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G4 nations call for UNSC expansion

The Ministers emphasized the need to expand both permanent and non-permanent UNSC membership for enhanced representation, legitimacy, and effectiveness…reports Asian Lite News

The Foreign Ministers of G4 countries — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — met on the margins of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and discussed the reformation of the UN Security Council.

Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira, Federal Foreign Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoko Kamikawa, and Ministry of External Affairs, Secretary (West), Sanjay Verma discussed the state of play of the negotiations for the reforms.

“The Ministers underscored that multilateralism is under significant strain due to multiple and complex crises. Moreover, they concurred that the UN Security Council’s inability to effectively and timely address contemporary global challenges reinforces the urgent need for its comprehensive reform so that it better reflects contemporary geopolitical realities,” the joint statement read.

The Ministers reiterated that the expansion of the UNSC in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership is essential to make the body more representative, legitimate, effective and efficient.

They agreed on the need to enhance the role and participation of developing countries in the Security Council, both in the permanent and non-permanent categories of members.

Recognizing the historical injustice with regard to representation in the Security Council, they underlined the importance of increasing participation of under-represented and unrepresented groups and regions, such as Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.

“In this context, the G4 Ministers reaffirmed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) and emphasized that Africa needs to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of a reformed and expanded Security Council, in line with the CAP as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration,” the joint statement further stated.

The G4 Foreign Ministers also voiced strong concern over the persistent absence of meaningful progress on Security Council reform in the IGN (Intergovernmental Negotiations framework).

“In this context, the Ministers noted the Co-Chair’s proposal for a structured dialogue on individual models proposed by States and Groups and encourage renewed efforts by the PGA and the Co-Chairs to commence text-based negotiations without any further delay in the IGN” the statement read.

“They stressed, in doing so, the importance of adhering to the decision-making requirements and working methods laid out in the Charter of the United Nations and the rules and procedures of the General Assembly” it added.

“They reiterated their commitment to address the issue in the upcoming 78th Session of the UNGA and agreed to intensify dialogue with all Member States, with an aim to achieve concrete outcomes within a fixed time frame,” the statement further said.

The G4 also agreed on the need to enhance the role and participation of G4 members as major contributing countries to the maintenance of international peace and security in the Security Council.

The G4 Ministers reiterated their support for each other’s candidatures as aspiring new permanent members in a reformed Security Council, which they aimed to achieve through an open, transparent and democratic process, consistent with the UN Charter.

“The Ministers stressed that the future of international governance structures rest on their capacity to adapt and remain fit for purpose. The longer it takes to reform the UN Security Council, the more its effectiveness will be called into question,” the joint statement added. (ANI)

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G4 Ministers meet to strategise UNSC reform 

Several leaders from around the world have clamoured for reform and expansion of the Council….writes Arul Louis

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his G4 counterparts met to discuss and strategise the reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) which has been getting wide support from leaders at the high-level meeting of the General Assembly.

Besides Jaishankar, the other participants at Thursday’s meeting were Foreign Ministers Carlos Franca of Brazil, Annalena Baerbock of Germany, and Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan.

Known as the G4, the four countries lobby for reform of the Council and mutually support each other for permanent seats to be added through the reforms.

They received a boost when US President Joe Biden told the Assembly on Wednesday that Washington “is committed to this vital work”, reforming the Council and “increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent representatives on the Council”.

“This includes permanent seats for those nations we have long supported,” — India, Japan and Germany, Biden added.

Several leaders from around the world have clamoured for reform and expansion of the Council.

For example, Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at the Assembly around the time the G4 was meeting that the Council should be reformed so that the African continent, and at least Brazil and India, have permanent seats.

Jamaica Prime Minister Andre Holnes said that the “critical organ” should “be more representative of the world of today”.

Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo said the need for reform is “now more urgent” and pointed out that “Africa with more than one billion citizens, and with over 70 per cent of issues on the agenda of the Council, continues to suffer the historical injustice of having no representation in the Permanent category of the Security Council”.

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G4, joined by others, bat for UNSC reforms

At least six other leaders who spoke on Tuesday joined the call for reforms, even if some like those of Italy and Turkey may have different concepts of the reforms….reports Arul Louis

Presidents of three countries of the G4, supported by other leaders, have called for renewed efforts to reform the Security Council and make it more efficient and representative of today’s world.

Along with India, Brazil, Germany and Japan form the group known as G4, which advocates for reforming the Council and mutually support their candidacies for permanent seats in an expanded Council.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who was the first national leader to speak at the start of the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on Tuesday, said that “in the specific case of the Security Council, after 25 years of debates, it is clear that we need to look for innovative solutions” for reforms that are stalled.

Referring to the intractable problem of the reform process stopped from adopting a document to move the negotiations forward, Japan’s Prime Minister Kishido Fumio said: “The time has come for text-based negotiations to reform the Security Council.”

Making the case for expanding the Council, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany said that “the up and coming dynamic countries and regions of Asia African south and America must be given a stronger political voice on the world stage”.

At least six other leaders who spoke on Tuesday joined the call for reforms, even if some like those of Italy and Turkey may have different concepts of the reforms.

Italy is the leader and Turkey is a member of the group known as Uniting for Consensus, which has blocked the adoption of a negotiating text to conduct the discussions on reforms and ultimately their statements in support of reforms could probably be just that.

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi said: “Our common institutions must renew themselves. We strongly support the need to reform the UN Security Council to make it more representative, efficient, transparent.”

While expressing support for reforms, his country opposes adding permanent members, mainly because of its objection to Germany getting one.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the UN will “have to become an international organisation where a common will of the entire human race can be put forward, especially the Security Council (which) has to be more effective, more democratic, more transparent, and more accountable”.

One of the strongest statements for expanding the Council came from Senegal’s President Macky Sill who as the Chair of the African Union voiced his continent’s demand.

“It is time to overcome the reluctance and deconstruct the narratives that persist in confining Africa to the margins of decision-making circles.

“It is time to do justice to Africa’s just and legitimate demand for Security Council reform, as reflected in the Ezulwini Consensus,” he said.

The Ezulwini Consensus, named for the place in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) where it was agreed upon, demands two permanent Council seats for the continent where most of the Council-ordered peacekeeping operations are based.

Marshall Islands President David Kabua said: “The UN is in desperate need of a UN Security Council which is truly fit for purpose and which should be better shaped to the realities of today, not eight decades ago.”

Expressing support for Japan getting a permanent seat, he said: “We strongly support better progress in achieving UN Security Council reform outcomes/”

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, said that the UN’s “continued solidarity will also benefit from a reformed and more inclusive Security Council and an empowered General Assembly that can hold the Council to account”.

President Ignazio Cassis of Switzerland said: “We have long been committed to favour a greater efficiency of the Council, greater transparency of its work and the involvement of all those concerned. We will continue with this mandate.”

Chancellor Scholz spoke of the irrelevance of the UN’s basic structure that is stuck in the past and removed from the reality of the 21st century.

“Far too often, these rules and institutions reflect the world of 30, 50 or 70 years ago, and that also goes for the UN Security Council,” he said.

“Germany has for many years been committed to its reform and expansion, first and foremost to include the countries of the global South.”

The Japanese Prime Minister said that there have been debates about the functionality of the Council for almost 30 years, “but what is truly needed now is not a discussion for the sake of discussion, but actions toward reform”.

“Even among the permanent member states of the Security Council, there are some countries that have shown a willingness to embrace reforms, but there can be no reform without negotiation.”

Emphasising the need for a negotiating text amid divergent texts, Kishida said: “The various positions cannot be compromised, or converged without any negotiation.

“The time has come for text-based negotiations to reform the Security Council… let us gather a wide range of wisdom, including from experts and build momentum.”

Looking at the global current state, President Bolsanaro said: “A reform of the UN is essential if we are to find world peace. In the specific case of the Security Council, after 25 years of debates, it is clear that we need to look for innovative solutions. Brazil delves into this topic based on an experience that goes back to the beginnings of the UN.”

US President Joe Biden is to take up the Council reforms in his speech to the Assembly on Wednesday and come up with new ideas, according to Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

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India, G4 allies force amendment to UNGA decision

India’s Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti declared, “IGN can no longer be used as a smokescreen today with this amended rollover decision.”…reports Asian Lite News

India and its G4 allies have forced General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir to accept an amendment to the decision on rolling Security Council reform negotiations to the next Assembly session during a meeting at which he and Germany’s Permanent Representative Christoph Heusgen clashed openly dropping the genteel style of diplomacy.

As the Assembly failed year after to make headway on the reform process, the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) have been quietly bumped to the next session’s agenda, but this time on Tuesday the G4 prevailed in bringing the issue to the open for a discussion and have the decision amended to reflect the call of world leaders to reinvigorate the reform process.

India’s Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti declared, “IGN can no longer be used as a smokescreen today with this amended rollover decision.”

This was likely the first time that the rollover decision was discussed and amended.

Diplomatic sources said that this development was a breakthrough because for the first time it puts on official UN record the discussion on reforms and the various stances because the IGN discussions take place in informal meetings without any official records.

The G4 had wanted the decision to reaffirm “the commitment of the Heads of State and Government representing the people of the world to ‘instil new life in the discussion on the reform of the Security Council’.”

Those words were taken directly from the declaration adopted in September by the heads of state and government commemorating the 75th anniversary of the UN’s founding.

With several countries rallying behind the G4 demand for the amendment, Qatar’s Permanent Representative Alya bint Ahmed Al Thani, who is also the IGN co-chair, formally proposed accepting it through a consensus.

Pakistan, Italy and their allies and China, who opposed amending the decision, backed down and with Bozkir accepting it, the amendment was accepted unanimously.

Tirumurti said that “by agreeing to include our leaders promise to instil new life in our role or decision, we are reaffirming once more that what we are engaged in in the IGN is not simply a series of academic debates. Our mandate is to deliver on Security Council reform, not just to discuss it ad infinitum.”

In a spirit of compromise, the G4 did not press two other minor changes in the wording of another section of the decision.

The G4 is made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, which work together for Council reforms that would add more permanent members and support each other for permanent seats on an expanded Council.

Bozkir had circulated earlier this month the written draft of what in UN parlance is called an “oral decision” for adoption last Wednesday.

But Heusgen vigorously accused him last Wednesday of failing to consult other members and groups on the draft decision as previous Assembly presidents had done and unilaterally presenting it.

As the tide of opposition swelled, it was decided to postpone the issue to Tuesday.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources said, Al Thani facilitated consultations on the G4 amendment proposal and a majority of countries backed it leading to a consensus for including the world leaders’ call, which makes it a mandate and adds an element of urgency.

Heusgen, who is leaving the position of Germany’s Permanent Representative soon, did not mince words on Tuesday, lashing out against Bozkir as well as countries like Pakistan and China that oppose reforms to enlarge permanent membership.

At the meeting last week the matters became personal when Heusgen accused Bozkir of taking the position of his country, Turkey, on reforms instead of staying neutral as Assembly President.

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Turkey is a member, along with Pakistan and Italy, of the group known as Uniting for Consensus (UfC), which opposes expanding the permanent membership of the Council and has successfully used procedural measures to stall reforms.

“This is not the task of the President of the General Assembly to represent the position of one group,” Heusgen said.

He said that he was “shocked” that Bozkir had not held consultations “in contradiction to the practice of your predecessors” and that there was no mention of the mandate given by the 193 world leaders for reforms.

germany

Bozkir shot back on Tuesday with the threat of a “dangerous” eruption and accused Heusgn of breaking diplomatic traditions.

He said that some delegates have been surprised at his silence when Heusgen – whom he called a “plain-speaking man in New York” without naming him – “showed some arrows to me” and was “very sentimental and not in line with the diplomatic traditions of the General Assembly.”

But Bozkir said that his first name Volkan means volcano. There were two types of volcano and the dangerous one is the “silent Vesuvius” and “the day it will erupt, it will spread huge destruction,” he said.

“I remain silent in that reply to the distinguished representative, but I just want to clarify that my silence was in line with the Vesuvius volcano style” he warned.

Heusgen said on Tuesday that he was surprised that Pakistan and China said that asking to add the call for instilling “new life” to the reforms process was “controversial elements” or “aggressive demands.”

Japanese-Prime-Minister-Yoshihide-Suga

Heusgen suggested that the IGN break away from its quest for consensus and instead vote on the reform – which would require a two-thirds majority in the Assembly.

He also exposed the behind the scenes machinations to block the reform process.

One of the tactics used by those countries blocking the reform process is to prevent the IGN from adopting a negotiating text on which to base the discussions. The negotiations then get trapped in a Sisyphian exercise without such a document to move it forward.

“Those countries who then put pressure on delegates here, or put pressure in capitals to prevent delegations from asking for a text-based negotiations or single text, (should) stop that,” he said.

“I hope to see the last of these pressure tactics,” he added.

China has pressured countries through its aid programmes to oppose reforms, according to diplomatic sources.

The Turkish news media, Daily Sabah, has quoted Heusgen as telling the Anandolous new agency, “Unfortunately, two countries – and this is China and Russia – are blocking all our progress toward real negotiations.”

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