India Calls For More Permanent Seats On UN Security Council

NEW YORK- India has opposed proposals to expand the United Nations Security Council by adding only temporary members, saying such a move would fall short of meaningful reform.

Speaking at UN talks on Security Council reform, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador P. Harish, said real reform must include new permanent members and not just additional temporary seats.

“Groups and member states have waited this long for real and meaningful reform,” Harish said. “UNSC reform would be grossly inadequate, bordering on failure, if expansion is limited only to the non-permanent category.”

Harish argued that adding only temporary members would leave decision-making power in the hands of the Security Council’s five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

He also criticized efforts that have slowed progress on reform and urged UN member states to move negotiations forward with clear timelines and concrete proposals.

India has long campaigned for a permanent seat on the Security Council, arguing that the UN’s most powerful body should better reflect today’s global realities and give greater representation to developing countries. (IANS)