UNITED NATIONS, Sep 28 (APP): A ministerial meeting of the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) Group, held virtually on Monday, reaffirmed its commitment to reaching a “consensual solution” to the persisting divergent positions on reforming the stalled process to reform the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) aimed at making the 15-member body more effective.
“Strongly committed to reaching a consensual solution to this longstanding issue, UfC ministers reaffirmed that the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) remains the sole legitimate setting for discussion on Security Council reform, in full transparency and with the participation of all UN member states,” a press release issued after the meeting said.
The UfC group, which is led by Italy and Pakistan, opposes any additional permanent members on the Council, arguing that such a move will not make the Security Council more effective and also undermine the fundamental principle of democracy that is based on periodic elections. It advocates more non-permanent members on the Council.
The group was formed after India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, known as G-4, launched their bid for the permanent seats on the Security Council in 2005. Since then, they have shown no flexibility in their campaign for expanding the Council by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.
As a result, the IGN process aimed at restructuring the 15-member Council, which began in 2009, are deadlocked as the member states remain sharply divided.
The UfC ministers, which met on the sidelines of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, reiterated their readiness to engage in “good faith in constructive discussions” with all countries to reform the Council.
In a speech to the ministerial meeting via video-link, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to promote a comprehensive reform of the Council in order to make it a more democratic, representative, accountable, transparent and efficient body.
At the same time, the foreign minister rejected attempts by some countries to exploit the UN reform process for advancing their narrow national ambitions, including their “self-arrogated” claims to permanent seats on the Council — obviously referring to the G-4’s campaign.
Summing up the meeting, the G-4 press release said, “While profoundly impacted by the tragic Covid-19 pandemic that allowed only two meetings to take place (this year), the last Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on the reform of the Security Council confirmed the commitment of the membership to the reform process.
“At the same time, it showed the persistence of diverging views on key aspects of reform, such as the veto and the categories of membership.
“Strongly committed to reaching a consensual solution to this longstanding issue, UfC ministers reaffirmed that the IGN remains the sole legitimate setting for discussion on Security Council reform, in full transparency and with the participation of all UN member states.
“In this sense, UfC ministers reiterated the need and the urgency for the UN membership to agree on a reform model capable of making the future, expanded Security Council more democratic, accountable, representative, transparent and effective: a reformed Security Council whose increased legitimacy to the membership and to the public would nurture trust in the United Nations and strengthen multilateralism.
“UfC ministers therefore called upon all member states to continue to engage constructively in seeking a fair and equitable compromise solution that meets the collective interest of all 193 members of the UN, garnering the widest possible political support from the membership.
“Consistent with their approach, the UfC ministers agreed to continue working to support the aspirations of African countries for a more equitable representation of their Continent in a reformed Security Council, as well as the aspirations of other developing regions, of small states and SIDS.
“UfC ministers confirmed their opposition to enlarging the Security Council to new permanent members: an effective and democratic Security Council cannot be reformed by the addition of new members with exclusive national rights and unequal privileges.
“Encouraged by the growing understanding of their approach, the UfC ministers reaffirmed their full commitment to engage in good faith in constructive discussions with all the member states in order to achieve an effective UN reform to the benefit to the whole UN membership.”
Addressing the participants live from Islamabad, Foreign Minister Qureshi laid out a five-point proposal for advancing the UfC’s shared priorities for reforming the UN Security Council.
He stressed that in accordance with the decisions of the UN General Assembly, “we must continue the effort to promote a solution which enjoys the ‘widest possible political acceptance’ of all member states.”
The foreign minister also stated that the UfC’s position “is simple, logical and straightforward. It is the only practical solution to the reform of the Council.”