Statement by H.E. Mr. Asoke Mukerji, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at the Informal Plenary Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on "Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Council" : " Cross Cutting Issues"

( 8 May 2014, Time: 1000 hrs, Venue: ECOSOC )

Mr. Chairman,

1. Thank you for giving me the floor. Before addressing the cross cutting issues, I would like to convey my country s deep condolences through you, Mr. Chairman, to the heroic and proud people of Afghanistan on the recent disaster caused by landslides in Afghanistan. India has committed assistance for Afghanistan s relief and rehabilitation efforts to overcome this tragedy.  

2. I would first like to align my position with the statements delivered by the distinguished PR of St. Lucia on behalf of the L.69 Group of Developing Countries, as well as the statement delivered by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Germany on behalf of the G4. I also fully endorse the proposals offered by my distinguished colleague, the PR of Guyana, who spoke on behalf of CARICOM.

3. Mr. Chair, this meeting comes at a very critical stage of the IGN. All five clusters as enunciated in UNGA Decision 62/557, have been discussed, debated and examined from all possible angles in the last five meetings. Indeed, these discussions have duplicated our exercise conducted under your Chairmanship over the past six years, and only a few new perspectives have emerged from this duplication. However, in a spirit of constructive cooperation, my delegation would like to use this prolonged exercise to suggest what could be the way forward for all of us, implementing the unanimous mandate given by our leaders at the 60th anniversary Summit of the United Nations in 2005 for early reforms   of the Security Council.

4. One over-riding view, that of the majority of participants in these inter-governmental negotiations, is that the requirement to reform the Council to make it more effective and representative cannot be delayed any longer. During these past months, even as we have engaged in making statements at each other, the Security Council has been paralyzed by its inherent flaws. The result of this paralysis is visible. The failure of the Security Council to respond to eruptions of crises, and create sustainable frameworks of political stability, whether on the continent of Africa, or in Asia and in Europe, has been starkly documented for the wider public.  This failure has already extracted a huge human and material cost, which the United Nations can ill afford at a time our organization is poised to articulate the blueprint for the post-2015 Development Agenda for the World. At stake is the relevance of the United Nations to embark upon such an ambitious exercise when it has not been able to set its house in order by reforming its primary organ responsible for maintaining international peace and security.

5. In this overall context, we propose that you, Mr. Chairman, build on the convergences, to carry these negotiations forward.   We call upon you to faithfully reflect these in the summary or assessment or report or views you will circulate after this meeting, so that we can build on these takeaways for concretizing the outcomes for adoption by the 70th Anniversary Summit of the United Nations in 2015.

6. First, we have all agreed that the Council should be reformed "early" to reflect the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. What we differ on, and very clearly the difference here is coming only from a small group of member states, is on categories of membership. You have heard the majority of member states participating in these negotiation express themselves in favour of expansion in both categories of membership. Any member state, which is willing to take on the responsibilities of permanent and non-permanent membership, and secures 2/3rds vote in an election on the floor of the GA, would be duly and equitably elected on the basis of the UN Charter to occupy the additional seats in these two categories of the Council.  This assessment is based on the overwhelming majority of views expressed in these five meetings, and grounded in the UN Charter s provisions.

7. Second, all of us would like this process to be concluded within a time frame. This is both because of the mandate for early reforms   given unanimously by all our leaders in 2005, as well as because of the desire of many leaders at the UNGA High Level meeting in September 2013 calling for results of our process by 2015. No leader, as far as we know, has broken the Summit ‘level consensus of 2005 by asking for any review of the commitment to early reforms   of the Security Council.

8. Third, and again something that came out very clearly in this round, was that none of the delegations opposed the size of the expanded Council, consisting of permanent and non-permanent members, as being in the mid 20's. This is also a positive take away, and needs to be built upon. 

9. Fourth, there is convergence on the need to improve the working methods of the Council and the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly.

10. So, Mr. Chairman, there is broad convergence on different aspects of our mandate as outlined in GA Decision 62/557. How do we move then forward? After the receipt of your summary or assessment or report, we would like the remaining months of this 68th Session of the General Assembly to work on text-based negotiations to propose a Resolution by the General Assembly in 2015 on early reforms   of the Security Council. Our proposal reflects the only procedure so far, followed in 1963 to expand the Council. A Resolution was tabled then, discussed in the GA and voted upon. It was adopted by a vote of 97 to 11, with four abstentions. There was opposition from permanent members then, and yet the Council was reformed as the overwhelming majority in favour of reform prevailed on even the permanent members to ratify the enlargement of the Council.  Developing countries can take heart from this precedent, since it was the solidarity of developing countries that enabled that Resolution to be adopted in 1963. We also refer to this precedent to establish that on the subject of Security Council reform, there should be no expectation for complete and unanimous consensus on the proposals.

11. In this context, the proposition by one group that 1/10th of the GA membership should prevail over a proposition backed by 2/3rds of the GA membership is not realistic. Such a veto   by a minority in the GA is in fact against the existing provisions of the Charter, which provides for 2/3rds majority to determine Council reform.

12. This brings me to our final submission for today, which is to request that this round of Inter Governmental Negotiations must be continued for the remaining four months of the 68th GA Session to enable member states to take this process forward. This meeting should  not be the last for this round of the IGN in the 68th GA. We need to continue our work, preparing to  report to our leaders when they meet for the 70th Anniversary Summit of the United Nations next year. We are confident that you will facilitate this process in consultation with the distinguished President of the General Assembly, who has given you the mandate to chair these negotiations.

13. The Indian delegation assures you of our steadfast commitment to work with you, and all like minded delegations, in ensuring that our collective and seemingly distant dream of reforming the Council becomes a reality sooner than later.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.