Won’t accept piecemeal UN reforms: S Jaishankar

New Delhi, December 14

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The lack of reforms in the UN is creating an intense sense of frustration among the wider membership. Attempts to propose piecemeal changes will not be accepted by them as an alternative, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the UNSC open debate on “Maintainenance of International Peace and Security: New orientation for reformed multilateralism” in New York on Wednesday.

Pointing out the difficulties, Jaishankar said the problem was with the nature of the Inter- Governmental Negotiations (IGN) itself. It is the only one in the UN that is conducted without any time frame. Two, it is also singular in being negotiated without any text. And three, there is no record-keeping that allows progress to be recognised and carried forward. “Not just that, there are actually suggestions that negotiations start only when consensus has been achieved!” said the minister.

“Three decades since the formation of the Open-Ended Working Group on UNSC Reforms, we have nothing to show, for precisely these reasons,” he observed.

“This debate and its outcome will not only help determine what kind of United Nations we wish to see, but also what kind of global order that best reflects contemporary realities,” pointed out the minister.