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Security Council reform with permanent seat for India is 'urgent', says France
By
By Arul Louis
United Nations, May 6 To bolster the legitimacy of the UN in a changed
world, it is "vital" and "urgent" to expand the Security
Council's permanent membership to include India, France has declared.
France's Permanent Representative Francois Delattre said Tuesday, "France
favors enlarging the Security Council's both categories of membership,
permanent and non-permanent, and supports Germany and Japan, which deserve
relief (from the burden of their World War II roles) today, but also India,
Brazil and African representation."
His ringing endorsement of permanent membership for India came in his speech in
French at a session of the General Assembly commemorating the 70th anniversary
of World War II.
As a permanent member of the Security Council, France's support for India - and
for Brazil, Germany and Japan - is crucial as the long stymied reform efforts
gain new momentum during the current General Assembly session ahead of the
celebrations of the 70th anniversary of UN's founding in September.
India, Brazil, Germany and Japan form a group at the UN called G-4, which is
committed to lobbying for Security Council reforms and supporting each other
for added permanent seats. While four of the five Security Council permanent
members, France, Britain, Russia and the United States, have at other forums
supported India's bid for a permanent seat, this was probably the first direct
endorsement of New Delhi by a permanent member at a General Assembly meeting.
Stressing the need for Security Council reform, Delattre said a lesson learnt
from World War II was that "our capacity for action is related to the
legitimacy of our institutions." Therefore, "the reform of the
Security Council in this respect is more than important, it is urgent, I would
say even vital," he said.
"It is a fact that deserves to be repeated: 70 years after the creation of
the United Nations, our world in 2015 does not have much in common with that of
1945," he added. "The United Nations must adapt and reform to reflect
the world we live in today."
India's Deputy Permanent Representative Bhagwant S. Bishnoi said, "As we
commemorate the end of the Second World War, we also need to take stock of the
health of the institutions of global governance that were established in its
wake."
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in his speech to the General Assembly Monday
"noted that most of the fundamental structures created after World War II
by the victorious powers remain unchanged," Bishnoi said. Only two
sovereign African countries existed when the UN was created and the world body
has failed to keep pace with the changes.
"This meeting, therefore, also presents a useful opportunity to underline
the need to address what President Museveni referred to as 'the structural
deficiency in the architecture for global security,'" Bishnoi added.