India has called for “greater transparency” in the functioning of the subsidiary organs of the UN Security Council, citing the “obscure” manner in which requests to designate entities and individuals are rejected. Addressing the UNSC open debate on Working Methods on Friday , India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said that the Security Council is central in the UN architecture as the principal organ that is primarily tasked with the responsibility of maintenance of international peace and security.
“As a UN organ whose sphere of functions covers a range of areas, but membership limited to only 15 members, working methods of the Security Council are critical to its credibility, efficacy, efficiency and transparency. This gains particular salience in a world beset with multiple crises and facing numerous challenges,” Harish added. He underscored the need for greater transparency in the functioning of the subsidiary organs. “A case in point is the manner in which listing requests are rejected. Unlike de-listing decisions, these are done in a rather obscure manner, with member states that are not on the Council not being privy to details,” he said.
Harish also pointed out that chairs and pen-holderships of the Council’s committees and subsidiary organs are privileges that come with major responsibilities. “Discussions in the Council on distribution of Chairs and pen-holderships must prevent Council members with vested interests from being accorded these privileges. Obvious and outright conflicts of interest can have no place in the Council,” he said. Calling for reform of the powerful 15-nation UN organ, Harish said “the overall endeavour needs to be on redesigning the eight-decade-old architecture to make the United Nations Security Council fit-for-purpose, equipped to meet the ongoing and future challenges and discharge its functions purposefully.”
He stressed the expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of the Council membership with adequate representation for under-represented and non-represented geographies, through text-based negotiations in a time-bound manner. India also called for greater coordination of the Council with other UN organs, particularly the General Assembly. “A useful tool in this regard is the discussion of the annual United Nations Security Council report in GA. However, this must not be treated as a mere procedural exercise. The report must be more than a record of the Council proceedings and meetings during the year,” he said.
Matters on which the Council is seized are also to be reviewed from time to time based on their relevance and utility, he said. India reiterated its call to make the annual United Nations Security Council report analytical in nature. On peacekeeping, Harish said that as the largest cumulative troop contributor, India stresses the need for factoring in the inputs of the Troop Contributing Countries and Police Contributing Countries for better implementation of peacekeeping mandates.
“Continuation of mandates that have outlived their utility for narrow political interests of certain states must not be allowed. This continued existence in a resource-constrained scenario is a drain on the UN and member States,” he said. At a time when member States are striving for greater streamlining and better rationalisation under the UN 80 framework, Harish urged the Council to undertake necessary measures on this front to bring about sunset clauses.
