UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has once again warned the international community that creating new permanent seats in the UN Security Council could end its consensus-based approach.

The long-running inter-governmental negotiations (IGN) for reforming the world body resumed in New York on Monday.

Addressing the first IGN meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s permanent representative Ambassador Munir Akram emphasised the need to promote the consensus-based process for reforming the 15-member body. Any other approach, he said, would kill the very spirit that “makes the UNSC more effective, representative and accountable”, he added.

Four states, known as the G4 — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — want to be included in the council as new permanent members.

Four other nations — Italy, Pakistan, Mexico and Egypt — formed another group in 1995, known as UfC or Uniting for Consensus.

Soon, 50 other countries joined this group, which encourages the expansion of non-permanent seats.

“Inter-governmental negotiations (IGN) remain the only credible platform for a comprehensive reform of the council,” said Ambassador Akram while re-affirming Pakistan’s strong opposition to creating new permanent members.

The Pakistani envoy said that any attempts to undermine or derail the IGN process would prove counterproductive. “We are prepared to breathe new life in the IGN, but some are bent upon killing the process,” he warned.

Explaining UfC’s position on this issue, Ambassador Akram said the group believed that expanding permanent members “will make the Council less representative, less effective and more divided and will diminish the right of the vast majority of the UN membership to serve on the council”.

He pointed out that there were others, such as the African Group, the Arab Group and the OIC that also wanted representation in the council, which could only be achieved by expanding the non-permanent seats. “The G4 is unlikely to apply Africa’s regional approach to their own regions,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021