Pakistan says UNSC reform must reflect democratic principles

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has criticised the aspirants for permanent seats in an expanded UN Security Council -- India, Brazil, Germany and Japan -- for opposing reform of the 15-member body based on the principles of democracy, and vowed to resist any move that serves the interests of a "few" countries to the detriment of the larger membership."We will continue to uphold values of democracy, equal opportunity and non-discrimination for as long as it takes, but we will not be complicit in any exercise that places narrow self-serving interests of a few over the collective good of the larger UN membership," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said at an interactive session of the deadlocked Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) during which she responded to those making a case for additional permanent members on the Security Council.

"We all agree on practicing democracy at home but some argue against it at the UN," the Pakistani envoy said, while dealing with the points raised during the debate in the first session of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations, which resumed on Thursday.

Full-scale negotiations to reform the Security Council began in the General Assembly in February 2009 on five key areas -- the categories of membership, question of veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the council and its relationship with the General Assembly.

Progress towards restructuring the Security Council remains blocked as the four countries push for permanent seats while Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group firmly oppose any additional permanent members. As a compromise, UfC has proposed a new category of members -- not permanent members -- with longer duration and a possibility to get re-elected once.

The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and 10 non-permanent members that are elected in groups of five to two-year terms. Elaborating her arguments, Maleeha Lodhi questioned as to how could the Security Council, the preeminent body entrusted with global peace and security, be exempt from democratic principles, on which rests the structures of global governance including national governments, regional and international bodies and multilateral institutions. The essential requirement of democracy, she said, was elections, yet there were some who believe that a one-time election was sufficient to achieve a democratic council, but remarked, “Elections are a process not a onetime event”.

“The argument that is put forward by some when translated in our national context means that governments should be permanently installed by virtue of a single election. In other words we should have a permanent prime minister and permanent members of Parliament,” the Pakistani envoy said.

Criticising the countries that demand a permanent membership to the council based on current global realities, Maleeha Lodhi said that realities are always in flux and change over time. “There are no permanent realities. So if realities are tied to the present, how can a ‘permanent’ status be bestowed upon a ‘transient’ and "fleeting’ state”,” she said. "Hence, we cannot perpetuate a privilege based on contemporary realities,” she added.

In her remarks, Ambassador Lodhi also called for reaching an understanding among the member countries on the fundamentals of Security Council reform, saying the inability to do so had resulted in slow progress.