Pact of the Future’ Promising to Reform the UNSC

General Studies Paper-2

Context: The United Nations’ General Assembly adopted the ‘Pact of the Future’, promising to “reform the  United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

About

• In the ‘Pact of the Future’, world leaders agreed to redress the historical injustice against Africa as a priority and improve the representation of the under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups including Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
• They also agreed to enlarge the Security Council to be more representative of the current United Nations membership and reflective of the realities of the contemporary world.

Key issues for Reform at UNSC

• Categories of membership,
• The question of the veto held by the five permanent members,
• Regional representation,
• The size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and
• The Security Council-General Assembly relationship.

Need for UN Reforms

• Non-representative Council membership: When the UN was founded in 1945, the Council consisted of 11 members out of 51 members of UN; around 22%.
• Today, there are 193 member-states of the UN, and only 15 members of the Council — fewer than 8%.
• More financial contribution of non permanent members: There are countries whose financial contributions to the UN outweigh those of four of the five permanent members.
• For example, Japan and Germany have for decades been the second and third largest contributors to the UN budget.
• Unable to discharge basic functions: The Security Council cannot discharge its basic function as one of the permanent members of the Security Council attacked its neighbour.
• Russia, a permanent member of the UN, has vetoed UNSC resolutions on Ukraine issues.
• Im-balance of Power: The composition of the Council also gives undue weightage to the balance of power of those days.
• Europe, accounting for 5% of the world’s population, controls 33% of the seats in any given year (and that does not count Russia, another European power).
• India’s contribution & representation: Opportunities are also denied to other states such as India, which by its sheer size of population, share of the world economy, or contributions to the UN have helped shape the evolution of world affairs in the seven decades since the organisation was born.

Challenges

• Lack of Political Will: Although there is a general agreement towards change in the system, different countries have different perceptions of the requirement for change.
• Coffee Club: Uniting for Consensus (UfC) or Coffee Club, is a movement that developed in the 1990s in opposition to the possible expansion of permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council.
• Under the leadership of Italy, it aims to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan).
• Chinese Opposition: China being a permanent member blocks the growth of India becoming a Permanent Member.

Concluding remarks

• India has long sought a permanent seat in the Security Council to better represent the interests of the developing world. The nation’s quest has gained momentum with support from the international community.
• The U.N. Secretary-General, in his remarks warned that the 15-nation United Nations Security Council, which he described as “outdated” and whose authority is eroding, will eventually lose all credibility unless its composition and working methods are reformed.