India has strongly cautioned that efforts to reform the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) could be considered ineffective if changes focus only on expanding non-permanent membership while leaving the existing power structure untouched.
Speaking during the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) meeting on Security Council reform at the United Nations, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, emphasized that meaningful reform must include an expansion of both permanent and non-permanent seats.
According to Parvathaneni, limiting reforms solely to non-permanent membership would fail to address the core issue of decision-making authority, which remains concentrated among the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
He noted that countries and negotiating groups have spent years advocating for substantial reforms and deserve a process that delivers real change rather than cosmetic adjustments.
The discussions centered around the “Elements Paper,” a document outlining areas of agreement and disagreement among UN member states regarding Security Council reform. India expressed concerns that the document does not accurately reflect the broad support among member states for expanding the permanent category of membership.
Parvathaneni stated that India’s longstanding position has been to promote greater balance, fairness, and representation within the Security Council. He argued that adding more permanent members would better align the Council with current global realities and create a more equitable international governance structure.
India has consistently maintained that the current 15-member Security Council, established in 1945, no longer reflects the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. The country has repeatedly called for reforms that would make the Council more representative, transparent, and effective.
As one of the world’s largest democracies and a major contributor to global peacekeeping efforts, India has long argued that it deserves a permanent seat on the Security Council. Its most recent term as a non-permanent member concluded in 2022.
During the negotiations, India criticized the Elements Paper for understating the widespread support among member states for permanent membership expansion. According to Parvathaneni, several influential groups, including the G4, L69, and CARICOM, have consistently advocated for reforms that include additional permanent seats.
India also raised concerns about proposals involving fixed regional seats, arguing that such arrangements do not truly expand permanent membership and may create confusion between permanence and veto authority. The country warned that these proposals could weaken representation for vulnerable groups such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which India has traditionally supported.
On the issue of permanence, India argued that the United Nations Charter already provides a clear distinction between permanent and non-permanent members, leaving little room for ambiguity. Therefore, further debates over the definition of permanent membership are unnecessary and could delay progress.
Another key point highlighted by India was the need for text-based negotiations. Parvathaneni stressed that most UN processes advance through discussions based on draft texts and that Security Council reform should follow the same approach. He called on the IGN co-chairs to develop a formal negotiating text accompanied by clear timelines and milestones to make discussions more productive and result-oriented.
India further warned against allowing procedural arguments to stall progress. Referring to the commonly used principle that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” Parvathaneni argued that such an approach should not become a tool for preserving the status quo and maintaining existing inequalities within the Security Council.
With reform discussions continuing at a slow pace despite decades of debate, India reiterated its call for decisive action to modernize the Security Council and ensure it reflects the realities, challenges, and aspirations of today’s world.
As global power dynamics continue to evolve, India believes that meaningful reform of the Security Council is essential for maintaining the credibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of the United Nations in the years ahead.
