United Nations, Sep 24 (IANS) The foreign ministers of G4, the group advocating for Security Council reforms, see both a step ahead and a lack of progress in the mission to make the world organisation “better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities” and be fit for the present and future.
After meeting on Monday, the foreign ministers in a joint statement said they saw “a concrete step closer towards reform” in the debates on reform models held during the negotiations at the last General Assembly session.
However, they also “voiced strong concern over the persistent absence of substantial progress” in the reform process known as the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN).
Their meeting traditionally held every year during the week of high-level meetings at the UN, was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Ministers Mauro Viera of Brazil, Annalena Baerbock of Germany and Yoko Kamikawa of Japan.
The ministers “underlined the urgent need to begin text-based negotiations” and “welcomed the recent increase of support of text-based negotiations”, their statement said.
They said the IGN should follow the decision-making requirements and working methods in the Charter of the United Nations and the rules and procedures of the General Assembly.
The negotiations are caught in a circle of futility because a small group of countries have prevented the IGN from adopting a negotiating text that would form the basis of the negotiations.
The negotiations have been unable to make headway without such a document.
A dozen members of the group known as Uniting for Consensus (UfC) oppose increasing the number of permanent members on the Security Council and block the adoption of the negotiating text as a manoeuvre to block progress towards reform.
They welcomed the world leaders’ strong call for urgent reform of the Security Council at the Summit of the Future”.
They said discussions on Council reform should remain a top priority in the follow-up to the summit.
The ministers of Germany, India and Japan also welcomed Brazil’s initiative of launching a ‘Call to Action on Global Governance Reform’, while it holds the presidency of the G20, the group of major developed and emerging economies, their statement said.
They stressed the importance of transforming global governance and emphasized that discussions on reform of the UN Security Council remain a top priority following the ‘Summit of the Future’.
The ministers said it was necessary to enhance “the role and participation of developing countries, and those significantly contributing to international peace and security, in the Security Council, in both membership categories”.
They said that it was important to raise the representation of under-represented and unrepresented groups and regions, such as Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, in both membership categories.
–IANS
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