Shanghai Cooperation Organisation | The house of multilaterals
Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), meeting at the Bishkek Summit marking the organisation's 25th anniversary, adopted the Bishkek Declaration along with a set of accompanying documents covering security, counter-narcotics, artificial intelligence, and energy cooperation.
The declaration condemned military strikes on Iranian territory as a violation of international law and the UN Charter, reaffirmed support for Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a diplomatic resolution to the West Asia conflict, without naming specific countries in the condemnation.
Member states, including India, also called for a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian question and voiced opposition to unilateral sanctions outside UN Security Council mandates.
The summit reinforced the SCO's positioning as a multilateral platform for Eurasian security and economic cooperation distinct from Western-led institutions, ahead of further expansion of its cooperation documents on connectivity and counter-terrorism.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — Origins and Structure
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and security bloc that evolved from the "Shanghai Five" grouping (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) formed in 1996 to resolve border and security issues after the Soviet collapse. It was formally established as the SCO on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai with the admission of Uzbekistan as a sixth founding member.
The Bishkek Declaration's consensus-based condemnation of the Iran strikes — without singling out the US or Israel by name — illustrates how the SCO's consensus principle moderates its collective statements even on contentious geopolitical issues, since every full member (including India) must be able to sign on.
UN Charter Article 2(4) and Article 51 — The Legal Framework Invoked
Declarations condemning military strikes on a sovereign state typically invoke the UN Charter's foundational rules on the use of force: Article 2(4), which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, and Article 51, which carves out the sole express exception for individual or collective self-defence against an armed attack.
Key Details
- Article 2(4) is widely regarded by the International Court of Justice as the "cornerstone" of the UN Charter and a rule of customary international law binding even beyond treaty membership.
- Article 51 self-defence is available only "if an armed attack occurs" and only "until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security" — a temporally and substantively limited exception.
- Any use of force claimed as self-defence must additionally satisfy customary requirements of necessity and proportionality, standards developed through state practice and ICJ jurisprudence rather than explicit Charter text.
By framing the strikes on Iran as violations "of international law and the UN Charter," the Bishkek Declaration implicitly invokes the Article 2(4) prohibition, positioning the SCO's stance as a legal argument rather than a purely political one — a framing device UPSC often tests when current events touch on the use-of-force doctrine.
India's Position in the SCO — Strategic Autonomy in Practice
India's participation in the SCO, alongside its participation in Western-oriented groupings such as the Quad, is frequently cited as an example of India's strategic autonomy — engaging multiple, sometimes competing, blocs to preserve independent foreign-policy choices rather than aligning permanently with one camp.
Key Details
- India joined the Bishkek Declaration's language on Iran and Palestine while continuing to publicly emphasise dialogue and diplomacy over military escalation in West Asia, consistent with India's long-standing position on the region.
- India has previously used SCO platforms to raise concerns about cross-border terrorism and connectivity initiatives (it does not endorse China's Belt and Road Initiative-linked connectivity projects that pass through disputed territory).
- India hosted the SCO Council of Heads of Government summit in the past and continues to engage with SCO's economic, counter-terrorism (RATS), and connectivity mechanisms despite bilateral tensions with member states China and Pakistan.
India's support for the Bishkek Declaration's Iran language, even as it maintains separate strategic partnerships with Western powers, exemplifies how India uses multilateral platforms like the SCO to voice foreign-policy positions (here, opposition to unilateral military strikes) without foreclosing its other bilateral relationships.
- SCO founded: 15 June 2001, Shanghai; evolved from the "Shanghai Five" (1996); Secretariat in Beijing, RATS headquartered in Tashkent.
- Membership: 10 full members as of the Bishkek Summit — China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan (joined 2017), Iran (joined 2023), Belarus (joined 2024).
- Bishkek Summit (2026): held on the SCO's 25th anniversary; adopted the Bishkek Declaration plus 27 accompanying documents on security, counter-narcotics, AI, and energy cooperation.
- UN Charter: Article 2(4) prohibits the use of force against a state's territorial integrity/political independence; Article 51 is the sole express exception, permitting self-defence against an armed attack pending UN Security Council action.
- SCO decision-making: consensus-based among all full members; guided by the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust and non-interference in internal affairs.