‘UNSC not truly representative of contemporary world’: Indian envoy

India’s permanent representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti on Wednesday briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the maintenance of international peace and security.

Highlighting that the UN charter is prescribed a “trigger mechanism for collective action” by the UN Security Council, Tirumurti said, “Action by the UNSC is not the first step, but the last, after exhausting all options.”

He said the principle of non-intrusion into domestic affairs of member states is a key aspect of the UNSC. “The challenge is to balance these important articles of faith when initiating action by the (UN Security) Council,” the Indian envoy said.

Tirumurti spoke on the constraints of the UNSC and the “structural inequality” in the security grouping.

“We have seen and continue to witness the distressing consequences of intervention made without allowing for mediation efforts, especially regional mediation efforts. We, therefore, need to draw the right lessons from history and calls for preventive diplomacy should be seen in these contexts,” Tirumurti said during this address.

The Indian diplomat highlighted that some of the member nations have, in recent years, made efforts to bring thematic issues to be taken up by the UNSC by projecting them as peace and security issues. “While some of them are extremely important and timely, like, for example, the women, peace and security agenda, we should be equally careful that instead of reforming the other UN organs, we are arrogating to ourselves some of the responsibilities of the other organs.”

Tirumurti remarked that much of the problems relating to Security Council decisions stem from an “important factor” that the group is not truly representative of the contemporary world.

The Indian diplomat quoted an excerpt from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly last year, to highlight that “reforms in the responses, in the processes, and in the character of the United Nations is the need of the hour.”

“The world today is significantly different from 1945, and if the member states have to truly believe in the impartiality of the Security Council, it must make decisions based on certain impartial yardsticks,” Tirumurti said.

Stressing that the UNSC has to be “representative of current realities to be credible, legitimate and effective”, Tirumurti said, “Consequently, when considering preventive diplomacy, either suo motu or through the recommendation of the Secretary-General, the member states have to be convinced that the decision taken by the Council is impartial and carefully considered, and is not just a political tool. Only then will preventive diplomacy be effective and even acceptable by all member states.”

Tirumurti said that the United Nations has several principal organs which clearly defines roles and functions, and the issues of social and economic significance must be discussed primarily at the General Assembly, and not at the Security Council. “We need to reform the other organs to make them more effective and promote cooperative functionalism between the principal organs of the UN,” he added.

Tirumurti further said that the tendency to burden the UNSC with an increasing number of global challenges premised on their “perceived connection with a threat to peace and security” will be self-defeating.

The top diplomat highlighted that the world continues to be confronted with peace and security challenges exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. He stressed that contemporary security challenges are not limited to territorial or political disputes but transcend physical or political boundaries. “To address new and emerging challenges we need coordinated and concerted actions across borders. In this regard, strengthening partnerships and enhancing linkages between the UN and regional organisations is absolutely critical,” Tirumurti said.

Speaking in favour of including regional blocs in the decision-making process of the Security Council, Tirumurti said, “With their deep knowledge of local factors and complexities, regional and sub-regional organisations and uniquely placed to contribute to finding better solutions to conflicts in their respective regions.”

He said there are instances where the UNSC’s decisions are at variance with how regional groups decide.

Tirumurti also briefed the UNSC on the security challenges in the region and how they are affecting the world. “The continuing acts of terrorism and expansion of terrorist groups pose serious challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security,” he said.

He reminded the UNSC of Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar’s “eight principles of counter-terrorism,” and said that UNSC needs to have zero tolerance to non-state terror actors and their sponsors. “Equally important is to the end the stalemate and expeditiously adopt a comprehensive convention on international terrorism,” Tirumurti added.