UNSC reforms discussed: ‘Uniting for Consensus’ group meeting
Dawn Report
NEW YORK Sept 21: More than 100 UN member states, including presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers, met on Wednesday in an effort to develop a consensus to reform the Security Council that would enable the most powerful organ of the world body to deal with new challenges effectively.
In order to re-launch the efforts to expand the Security Council, President Pervez Musharraf and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi co-hosted a dinner at a New York hotel on Wednesday to explore new ideas for ways forward on the council reform.
Following the dinner, President Musharraf said the purpose of the event was to start the process towards a ‘negotiated, agreed and comprehensive’ reform of the Security Council and not necessarily to make any decisions.
During the animated discussion, the president said a number of thought-provoking ideas were thrown up. He declined to identify the ideas, but said they augured well for the council reform.
Prime Minister Prodi said that Wednesday’s event marked the start of a process and a lot more work needed to be done to accomplish the objective.
Pakistan and Italy are members of the “Uniting for Consensus” (UFC) which last year fought attempts by the so-called “Group of Four” — Japan, Brazil, Germany and India — to seek permanent seats in an enlarged Security Council.
That G-4 bid did not succeed because of lack of the required two-thirds majority in the UN General Assembly.
Replying to a question, President Musharraf said members of the UFC group remained opposed to inducting new permanent members on the council as that violated the principle of sovereign equality. “We are against creating new centres of power.”
Earlier, in his welcome address to the delegates, President Musharraf said, “We believe that, today, when the council’s role is central to the maintenance of international peace and security, it is incumbent upon member states to make a serious and sincere endeavour to achieve an early agreement on this vital issue.
“Italy, Pakistan, and other like-minded countries are convinced that the reform of the Security Council, to be effective and implementable, will have to be achieved by the widest possible agreement.”
Over the last decade the council reform has been debated, he said, but compromises were not explored through sustained negotiations. “Once there is a genuine desire to compromise, to build widest possible agreement, I believe all countries could explore more freely the possible options for an agreed solution”.
In his address, Prime Minister Prodi associated himself with the remarks made by President Musharraf. “I hope that we will indeed succeed in giving a strong political message that could pave the way for a new, fresh and innovative approach,” he said.
“Let us hope that before the end of this session of the General Assembly, we will succeed in turning the page, engaging in a negotiating process that we never had in more than 10 years of fruitless debate.”
Secretary General Kofi Annan lauded the initiative of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Prodi in inviting member states to the dinner meeting on the council reform. “No reform of the UN will be complete without the reform of the Security Council,” he told the audience.
While virtually everyone agrees on the need for the expansion of the Security Council, Mr Annan regretted that there was still no agreement on how to do it. “Countries on both sides of the divide stand to benefit if a compromise solution can be found. All will suffer if the stalemate is allowed to continue.”
