy’s envoy Sebastiano Cardi proposed establishing a new category of longer-term non-permanent seats with the possibility of an immediate re-election. He said focus should be on an increase in non-permanent members as they will foster a “new dynamic between elected and existing permanent members, contributing to decision-making”.