India calls for urgent reform in UNSC

United Nations, Oct 24: India said the prevailing architecture of the UN Security Council has proved to be grossly inadequate in effectively dealing with current challenges such as the conflicts in the Middle East and the rise of ISIS as it called for urgent reform of the UN body.

"The prevailing architecture of the UN particularly the Security Council has proved to be grossly inadequate in effectively dealing with these challenges. Clearly, we cannot continue to do what we have been doing in the past," visiting Member of Parliament from India Mansukh Mandaviya said at the commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of signing of the UN Charter here yesterday.

He said there is an urgent need to comprehensively reform the principal organ of the UN responsible for peace and security to reflect contemporary geo-political realities.

With the UN General Assembly adopting a negotiating text on UNSC reforms, he said member states finally have a text to negotiate.

"This is a huge step forward - but still only the first step. We should aim to conclude these negotiations during the 70th Session of the UNGA," he said.

He said while in the last seven decades, the UN has supported resolution of numerous disputes and conflicts through peaceful means, yet the record of 70 years is replete with instances when the UN and its principal organ responsible for maintenance of peace and security – the Security Council – remained a bystander to conflicts, either unable or unwilling to take any action.

"The conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and the rise of ISIS have resulted in a refugee crisis of a level not seen since the Second World War. The state of extreme economic deprivation in some parts of the world has compounded this problem," he said.

Citing the problem of terrorism, he said the menace has acquired global dimensions but the international community has been unable to come up with a global response.

"New threats to international security have emerged in the form of cyber crimes, pandemics, propagation of extremist ideologies and rising intolerance," he said.

Noting that UN peacekeeping operations require steadfast commitment to the cardinal principles of peacekeeping, he said troop contributing countries should be given a greater say in the decision making process.

PTI