UNITED NATIONS, Sept 15: Another attempt of New Delhi to secure a permanent seat for India in the coveted UN Security Council failed to garner majority support in the 192-member UN General Assembly, senior diplomats said here on Friday.
New Delhi’s efforts came two years after a failed attempt in 2005, when it had teamed up with Japan, Germany and Brazil. But the plan was thwarted by the US and China.
India’s new move came after a report on the reform of the 15-member Security Council, sought by General Assembly president Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, did not recommend any increase in the permanent slot of the Council.
The same position was taken by the ‘Uniting for Consensus’ group led by Pakistan and Italy.
The report has asked the parties seeking restructuring of the Council that for making the Security Council more representative and effective it is necessary to give up extreme positions and adopt an intermediate approach.
But in a direct challenge to the 192-member assembly president, India, along with Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria, tabled a new resolution in the General Assembly on Tuesday that called for, among other elements, expansion of the Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.
The resolution requested the assembly president to open intergovernmental negotiations to make a decision in this regard by the end of this year.
Indian diplomats at the United Nations have said that the new venture runs parallel to New Delhi’s G-4 intense campaign with Japan, Germany and Brazil.
In submitting the new draft, the Indian diplomats ignored the traditions of the assembly of taking decision on such a crucial matter and served a notice that the country would put the resolution for voting in the assembly.
But the Indian initiative ran out of steam on Friday when a membership meeting, convened to seek support for the move, attracted only 25 members, diplomats said.
The Indian delegation is now left with no choice but to withdraw the resolution.
Instead, the assembly president would issue a report, which incorporates several amendments submitted by Pakistan, recommending that “result-oriented negotiations” on the council reform take place in the 62nd session opening next week. It also says that decisions should command the “widest possible acceptance by the membership.”
The final report of the assembly president is now very close to Pakistan’s consistent stand that there should be no expansion in the permanent category and that the decisions should be made by widest possible consensus.