France has reaffirmed its backing for India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan as permanent members in an expansive UN Security Council, highlighting the necessity of taking into consideration the advent of contemporary powers enthusiastic and rather able to take on the responsibility of an ongoing showing in the influential international body.
“The position of France is consistent and well-known. To further boost the Council’s authority and effectiveness, we want it to be more representative of the modern world” Nathalie Broadhurst, France’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, said Friday.
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Leader Speak: Nathalie Broadhurst, French Representative
On the topic of “Equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Security Council,” she spoke to the UN General Assembly plenary.
Broadhurst iterated, “We must consider the emergence of new powers ready and able to assume the responsibility of a permanent presence in the Security Council.”
An expanded Council, according to Broadhurst, could consist of up to 25 members while still maintaining its executive as well as operational nature.
“Germany, India, Brazil, and Japan are candidates for permanent membership with the support of France.” Additionally, she added that they’d like to see more African nations represented, particularly among the permanent members. “To ensure fair geographic representation, the remaining seats should be distributed.” she elaborated.
She continued that the issue of veto is “eminently sensitive,” and the States requesting a permanent seat must decide for themselves.
“In this reflection, the goal must remain dual: on one hand, to strengthen the Security Council’s capacity to fully carry out its duties in maintaining international peace and security; on the other hand, to consolidate the credibility of the Security Council,” she said.
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What does the UK have to Say?
In addition, the UK expressed its support for the permanent membership of Brazil, Germany, Japan, India, and the UN Security Council’s expansion.
“Our stance is widely acknowledged. The UK has been advocating for a long time, for non-permanent and permanent members of the Security Council to be added ” The UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward stated at the discussion on the Thursday General Assembly on the reform of the Security Council.
“We support the addition of new permanent seats for Brazil, Germany, Japan, India, and the United States to the Council as well as permanent African representation. We support boosting the number of non-permanent members as well, bringing the overall number of members from the Security Council to about twenty.” She spoke.
Where Does India Stand in the Race toward Permanency in the UN?
4-5% of permanent members of the Council—the US, UK, France, and Russia—have affirmed giving India a permanent seat in the UN body.
After India has presided over the Security Council’s 15 members, its current two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the body will end next month.
Since the Security Council has remained bitterly divided in its approach to today’s issues, India and the other members of the G4 nations—Brazil, Germany, and Japan —have taken the lead in pushing for urgent reform. India claims that the Council does not, in its recent form, reflect today’s geopolitical realities. If developing-power countries like India currently do not occupy a permanent position at the horse-shoe table, the credibility of the Council will be in jeopardy.
The G4 continues to believe that the Security Council needs to be completely reformed, including by adding more non-permanent and permanent members and increasing the number of seats available, improving working procedures to be more inclusive and transparent, ensuring fair regional representation, and fostering better ties with other bodies of the UN which also includes the General Assembly.
