<p>In a well-articulated speech on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for a permanent seat for India in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). One of the six important decision-making organs of the UN, the UNSC is the only United Nations body that can boast of having the power to issue resolutions that are binding on members.</p>.<p>The UNSC also alone has the power to admit new members to the General Assembly (UNGA). The last time a new member was taken on board as member of the UNGA was when South Sudan was admitted in 2011 as the 193rd member-country. The road to freedom was not an easy one for South Sudan. Prime Minister Modi has rightly raised the question of the UN’s role in Africa, especially in light of the history of South Sudan -- beleaguered by civil war, struggling with tens of thousands of refugees designated as “internally displaced persons”. His words, “Hundreds and thousands of children who would have otherwise enriched this world with their presence have left us prematurely. So many people have lost their entire life savings and have become homeless refugees,” should shake the conscience of the august body. Has the UN made sufficient efforts to tackle these issues?</p>.<p>The subject of carrying out reforms in the structure and the working of the UN Security Council on a priority basis has been raised by India on earlier occasions, too. Many other countries, especially those who are also aspirants, such as Germany, Japan and Brazil, have supported New Delhi in its quest for reform in the hope that the UNSC will truly become a much larger and more representative body of the present and future world order. There has been little or no effort on the part of the UN, or rather on the part of the P-5 – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain --to expand its membership and make it a more representative body. Prime Minister Modi’s words, “Reform in the responses, in the processes, and in the very character of the United Nations is the need of the hour” assume importance in this context.</p>.<p>The world had to see more than 60 million deaths in the largest conflict in human history before humanity came to its senses and the failed League of Nations gave way to the United Nations. The world managed to move on, in part thanks to the UN, but has become more complex and complicated since then. While the probability of conflicts using conventional military force between equals or near-equal powers has reduced considerably, it is once again in the throes of Great Power competition and rising nationalisms. Strategic objectives are increasingly being sought to be achieved through coercive policies. Even ostensibly economic programmes like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other non-conventional tools are being employed in their service.</p>.<p>The UNSC, along with other institutions under the aegis of the UN, has the utmost responsibility of ensuring peace, resolving conflicts and guaranteeing the security of member-countries from conventional and non-conventional threats. True, thanks in part to the UN, the world has not seen a third World War. But what about the dozen flash points that persist across the world, the transgression of sovereignty of weaker states by stronger ones, terrorism -- State-sponsored or otherwise -- that has snuffed out thousands of innocent lives? Has the UN been able to rein in even one errant State that has evidently been using terrorism as an instrument of policy and waging a proxy war with impunity? The Prime Minister has rightly questioned the UN’s inadequacy in dealing with the menace of terrorism.</p>.<p>Even as the world was grappling with numerous other problems of national and human security, the Covid-19 pandemic hit humanity hard, crippling economies and healthcare systems, and restricting free movement of goods and people. With nearly 35 million Covid-19 cases and over a million deaths worldwide so far and no sign of the pandemic slowing down, there is an urgent need for a global coalition to develop methods and technologies to mitigate its spread and the resultant suffering.</p>.<p>As the Prime Minister emphasised in his speech, India has never hesitated in sharing its experiences in any field. Even during the pandemic, India was probably the only country that shipped essential medicines to more than 150 countries around the world. This gesture came at a time when even the developed countries gave up on the principle of serving all of humanity and adopted selfish attitudes. China concealed information about the coronavirus because it could not think beyond the damage transparency would do to its regime, and ended up exporting the virus to the whole world; the US reportedly used the Defence Production Act to prevent exports of N-95 masks to Canada and Latin America.</p>.<p>The Prime Minister therefore rightly emphasised the spirit of viewing the world as one family. He assured the world that “as the largest vaccine-producing country, India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.” It is time for the world to realise the importance of looking at the world as one family, and at India as one large part of that family. It has much to gain by giving India its due and having it sit in the UN Security Council at a time when it is faced with superpower competition, receding globalism and the pandemic and many other non-conventional threats to the security of humans and humanity.</p>
<p>In a well-articulated speech on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for a permanent seat for India in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). One of the six important decision-making organs of the UN, the UNSC is the only United Nations body that can boast of having the power to issue resolutions that are binding on members.</p>.<p>The UNSC also alone has the power to admit new members to the General Assembly (UNGA). The last time a new member was taken on board as member of the UNGA was when South Sudan was admitted in 2011 as the 193rd member-country. The road to freedom was not an easy one for South Sudan. Prime Minister Modi has rightly raised the question of the UN’s role in Africa, especially in light of the history of South Sudan -- beleaguered by civil war, struggling with tens of thousands of refugees designated as “internally displaced persons”. His words, “Hundreds and thousands of children who would have otherwise enriched this world with their presence have left us prematurely. So many people have lost their entire life savings and have become homeless refugees,” should shake the conscience of the august body. Has the UN made sufficient efforts to tackle these issues?</p>.<p>The subject of carrying out reforms in the structure and the working of the UN Security Council on a priority basis has been raised by India on earlier occasions, too. Many other countries, especially those who are also aspirants, such as Germany, Japan and Brazil, have supported New Delhi in its quest for reform in the hope that the UNSC will truly become a much larger and more representative body of the present and future world order. There has been little or no effort on the part of the UN, or rather on the part of the P-5 – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain --to expand its membership and make it a more representative body. Prime Minister Modi’s words, “Reform in the responses, in the processes, and in the very character of the United Nations is the need of the hour” assume importance in this context.</p>.<p>The world had to see more than 60 million deaths in the largest conflict in human history before humanity came to its senses and the failed League of Nations gave way to the United Nations. The world managed to move on, in part thanks to the UN, but has become more complex and complicated since then. While the probability of conflicts using conventional military force between equals or near-equal powers has reduced considerably, it is once again in the throes of Great Power competition and rising nationalisms. Strategic objectives are increasingly being sought to be achieved through coercive policies. Even ostensibly economic programmes like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other non-conventional tools are being employed in their service.</p>.<p>The UNSC, along with other institutions under the aegis of the UN, has the utmost responsibility of ensuring peace, resolving conflicts and guaranteeing the security of member-countries from conventional and non-conventional threats. True, thanks in part to the UN, the world has not seen a third World War. But what about the dozen flash points that persist across the world, the transgression of sovereignty of weaker states by stronger ones, terrorism -- State-sponsored or otherwise -- that has snuffed out thousands of innocent lives? Has the UN been able to rein in even one errant State that has evidently been using terrorism as an instrument of policy and waging a proxy war with impunity? The Prime Minister has rightly questioned the UN’s inadequacy in dealing with the menace of terrorism.</p>.<p>Even as the world was grappling with numerous other problems of national and human security, the Covid-19 pandemic hit humanity hard, crippling economies and healthcare systems, and restricting free movement of goods and people. With nearly 35 million Covid-19 cases and over a million deaths worldwide so far and no sign of the pandemic slowing down, there is an urgent need for a global coalition to develop methods and technologies to mitigate its spread and the resultant suffering.</p>.<p>As the Prime Minister emphasised in his speech, India has never hesitated in sharing its experiences in any field. Even during the pandemic, India was probably the only country that shipped essential medicines to more than 150 countries around the world. This gesture came at a time when even the developed countries gave up on the principle of serving all of humanity and adopted selfish attitudes. China concealed information about the coronavirus because it could not think beyond the damage transparency would do to its regime, and ended up exporting the virus to the whole world; the US reportedly used the Defence Production Act to prevent exports of N-95 masks to Canada and Latin America.</p>.<p>The Prime Minister therefore rightly emphasised the spirit of viewing the world as one family. He assured the world that “as the largest vaccine-producing country, India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.” It is time for the world to realise the importance of looking at the world as one family, and at India as one large part of that family. It has much to gain by giving India its due and having it sit in the UN Security Council at a time when it is faced with superpower competition, receding globalism and the pandemic and many other non-conventional threats to the security of humans and humanity.</p>
