India sure contender for seat in expanded UNSC: IGN Chair Amb AlBanai

United Nations: If a decision is made on expanding the UN Security Council, “then surely” India will be a contender, Chair of Intergovernmental Negotiations on UNSC reforms on Thursday said.

“The goal of this reformed Council must be representative. Obviously, India is a main player on the world stage today. But it (UN) is a membership of 193 countries. The consideration is representative for everybody and the whole membership of the United Nations,” Ambassador Tareq AlBanai said at a press briefing here.

“So surely, if the decision is made that expansion of the Council goes to from anywhere from 21 to 27 members, then surely India will be a contender in that and will be subject to the decision of the wider membership,” AlBanai said in response to a question by PTI.

AlBanai, who is Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN, recalled that last year he and co-Chair Ambassador Alexander Marschik of Austria had visited India and had a conversation there “at the highest level” on the issue of UNSC reform.

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Updating on the progress made in the IGN process during the current 79th UNGA session, the ambassador said while the road to reform is “undeniably complex, we are taking steady and meaningful steps toward the path forward.”

He noted that aside from an increase in the number of elected members in 1965, the first iteration of the Security Council has lasted over 80 years. “Whatever formulation the reformed Council takes, it must be designed to endure for the next century, anchored in the principles of inclusivity, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, democracy and accountability.”

Responding to a question on how many members an expanded UNSC must have, he said there is no decision yet but the numbers being floated range between 21 and 27 member states.

To a question on text-based negotiations, AlBanai noted that India’s position has always been to move towards text-based negotiations as soon as possible. “Obviously, this process will lead us to text-based negotiations” as that is the “least complicated” part of this process.

“The most complicated part is to have consent on what that text contains, and then putting it on paper is not really going to be that difficult … Do we have consensus? Yes, we have consensus on many issues regarding the five clusters, many issues of convergence that we have been able to put together over all those many years. There are still some issues of contention, but we are working steadily and surely to make sure that we overcome those,” AlBanai said.

The five issues are categories of membership, question of the veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the Council, and relationship between the Council and the General Assembly.

AlBanai said he is “encouraged” by the momentum shown by the Member States in this session. “The spirit of reform requires both courage and creativity, and the active engagement of all delegations remains essential as we work to find consensus on core elements of Security Council reform.”

Earlier this week, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, P Harish, in a statement on behalf of the G4 nations of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India, told an IGN meeting that the existing UN architecture is from a different era, one that no longer exists and the current geopolitical realities warrant a review of this architecture.

Harish said Security Council membership needs to be increased from the current 15 to 25 or 26, with a reformed Council consisting of 11 permanent members and 14 or 15 non-permanent members.

At present, the powerful UN organ consists of five veto-wielding permanent members — China, France, Russia, UK and the US. The remaining 10 members are elected to sit at the horse-shoe table for two-year terms as non-permanent members. India last sat in the Council as a non-permanent member in 2021-22.

The G4 nations have also encouraged Member States to submit further model of reforms in order to facilitate text-based negotiations. “We invite the Chair to start text-based negotiations now, ideally by the end of the current IGN,” the group has said.

AlBanai and Marschik last February met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who in a post on X said he “appreciated their assessment of the ongoing discussions on UNSC reform. The international community hopes that under their stewardship the IGN process moves forward this year.”

After the meeting, Kuwait’s Permanent Mission had on X said that both sides discussed ongoing developments with regards to the reform process, and ways in which it could be further developed.

“The Co-Chairs thanked India’s Minister of External Affairs for the generous invitation, and commended India’s commitment to this vital process,” the Mission said.

AlBanai, however, said he could not tell whether the reform would take place by 2030 or any other year.

“I’m very positive about breaking down whatever barriers there are because people are understanding that we need something different and Member States are understanding that this is the recourse of the world community to tackle all issues, including peace and security, development and human rights.

“We are all working together to make this a better United Nations … Security Council reform process is a part and parcel of that,” he said.

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