India ridicules mired UNSC reform as ‘theatre of the absurd’, calls for adoption of negotiating text

United Nations, Nov 19 (IANS) Ridiculing the nearly two decade-long futile negotiations to reform the Security Council as “theatre of the absurd”, India has called for a constructive approach that adopts a text to move the mired process forward.  

“In the 17 years since the IGN format was initiated, it has been reduced to a theater of the absurd”, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative Yojna Patel said on Tuesday, referring to the Intergovernmental Negotiations on reforming the Council.

“Member states are trapped in an endless cycle of statements and discussions that lead nowhere”, she said at a General Assembly meeting on Council reform.

To bring credibility to the reform process, “India reiterates its call for the early start of text-based negotiations with transparent milestones and timelines”, Patel said.

She called for “introspection and soul searching” to see why the reform has failed to make progress.

"Are we willing to honestly work for achieving tangible progress, or are we condemned, like Sisyphus, to be trapped in this endless cycle till eternity?” she asked.

Patel said that India hopes the newly appointed IGN co-chairs would be able to move the discussions to concrete outcomes during the current session.

Assembly President Annalena Baerbock has appointed Permanent Representatives Tareq M. A. M. AlBanai of Kuwait and Lise Gregoire-van Haaren of the Netherlands as the co-chairs of the IGN.

Progress at the IGN is blocked by a small group of countries that call themselves United for Consensus (UfC), which uses procedural maneuvers to block the adoption of a negotiating text that would outline the parameters of discussion and track progress, condemning the process to a Sisyphean fate, as Patel said.

The primary objective of the group led by Italy and comprising Pakistan is to prevent the addition of new permanent members to the Council.

“There have been calls for patience and for building consensus, but consensus, when wielded as a veto by another name, becomes a tool of obstruction, not inclusion”, Patel said.

She said that the Council should add permanent members to correct the historical injustices built into its structure, especially for African countries, and not just non-permanent members.

Patel criticised proposals to allocate seats for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members.

She said that while India supports the representation of small island developing states in a reformed Council, “similar claims by other cross-regional groups such as OIC are not comparable”.

“Faith cannot become the determining criteria for Council entitlement”, she said.

India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan form the G4, a group that together lobbies for expanding the permanent membership of the Council and mutually support themselves for the seats in a reformed Council.

Speaking on behalf of the G4, Brazil’s Permanent Representative Sergio Franca Danese said widespread assessment of the UN is that "it is ineffective and it faces major challenges”.

Therefore, he said, “Reform is not an option, but an imperative”.

“We must stop talking about talking and start negotiating”, he said.

--IANS

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