World

Russia backs India for UNSC permanent seat citing its importance for UN & SCO

Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov again expressed Russia’s support for permanent membership of India to United Nations Security Council. Lavrov appreciated India’s role at global and regional levels in the UNSC. In Moscow, Lavrov said that in the present situation India is leading in economic progress and Indian population will soon be the largest in the world. Moreover, India has wide diplomatic experiences of solving different global problems and always supports peaceful means of resolving international conflicts.

Role in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Lavrov sadi, besides UN, India has played important role in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. During the 77th UN General Assembly summit in September also, Lavrov had stated that inclusion of African, Asian and Latin American nations would strengthen the UNSC and make it more democratic and representative. India and Brazil should be made the permanent members of the UNSC.

Meaningful reform of the United Nations

It is worth-noting here that India has always strongly advocated an early and meaningful reform of the United Nations to make it better equipped to serve the needs of the world community. India has repeatedly called for expansion of the UN Security Council to make the UN more effective and reflective of contemporary geo-political realities. The Government of India has been actively working along with other like-minded countries for building support among the UN membership for a meaningful restructuring and expansion of the UN Security Council.

India has always asserted in the UNSC. On December 10, 2022, it abstained from voting in United Nations Security Council UNSC on a resolution that exempts humanitarian aid efforts from sanctions. In the explanation of vote, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj said that India’s concerns were triggered by proven instances of terrorist groups in its neighborhood, including those listed by the Council, re-incarnating themselves as humanitarian organizations and civil society groups precisely to evade the sanctions. She said, these terrorist organizations use the umbrella of the humanitarian assistance space to raise funds and recruit fighters.

Making a veiled reference to Pakistan, Kamboj added that India will call for caution and due diligence be used when providing humanitarian aid to groups that are prohibited under UN Security Council Resolution 1267, who continue to thrive with full state hospitality in territories universally acknowledged as terrorist havens by the international community.

India reiterated during the negotiations that under no circumstances, the garb of humanitarian cover intended to be provided by these exemptions should be misused by banned terrorist groups to expand their terror activities in the region and beyond. She said, more importantly, such exemptions must not facilitate mainstreaming of terror entities in the political space in the region. Kamboj said, due diligence and extreme caution in the implementation of this resolution, therefore, is an absolute must. She said, for this very reason, India had sought in the text of the resolution a proactive role for the 1267 Monitoring Team, coupled with robust reporting standards and mechanisms.

 

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