UN REFORMS – INTERNATIONAL
News: Angry
with reform delays, India calls U.N. system ‘anachronistic’
What's in the news?
● The
long-simmering debate over UN reform — and particularly over the role of the Security Council, which
does not represent today’s world and which failed to prevent Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine — has suddenly become acute.
UN Charter:
● The
Charter was signed in San Francisco
on June 26, 1945 and came into force on October
24, 1945.
● It
is the foundational treaty of the United Nations.
Objectives:
● Conceived
above all as a means to save future generations from the scourge of war, the
Charter calls for the organization to
maintain international peace and security; promote social progress and better
standards of life; strengthen international law; and promote human rights.
● As
a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its
articles. Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United
Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations.
The four main goals of the UN include:
● Maintaining
international peace and security.
● Developing
friendly relations among nations.
● Achieving
international cooperation in solving
international problems.
● Being
at the center for harmonising the actions of nations in the attainment of these
common ends.
Issues:
● Veto powers:
The United Nations conferred disproportionate power on the five permanent,
veto-wielding members of the Security Council. This allows them to protect
their own interests while keeping a heavy hand in world affairs.
● The
veto power guarantees that permanent members can never be removed from the
Council, since the UN Charter’s Article 6 allows the General Assembly to
exclude a member only upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
● Lack of international
balance among Security Council members: no
African or Latin American country holds a permanent seat.
● The
General Assembly has always been
very much divided. Among the 193 countries, there are five negotiating groups
and they are neutralizing each other.
● The
functioning of the General Assembly is as important as the permanent members of
the UNSC in ensuring reform of the United Nations system.
● The
permanent members were “historically not enthusiastic” about reform of the UN
system but they have all agreed that it is necessary for introducing changes in
the Security Council.
Reforms suggested:
● Enlargement of the Security
Council: adding both permanent and non-permanent
members.
● The veto has to be a bit
more disciplined: The point of it should
not be “to block progress” but to “force the five permanent members to sit down
and arrive at a solution acceptable to all.”
● Limit the use of veto
in cases of “mass crimes”.
● Explanation:
Any nation casting a veto to explain it before the General Assembly.
India’s Role:
● India
as the current one of the non-permanent
members of the UNSC can start by drafting a resolution containing a
comprehensive set of proposals for reforming the UNSC.
● In
September 2022, India made a push for UNSC - a meeting of two separate
groupings – G-4 and L-69 in New York on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly.
● As
India leads the Global South, it
needs to revitalize its engagement with its traditional partners in the “global
south” by articulating their peace and security concerns in the UNSC.
Way Forward:
● The
Council must be made more representative
of developing countries to provide leadership to the entire world.
● Uphold global peace,
security, and order: To play a significant
and meaningful role, India needs to have a permanent seat at the institution
that was built to uphold global peace, security, and order.
● The
support from the five Nordic countries
and France indicates that these propositions are getting more and more
included in the world’s assessment of India.
● China
has also previously indicated that it may drop opposition to India joining the
UNSC as a permanent member if it calls off cooperation with Japan to get onto
the UN high table.
● India
must place high hopes in the potential of the non-permanent members in the
Council to play the role of constructive peace makers.