UNSC veto power driven by political interests: India

United Nations, April 27

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India has emphasised that the exercise of veto in the UN Security Council is driven by political considerations and not by moral obligations, saying that only five permanent members being given the privilege of using the veto goes against the very concept of sovereign equality of states.

Addressing the UN General Assembly plenary on “Use of the veto” on Wednesday, a year since the adoption of the “Veto Initiative” by the 193-member UN body, Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Pratik Mathur said that over the past 75 years, all five permanent members have used the veto to achieve their respective political ends.

In the 15-nation Security Council, only the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US — have veto powers.

“The exercise of veto is driven by political considerations, not by moral obligations. As long as it exists, the member state or member states, who can exercise the veto, will do so, irrespective of the moral pressure, as we have seen in the recent past,” Mathur said.

Last year, the UN General Assembly had adopted by consensus, without a vote, the resolution “Standing mandate for a General Assembly debate when a veto is cast in the Security Council”, also known as the “Veto Initiative”.