New Delhi: The G4 grouping comprising India, Japan, Germany, and Brazil on Wednesday voiced concern over the lack of “significant” progress on long-pending UN Security Council (UNSC) reform and called for “urgency” on the topic.
The foreign ministers of the G4 countries held a virtual meeting coinciding with the 75th session of the UN General Assembly during which they held a broad debate on the need for urgent reform of the UN Security Council.
A joint press release said the ministers stressed the urgency of reforming the UN and updating its main decision-making bodies, in order to better reflect contemporary realities.
“The G4 ministers expressed their disappointment at attempts to derail this process and pledged to address the issue in a meaningful way and with greater urgency on this 75th anniversary of the UN,” said the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, S Jaishankar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Ernesto Arajo, the Japanese Motegi Toshimitsu, and the Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Niels Annen.
“The G4 Ministers expressed concern about the lack of significant progress in the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform and expressed concern that, after two sessions in February and March, the IGN was suspended due to COVID-19 and no further meetings were held thereafter, ”according to the statement.
He said virtual meetings or a written process could have been held to allow for progress in the previous session.
The G4 countries reiterated their support for each other’s candidacies as candidates for new permanent members in a reformed UNSC.
“There is a clear need for a more prominent role for developing countries and major contributors to the United Nations to make the Council more legitimate, effective, and representative,” the G4 said in the statement.
“Africa must be represented in the categories of permanent and non-permanent members of a reformed and expanded Security Council to correct the historical injustice against this continent regarding its under-representation,” he added.
In a tweet, Jaishankar said there was a unanimous call for text-based negotiations within a fixed time frame for the reform of the UNSC.
“I participated in the # Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G4 that called for a decisive impulse for the reforms of the UNSC during # UN75. Unanimous call for text-based negotiations on a fixed term Reformed multilateralism guides India’s approach to the United Nations, ”he said.
Currently, the UNSC is made up of five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries who are elected for a two-year term by the UN General Assembly.
The five permanent members are Russia, the United Kingdom, China, France, and the United States, and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been a growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect contemporary global reality.
“What is needed is a representative UN Security Council to help us restore confidence in international cooperation and global governance, something urgent more than ever in these trying times,” the G4 said.
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