Jaishankar calls for text-based negotiations on UN reforms

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said frustrations are mounting over the lack of UN reforms, arguing that those opposing change are merely using the world body. He called for text-based negotiations and a democratic resolution of reform proposals

New York: Frustrations are mounting among the international community over the lack of reform at the United Nations, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, asserting that those opposing reforms are “using” the world body and “don’t care” about it.

Jaishankar said that while UN reform has been a regular theme every year as nations gather in New York for the annual General Assembly sessions, he felt the sentiment for change was growing stronger.

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“The frustrations are mounting because at the end of the day, if we are serious about reform, we need some text-based negotiation because you can’t have a negotiation without a text. Then it’s not a negotiation. Then it’s just gaining time,” he said.

He underlined that the “sentiment for reform” had deepened.

Jaishankar was addressing a ministerial session titled ‘Ruptures & Ramparts: Building Bridges for a Changing World’, organised on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly by the Observer Research Foundation, Reliance Foundation, UN in India and the Permanent Mission of India to the UN on Thursday.

He said there was a feeling among the international community that the UN needed to change and become much more representative of the contemporary world.

“That is actually the nub of the view that the UN should change. The UN is seen as behind the curve. That’s not being anti-UN. It’s actually those who care for the UN would like to reform the UN. I would suggest to you that those who oppose the reform are people who don’t really care for the UN,” he said.

“They are using the UN, but they don’t care for the UN…that’s today a feeling which is very much stronger,” Jaishankar added.

Participating in the session, moderated by ORF President Samir Saran, were Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith, Suriname’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Cooperation Melvin Bouva, Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and President and Chief Executive of the East-West Center Celeste Connors.

Jaishankar further emphasised that “you’re not going to get reform by unanimity”.

He said that “in a democracy, even at home, we make our choices through majority, through a vote. That’s a democratic way. So there will be people with views. Everybody should have a right to put their views forward, and then people need to take a vote.”

He stressed that it was a “no-brainer” that if there was a desire for reform, there had to be a text to be negotiated.

“You need to get everybody’s ideas on that text, and then you need to find a democratic resolution of those ideas,” he said.

Jaishankar pointed out that among Global South nations, there was now a much greater inclination to share.

“Countries are willing to talk to each other more, willing to do more things with each other, and that itself is a good thing because what it does is it breaks the old dependencies…It becomes a more democratic world,” he said.

Jaishankar also said that even in the selection of the next UN Secretary-General, “this idea that we have a woman SG, it’s a bottom-up idea, not a top-down idea.”

In his address to the high-level UN General Assembly debate, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for reform of the Security Council, saying it needs to reflect today’s world and have the legitimacy to address current geopolitical challenges.

India has long advocated reform of the Security Council, including expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories, arguing that the 15-member Council does not reflect contemporary geopolitical realities. The Council currently comprises five permanent and 10 non-permanent members.

India is seeking a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2028-29 term. The election for that term is scheduled to be held in 2027 as part of the General Assembly’s annual election of five non-permanent members.