UK reiterates Support for India’s permanent membership at UNSC, calls for broader reforms

By R Anil Kumar

• United Kingdom (UK) reaffirmed support for India’s permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as part of a renewed push for reform to ensure the body is stronger and able to address the pressing challenges the world faces today

• UK Ambassador to the UN General Assembly Archie Young reflected upon UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Statement at the UNGA, back in September, calling for UNSC reforms to ensure the global multilateral system is more representative

New York, November 13. The United Kingdom (UK) reaffirmed Support for India’s permanent membership at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as part of a renewed push for reforms to ensure the body is stronger and able to address the pressing challenges the world faces today.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Plenary in New York, UK Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly, Archie Young reflected upon UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement at the UNGA back in September, calling for UNSC reforms to ensure the global multilateral system is more representative and more responsive.

UK PM Starmer had talked about acknowledging that India was in the forefront of their list of recommendation for a permanent seat in the UNSC.

Young in his statement said , UK believes that the reformed UNSC coupled with a collective renewed commitment to the UN Charter, would strengthen the Council, so it can continue to rise to the pressing challenges that the world is facing, and that is why we remain a strong Supporter of UNSC Reforms. The Council must be expanded, to better reflect the world today, Young, stressed.

UNSC REFORMS A NECESSITY: Reflecting on the 2023 Security Council Reforms agenda, Britain’s UN Representative to the General Assembly recalled the perilous and dangerous state of the world and the challenges it posed to the multilateral system.

A year later, the situation is even more acute and the need to strengthen our multilateral system through reform is ever more Pressing, Young remarked. The complexity and the interrelation of challenges that the world faces were recognised because at no other time in the history of the United Nations have countries been at war than at present.

The role of the UNSC- and its responsibility for international peace and Security-is as important as it has ever been, Young said underlining UNSC’s crucial role in addressing global Security concerns.

However, though recognising the challenges in achieving consensus in the model of UNSC reforms, Young underlined the need for continued dialogue. “It is our collective responsibility to strive together, in the spirit of compromise, to make the change that is required,” he said. “The UK stands firmly commited to that and looks forward to detailed and constructive discussions in the intergovernmental negotiations that we hope will be taking us closer to the text-based negotiations”, he stated.

INDIA’S ADVOCACY FOR UNSC REFORMS:

The UK’s intervention came as India’s permanent Representative to the United Nations Parvathaneni Harish also focussed his address at the Plenary session on urgent UNSC Reforms. He reminded delegates that overtime, reforming the Security Council had become more an urgent priority since it was last expanded in the non-permanent category in 1965.

As we begin this year’s deliberations, we recall that the Reform of the UNSC had once again been cited as one of the critical and immediate priorities in the Summit of the Future discussions by various leaders, Harish said and lamented that despite decades of calls for reforms, nothing fundamentally Changed.

A Shared Vision for Reform: UK, along with other reform advocates in India, still urges for all-inclusive and balanced Reform process that more accurately reflects the reality of the world in the 21st Century.

Although, agreeing for a reform model is a big challenge, the UK’s and other countries continued Support is a shared testament to making the UNSC a more effective and Representative body for the 21^st Century.