India To Join UN security council As A Non-Permanent Member For Two Years
Dated : 30 Dec 2020 (IST)
With Effect January 1, 2021, India will be sitting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a period of 2 years as a non-permanent member.
There are 15 members in the UNSC, out of which 5 are permanent (they are the Victors of World War2 with China joining in later) and 10 non-permanent who get the seat for a period of 2 years.
This is the second time India won as a non-permanent member to the UNSC from the Asia-Pacific category for 2021-22 terms. The victory has assumed major significance, as the UN body is celebrating its 75th anniversary and the world is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every year the UNGA gets to elect five non-permanent members (out of 10 in total) for a term of two years. On June 17, 2020, the 193 members UNGA had elections for President of the 75th session of the Assembly, five non-permanent members of the Security Council and members of the Economic and Social Council.
India was the only candidate for the only seat from the Asia-Pacific category. India is major a nuclear power and the third largest economy in the World in PPP terms (true indicator of economy …..GDP in US dollar terms is very biased and artificial) but is not a Permanent member of the UN Security Council, what an irony !!
The distribution of the 10 non-permanent seats are based on the regional basis –one for the Eastern European States; two for Western European; two for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and five for African and Asian States.
A two-thirds majority of ballots of Member States that are present and voting within the Assembly is required for the country to be elected to the UNSC.
India has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Council — 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and most recently in 2011-2012. And it has been seeking reforms to the UNSC in various forums and has stated clearly that the present Security Council is not representing the geo-politics of the present times.
The focus of India as a non-permanent of the UNSC will be on reforms and this was highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at the UNGA in September this year.
Some of the priority areas that India will be focusing on during its two-year term will be on a comprehensive approach to peace and security, new opportunities for progress, effective response to terrorism globally, reforming multilateral systems, and technology with a human touch.
Last month India’s Permanent Representative to the UN TS Tirumurti had spoken about the Security Council Reforms and had called for wider representation in the UNSC.
In his address at the 75th session of the UNGA about the Security Council Reforms, Ambassador TS Tirumurti had said that several world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had called for urgent reforms within the Security Council. He sought representation for all those who deserve to be in the UNSC including Latin America and Africa and others.
