High time to make UNSC more democratic, representative: Ban Ki-moon

United Nations, Sep 15 UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said it is "high time" for the reform of Security Council for making it more "democratic and representative" as he appealed the member states to pay heed to the rapidly changing and "deteriorating" security challenges in the world.

"When it comes to reform of the United Nations, particularly Security Council reform, I have been stating many times – I don't know how many times, repeatedly – that it is high time that the Security Council must be reformed and changed in a more democratic and representative way," Ban told reporters here yesterday at a press conference ahead of the high-level General Assembly session that starts next week.

He said while the UN member states will be responsible for the reform of the Security Council, it is unfortunate that they have not been able to reach much convergence on key issues.

"They have been meeting to negotiate this reform process for longer than two decades. Many proposals have been proposed, and they have been reviewed and discussed.

Unfortunately, not a single issue has been able to see any convergence of opinions among the Member States," he said.

The UN Secretary General noted that each country and group brings their own proposals which have not been able to get the support from others.

"So it's important that the member states should look at this issue – after a two-decades long consultation and negotiation process, it's high time to discuss this matter," Ban said.

"As I'm just about to leave my position, I'm urging that they should reflect the voices and aspirations of the Member States and the rapidly changing, deteriorating security challenges of the international community really make it imperative that the Security Council should be changed," he said.

Ban said that the global challenges pertaining to refugees and migrants, climate change, and the war in Syria will be the major topics that will likely figure prominently in this year's high-level week at the UN.

"This year's high-level week at the United Nations comes at a critical time," Ban said, previewing activities that will take place at the annual session, when international attention is focused on the work underway at UN.

World leaders are scheduled to address next week's general debate and other events that will take place during the high-level segment of the General Assembly's 71st session.

With the Secretary-General's second five-year term expiring on December 31, this will be Ban's last high-level week as the UN chief. Ban said he is pushing for the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change before the end of this year. The world's two largest emitters, China and the US, recently joined the accord.

"Now we need just 28 more countries, representing 16 per cent of global emissions, to cross the necessary threshold," he said, drawing attention to the September 21 special event at which countries can deposit their ratification instruments with the Secretary-General.

PTI