India Calls for Urgent UN Security Council Reform: "1945 Cannot Be the Only Reference Point"
India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations spoke at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) debate on "equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council". He said the Council cannot keep "driving into the future by looking at the rearview mirror" of 1945.
India said the UN Security Council (UNSC) must expand in both the permanent and non-permanent categories. Adding only non-permanent seats would leave the main imbalance untouched.
India criticised the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), the UN's reform talks, which have run for more than 15 years without a negotiating text, a timeline or a clear end goal. India called this a way of keeping the status quo, and asked the co-chairs to move from the "Elements Paper" to a real negotiating text.
On the veto, India said that if the veto continues, it should be given to all permanent members, both old and new, so that new members are not made "second class".
India pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region has more than 60% of the world's population but only one permanent seat (China), while Africa and Latin America are also under-represented.
India also asked for better working methods: more transparency, regular review of mission mandates, and a bigger voice for countries that send troops and police to UN peacekeeping missions. It hoped the 81st session of the UNGA would give reform "a text, a timeline and a destination".
United Nations Security Council (UNSC): Composition, Powers, and the Veto
The United Nations Security Council, or UNSC, is the most powerful body of the United Nations. Its main job is to keep international peace and security. Unlike most other UN bodies, its decisions on serious matters, called resolutions, are legally binding on all UN member countries. Its structure was fixed in 1945, by the countries that won the Second World War.
India's argument rests on this 1945 design: only five countries hold permanent seats and the veto, and none of them is from Africa or Latin America, while Asia has only China. That is why India says the Council's makeup no longer matches today's world.
UN Security Council Reform: G4, Uniting for Consensus and the IGN Process
UN Security Council reform means changing the Council so that it better reflects today's world. The main questions are: how many members it should have, whether new permanent seats should be added, what to do about the veto, and how to give fair seats to regions such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. Different groups of countries want very different answers, which is why reform has been stuck for decades.
India's statement is part of the yearly UNGA debate on Council reform. By attacking the lack of a text and timeline in the IGN, and by asking for the veto to be given to new permanent members if it stays, India restated the G4 position and pushed back against the Uniting for Consensus approach.
- UNSC: 15 members (5 permanent, 10 non-permanent with two-year terms)
- Enlargement from 11 to 15 members: amendment adopted 17 December 1963, in force 31 August 1965
- Substantive decisions need 9 of 15 votes and no P5 veto
- IGN: set up by UNGA Decision 62/557 (15 September 2008); talks began in 2009; five clusters
- G4 (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan) model: Council of 25 or 26 members with six new permanent seats
- UN Charter amendment (Article 108): two-thirds of UNGA plus ratification by two-thirds of members including all P5
- Asia-Pacific: over 60% of the world's population, one permanent seat
- India: eight terms as a non-permanent member (latest 2021-22); candidate for 2028-29
- The 81st session of the UNGA runs from September 2026