32 countries, including Bangladesh and India, seek urgent reform of UNSC
A group of 32 countries, including Bangladesh and India, have called for urgent and comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council, to deliver solutions for pressing and evolving developmental challenges, poverty, climate change, pandemics, global food security, international conflicts and terrorism.
"Convinced of the need to restore faith in effective multilateralism, we stand united, as a group of pro-reform like-minded States, determined to work towards a more inclusive, responsive and participatory international governance architecture," said a joint statement issued on Friday by the heads of delegations to the ongoing 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The statement said "a resilient world urgently needs reformed and effective multilateralism to deliver solutions for the pressing and evolving challenges of our time, developmental challenges, poverty, climate change, pandemics, global food security, international conflicts and crises and international terrorism."
"We reaffirm that adapting the United Nations to the contemporary world realities necessarily requires urgent and comprehensive reform of the Security Council, the principal organ for international peace and security," it added.
Pointing out that "lack of progress in Security Council reform has serious implications not only for the continued relevance of global governance institutions but also for global peace and security and delivering on the purposes, principles and promises of the UN charter," the joint statement emphasized "a legitimate Security Council must be reflective of the aspirations and perspectives of the developing world which form the majority of the UN's global membership."
"A reformed Security Council must better reflect the contemporary United Nations membership, including through enhanced representation of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which comprise approximately 20% of the United Nations' membership," according to the statement.
The 32 countries reaffirmed their support for the representation of Africa in the UNSC and stressed the need for a formal negotiation process and urgently called on all member-countries of the UN to join hands to achieve comprehensive reform of the Security Council.
Among other members of the group of 32 countries which signed the joint statement were Bhutan, Maldives, Brazil, Bolivia, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Liberia, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, South Africa, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
A comprehensive reform of the UNSC was also endorsed by the foreign ministers of the US, India, Australia and Japan in a joint read- out by the Quad countries after their meeting in New York on Friday.
The readout committed "to advancing a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council so that the Council reflects the current global realities and incorporates more geographically diverse perspectives."
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