India reiterates call for UNSC reforms: 'Cannot have old wine in new bottles and expect new results'

Reiterating New Delhi's stand for the expansion of the multilateral institutions, India's permanent ambassador to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj said that multilateral institutions "rarely die", they simply "fade into irrelevance."


She was speaking at the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reforms in New York on Wednesday.

Kamboj highlighted that this September, UNGA heard unequivocal calls for comprehensive and meaningful reforms from more than 85 global leaders.

"These calls must be answered. We must all realize that the clock is ticking, and turning the other way in the face of global challenges is just not an option, I have said this before Co-Chairs and I say so again, Multilateral institutions rarely die, they simply fade into irrelevance," she said.

The Indian envoy also cited the African Union's inclusion into the G20 during New Delhi's presidency making the group a more "representative and relevant institution".

"Upon India's initiative, the African Union became a permanent member of the G20 at the New Delhi Summit in September, thus ensuring that an important and valuable voice from the Global South is added to an influential institution of global governance and decision-making. It was India's firm conviction that with Africa's full participation in the G20, this group would truly be a more representative and relevant institution," Kamboj further said.

She added, "This significant step in reform should inspire the United Nations, a much older organization, to also make the Security Council contemporary. Broad representation is, after all, a prerequisite for both effectiveness and credibility. The Summit of the Future next year, therefore, provides a golden opportunity, if I may use a cliche, to reaffirm our common commitment to the UN Charter and undertake a review of the Charter focused on reforms in general, including Security Council reform."

Kamboj cited the 2015 Framework Document, on the issue of "Categories of Membership", in which a total of 113 member states, out of 122 (more than 90 per cent) who submitted their positions in the Framework Document, supported expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter.

She further said that the Indian delegation is of the view that conversations can only lead us so far and India, as the world's largest democracy, will continue to strive for the voice of the Global South to be heard.

"My delegation is firmly of the view that we cannot have old wine in new bottles and expect new results, which is comprehensive reforms. Conversations on convergence and divergence alone can only lead us so far. As diplomats we know that countries do not change positions, unless in a negotiating mode where we create possibilities of real and meaningful exchanges," Kamboj said.

She added, "Let me remind all of you that the Summit of the Future, unlike this intergovernmental negotiations, is actually an intergovernmental negotiating process. We need to get real! India, as the world's largest democracy, will continue to strive for the voice of the Global South to be heard on the urgency of immediate action in this regard."