India calls for attempts to introduce new parameters such as religion, with faith as the basis for representation

India calls for the introduction of new parameters, such as religion and belief, as the basis for representation in the reform of the United Nations (United Nations) Security Commission, and asserts that this is completely contrary to the accepted basis of regional representatives.

The permanent representative of UN Ambassador P. Harish told the Intergovernmental Negotiation (IGN) meeting of the “Size of Future Council and Collective Discussions on Regional Representatives” that those who opposed text-based negotiations did not seek progress on UNSC reform.

“Trying to introduce new parameters, such as religion and belief, as the basis for representation in the Reform Commission, completely contrary to regional representation, has become a recognized basis for representatives of the United Nations.”

He added that the argument that the expanded and reformed Security Council would not be effective was to try to prevent real reform.

“The reform of the Council through appropriate working methods and accountability mechanisms will be effective and meaningfully achieved on pressing global issues,” he said.

India asserted that a merger model that does not cover expansion in the permanent and non-permanent categories would not achieve the purpose of reform, further consolidating the status quo.

Before speaking as a national, Mr. Harish made a statement on behalf of the G4 countries of Brazil, Germany, Japan and India, where the subgroup emphasized that regional representation is a recognized practice that has been tested by UN time.

“Proposals to propose new parameters, such as religious beliefs going against established United Nations practices and add considerable complexity to already difficult discussions,” G4 said.

The team noted that existing UN architecture comes from another era that no longer exists, and that current geopolitical reality deserves a review of such architecture. “Those who do not recognize real reforms that reflect contemporary reality fall into the wrong aspects of history, which is harmful to all of us,” Mr. Harish said in a statement on behalf of the G4 country.

Mr Harish outlined the broad outline of the UNSC reform’s G4 model, which was proposed and elaborated by the panel during the IGN meeting in 2024, Mr Harish said that membership of the Security Council needs to be increased from the current 15 or 25 or 26 to 25 or 26, with the reform layer consisting of 11 permanent members, 11 or 14 non-serving members.

Currently, the powerful UN members include five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the remaining 10 members elected as non-term members for two years. India last sat on the council as a non-permanent member since 2021-22.

The G4 countries reiterate that among a wide range of members, any reforms that do not accompany the expansion of permanent and non-permanent categories will be incomplete.

Member States only consider expanding the expansion of non-appointment categories, ignoring the existing imbalances in the permanent categories. This approach cannot address the non-representation and underrepresentation in the category, the group said, adding that it did not address the legitimate desires of the African developing world, and the legitimate desires of those groups, and the legitimate desires of these groups.

“Only non-permanent members only do not change the power dynamics in the Council and therefore it is likely to further change the power of permanent members,” G4 said. In addition, the four groups stressed that, like other UN processes, the path to real reform is text-based negotiations involving well-defined timelines and milestones.

Given that the future contract last year recognized the urgency of this reform process, G4 encouraged member states and regional groups to submit further reform models to facilitate text-based negotiations. “We invite the Chair to start text-based negotiations now, ideally, by the end of the current IGN,” they said.

G4 further stressed that decisions on member states would become permanent members of the Reform Commission, a decision taken by the General Assembly in a democratic manner.

The Consensus (UFC) Group consists of Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain, Turks, Italy and Italy, reaffirms its exclusive position among residents of African descent. The UFC proposed a Security Council of 27 members, with no increase in the number of permanent members, currently at 5.

Bahrain issued a statement on behalf of the Arab Group, reaffirming the need for Arab representatives and having privileges in the category of permanent seats in the expanded Council.

“We also reiterate that representation alone requires a proportionate Arab representation system in the expansion of the non-permanent seat category within the Security Council,” the Arab Group said, adding that its demands are based on objective criteria, namely the population size of the Arab countries and the number of members of the United Nations Arab States and many facts between the Arab Commission and the Council and the Commission.

“This requires fair and proportional Arab representatives within the expanded Security Council,” the Arab Group said.

France reiterated its support for India and sat on the council as a permanent member. “We favor the granting of two permanent seats to Africa, India, Germany and Japan for permanent seats to be created for their geographical groups,” said Representative UN Jay Dharmadhikari, Deputy Representative of France.

“France believes that future permanent members require all privileges (including vetos) related to this identity,” said Mr. Dharmadhikari.