General Assembly divided over UN reforms

Subject: International Relations

Section: International organization

Concept :

The UN General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi during his visit to India said that the reform of the UN Security Council was a member-driven process that would require the members of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to collaborate and pass a resolution demanding the reforms.
The process to urge the UN Security Council (UNSC) or P5 to accept a proposal coming from the UN General Assembly for reform starts with the passage of a resolution in the UNGA.
However, such a resolution has not yet been passed so far as the UNGA has always been very much divided.
According to the UNGA President, among the 193 countries in the UNGA, there are five negotiating groups and they have been neutralising each other’s demands.
The UNGA President also claimed that the permanent members (P5) were “historically not enthusiastic” about reforms of the UN system and has argued that the role of the UNGA is as important as the P5 members of the UNSC in ensuring reform of the UN system.
He added that the system of veto in the UNSC was 77 years old and has become an instrument to block the work of the global body with respect to various issues.

Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN)

The UNGA President in October 2022, tried to revive the process of introducing reforms by appointing two negotiators for the programme of reform to look after the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) as co-chairs.
The appointed negotiators included two Permanent Representatives namely Tareq M.A.M. Albanai of Kuwait and Michal Mlynar of Slovakia.
The IGN is the team that takes care of the issue of UN reform.

India’s stand on UN reforms

India has shown dissatisfaction over the delay in implementing reforms of the UNSC.
The External Affairs Minister of India during the recently held Voice of the Global South Summit had described the UN as a “frozen 1945-invented mechanism” and had held that a few of the global powers were singularly focused on advancing their own interests rather than focusing on the well-being of the international community.
India’s Membership: India has served seven times in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member and in January 2021, India entered the UNSC for the eighth time.

UNSC Reform

UNSC is considered the nucleus of the UN system.
It is the only body of UN which has teeth to bite. It has a major say in all critical appointment in UN
Chapter VI of the UN charter gives a mandate to UNSC to settle disputes peacefully through mediation and secure a ceasefire through peacekeeping force.
Chapter VII of UN charter give power to UNSC to impose military and economic sanctions

Procedure for the reform

The UNSC reform requires an amendment to the Charter of the United Nations.
In the first stage, the UN General Assembly must approve the reform by a two-thirds majority.
After approval from the UN General Assembly, the amended Charter must then be ratified by at least two-thirds of the member states, including the five permanent Security Council members.
According to Article 108 of the Charter all the permanent members of the Security Council must ratify the amendment otherwise it will not be accepted.