America
UN Security Council reform effort gets broad backing; China, Pakistan oppose move
By
Arul Louis United Nations, March 27
The top diplomat
heading the efforts for Security Council reforms has unveiled a
framework document to pave the way for text-based negotiations amid
broad support for his effort to spur the long-stalled process and
vehement opposition from China and Pakistan.
Jamaica's Permanent Representative Ambassador Courtenay Rattray, who is the
chair
of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council Reform,
presented the framework document at a closed informal meeting of the
General Assembly Thursday and asked member nations to share their views
on it so he can produce a negotiating text based on their inputs.
According
to sources familiar with Thursday's proceedings, a broad spectrum of
nations as diverse as Security Council permanent members Britain and
France and the 42-member pro-reform group known as L69 said they would
go along with the process leading to text-based negotiations. The United
States also supported the text-based process while opposing a timeline.
Welcoming Rattray's initiative, India's Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar
Mukerji,
told the meeting, "For many developing countries, it is simply
untenable that out of 137 developing country members of the United
Nations, only one has so far been accommodated as a permanent member of
the Council."
He added, "We need to urgently broaden the Council
to make it more representative, more effective and more democratic,
reflecting the diversity of our United Nations."
India, which is
heavily invested in the reform process, is widely regarded as a
front-runner for a permanent seat on an expanded Security Council. Along
with Brazil, Germany and Japan, India constitutes the group G4, whose
members mutually support each other's candidacy for permanent Security
Council seats and lobby for reform.
A negotiating text is basic
to conducting discussions on Security Council reforms but in a bizarre
diplomatic drama the very task of producing one has been held hostage
for over a decade by nations opposing the trend towards Security Council
expansion. They claim that there has to be a consensus before a
negotiating text can be drawn up, even though in practical terms there
can't be discussions to reach a consensus without a document setting out
what is being negotiated.
General Assembly President Sam Kutesa
and Rattray, whom he appointed as the chair of the IGN, have been trying
to break this impasse. Kutesa called on all the member states to
support Rattray's efforts and move towards text-based negotiations.
Besides
L69, Rattray received the backing of the 52-member Small Island
Developing States group that includes Singapore and the 15-member
Caribbean Community, CARICOM.
China led the charge against
Rattray's push for text-based negotiations. The sources said that
China's Permanent Representative Liu Jieyi expressed strong opposition
to the effort to move the negotiations forward with a negotiating text
and said that Beijing had reservations against the IGN chair.
China
was backed by Pakistan and Italy, which are members of the 13-member
Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group. They reiterated their position that
there should be a consensus first and opposed any timeline for the
reform process.
Russia took an ambivalent stance saying it was
willing to engage in the move to text-based negotiations although it did
not think it was appropriate right now because of the differences among
the members.
Mukerji told the meeting that there was nothing
controversial about pressing ahead with the reform process because all
the world leaders at the 2005 UN 60th anniversary summit had unanimously
agreed on early Security Council reform.
Speaking on behalf of
G4, Japan's Permanent Representative Motohide Yoshikawa said the 70th
anniversary summit in September would be the occasion to carry out the
reform of the Security Council and urged Rattray to keep this occasion
in mind as he pushes ahead with the reform process.
India's
candidacy for a permanent seat in the Council is backed by four of the
five permanent members, Britain, France, Russia and the United States.
China, which has not backed India, softened its position by agreeing in a
joint communique with Russia and India in February that it supported
New Delhi's "aspiration to play a greater role in the United Nations."
When
it was founded in 1945 with 51 members, the veto-wielding permanent
Security Council seats came as spoils of war to the victors of World War
II, Britain, China, France, Russia and the US. There were in addition
six elected non-permanent members. In 1965, the number of non-permanent
members was raised to 10. There have been no changes even though UN's
membership has risen to 193.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected])