Statement by Hon'ble Speaker of Lok Sabha Smt Sumitra Mahajan, at the Second meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments held in New York,
18 November 2014

Session on: Key challenges to world peace and democracy

Mr Chairman,

We welcome the briefing provided by the Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein on the work of the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group. We applaud the work of the Group insofar as it aims for a more legitimate Council.

The Security Council is, undoubtedly, one of the most important institutions of global governance. It its legitimacy is in doubt, then so would be the legitimacy of the United Nations. And, in fact, of the notion of global governance itself.

The UN Security Council owes its composition to the structure that was set up in 1945.

Is that composition still representative of the international community? The United Nations then had 51 members. The figure now is 193.

The UN then had three African members, including apartheid South Africa. Today it has 54. How many permanent members of the Security Council are from Africa?

We would be interested in knowing what the ACT Group has done, and what it proposes to do to bring more legitimacy to the the permanent membership of the Council. While improvement in working methods, or a code of conduct on use of the veto, are important, can they substitute for reform of the composition? Can improvement in working methods legitimize a structure that is not legitimate? To say that is anachronistic is only an understatement.

We obviously do not attention to be diverted away from the substance to what is peripheral.

We also take this opportunity to recall that, on the occasion of the 65th Anniversary of the United Nations, world leaders had committed themselves to the early reform of the Security Council. When would early be?

The groundwork of the 2005 Summit had been prepared by the Secretary General through his report In Larger Freedom'.

Secretary General Kofi Annan had, in his path-breaking report, called for the establishment of a Peace Building Commission. He had called on member states to embrace the principle of Responsibility to Protect. He had called for the establishment of a Democracy Fund and a Human Rights Council.

The Secretary General is very important. He is, after all, one of the principal organs of the United Nations.

We are happy that the Deputy Secretary General is with us today.

We would like him to inform us of the contribution that the Secretary General intends to make for the 70th Anniversary Summit of the United Nations. We are aware that he will present a synthesis report on the post 2015 Development Agenda. This will be important. But, will the Secretary General also pronounce himself on the other two pillars of the United Nations also? Will he provide some basis for leaders to take stock of the challenges facing the world in matters relating to peace & security and human rights and to consider ways of addressing them? We will all benefit from the reply that we receive from the Deputy Secretary General.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.