Swaraj Urges SCO Members to Back UN Security Council Reforms

India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj delivers her statement at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

(Photo: PTI)

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday, 22 May, urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to support efforts for comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council to make it more representative and effective.

India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for a long time, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. The G4 nations support each other's bids for permanent seats on the UNSC.

Addressing the meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers in the Kyrgyz capital, Swaraj said India firmly believes in the efficacy of multilateralism and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Swaraj also said India was committed to the goal of combatting climate change and welcomes the agreement reached at the Katowice Climate Change Conference in Poland in 2018.

"India firmly believes in the efficacy of multilateralism and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. It is imperative to have comprehensive reforms of the United Nations and its Security Council to make it more representative and effective," Swaraj said.

“The SCO must support the member countries’ candidatures for the non-permanent membership of the UNSC for the years 2021-2022 and 2027-2028.”

EAM Sushma Swaraj

India is committed to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement on Combating Climate Change, Swaraj said.

"We welcome the agreement reached at COP 24 of the UNFCCC. I am pleased that an SCO Action Plan for environment protection for 2019-2021 has been finalised. We look forward to continue our participation with keen interest in this area," she said.

The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, also known as the Katowice Climate Change Conference. It was held between 2 and 15 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.

France, which assumed the rotating presidency of the Council in March, has reiterated its support for India, Germany and Japan as permanent members of an expanded Council, saying enlargement of the powerful UN organ in both permanent and non-permanent categories is the "first crucial part" towards the UNSC reform.

India was an observer at the SCO till 2005 and was granted membership along with Pakistan in 2017.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.