UN crumbling under weight of 21st-century geopolitical shifts: India

The UN apparatus, especially the Security Council, is crumbling under the weight of the geopolitical realities of the 21st century, India has said, underscoring that the General Assembly must take the lead in restoring the central role of the United Nations to tackle transnational resolve issues through multilateralism.

India has consistently advocated the view that the General Assembly can only be revived if its position as the principal deliberative, policy-making and representative body of the United Nations is respected in both letter and spirit. Mathur said here on Tuesday.

In his speech at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, Mathur said: We must admit that part of the blame lies with the General Assembly and its Member States, because they have allowed ​that their relevance has been diluted, despite being the collective. voice of all nations.

He noted that there is a growing perception that the General Assembly has gradually lost touch with its fundamental responsibilities and has become overwhelmed by processes. Moreover, attempts to discuss thematic issues in the Security Council have also undermined the role and authority of the General Assembly. Meeting, he said.

India believes that multilateralism, rebalancing, fair globalization and reformed multilateralism cannot be put on hold for long, Mathur said.

Nevertheless, we are currently seeing the UN apparatus, and especially the Security Council, crumbling under the weight of the geopolitical realities of the 21st century, which has partly turned the tide towards the General Assembly, giving us more facetime and control where the voice of the Global South is a formidable force, unlike what is the case in the Security Council.

Mathur asserted that the General Assembly should take the lead in setting the global agenda and restoring the central role of the United Nations in formulating multilateral approaches to solving transnational issues.

He stressed that against the backdrop of the prevailing global scenario, the call for reformed multilateralism enjoys significant support among UN members.

This is happening because of the widespread recognition that current architecture is anachronistic and indeed ineffective. It is also seen as deeply unfair, denying entire continents and regions a voice in a forum considering their future, he said.

India has consistently pointed out Africa’s lack of representation in the Council’s permanent membership.

The UN Security Council consists of five permanent members, China, France, Russia, Britain and the US, and ten elected non-permanent members who serve two-year terms. India completed its term as a non-permanent member of the Council in December last year.

Mathur added that there is a need for a new direction for reformed multilateralism, which was one of the key priorities during India’s chairmanship of the Security Council in December last year.

We need a comprehensive, comprehensive reform process that includes expanding both permanent and non-permanent membership categories of the Security Council, the issue of the veto, the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council, and an improvement in working methods.

India emphasized that the primacy and legitimacy of the 193-member General Assembly derive from the inclusive nature of its membership and the principle of sovereign equality of all its constituents.

In these turbulent times, the universal nature of the General Assembly and the moral weight of its decisions and opinions cannot be overstated, Mathur said.

Mathur expressed India’s commitment to be a constructive and active participant in any process that allows serious negotiations on such a critical issue to proceed sincerely.

They should not be blocked by procedural tactics, he said. Opponents cannot allow them to hold the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process hostage forever.

India asserted that it is of utmost importance to ensure that the IGN process on UN Security Council reforms, which started fourteen years ago, delivers concrete results through a text-based process within a fixed time frame.

Mathur noted that there have been several occasions over time when the General Assembly has led from the front while setting a global agenda.

He said the Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, followed by the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage are examples of how the General Assembly can set the global agenda and galvanize the global community to solve the problems. common problems and challenges.

We hope and expect that the same outcome will remain with regard to the ongoing deliberations regarding the Summit of the Future that will take place next year, he said.

The UN has hailed the Summit of the Future, due to take place in September next year, as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen cooperation on critical challenges and address gaps in global governance, and reaffirm existing commitments, including with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs) and the United Nations Charter, and strive for a revitalized multilateral system that is better positioned to have a positive impact on people’s lives.