No new permanent members in the Security Council : IPU SAYS

New York: The quest for permanent seats in the Security Council suffered setback when the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) informal interactive debate in the UN Headquarters in New York leaned clearly for an inclusive Security Council for promotion of global stability.

Parliamentarians and experts, who were gathered here from across the globe for a two-day Parliamentary Hearing, rejected the idea that future Security Council can be based on power politics or national ambitions. Instead, they called for an inclusive Security Council, which is democratic in its composition, open in its working methods and accountable to UN Member States for its actions. The Security Council cannot be an exclusive club or function like an organization of the elite, they added.
India, seeking a permanent seat in the reformed Security Council had made a case for adding new members who have the “weight” to reflect current global power “realities”.

The interactive debate on Security Council reform was part of Annual Hearing of the IPU in UN Headquarters in New York.

In his intervention in the debate, Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan Sabir Ali Baluch, who was leading a five-member parliamentary delegation, said that by adding more “permanent members”, Security Council will be made “exclusive”, not “inclusive”. The idea of new permanent members will create new centers of power and privileges.

Senator Baluch said Permanent Members do not have to revert to General Assembly for their elections. Therefore, they have no representation character or constituency among the general membership. This, he added, is contrary to any notion of inclusiveness. In order to enhance “inclusivity”, the Security Council should have more electable members.

The Deputy Chairman emphasized that new seats based on periodic elections will make the Security Council more equitable, diverse and plural in terms of representation as well as more open and accountable to reflect the aspirations of the general membership – thereby increasing inclusiveness. Such a reform model, he said, would enhance Security Council’s ownership by all the UN Member States and further increase the credibility of its actions – thus promoting global stability.

Other members of the delegation were Senator Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, Senator Malik Rashid Ahmed Khan, Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah and MNA Arif Aziz Sheikh.

The two-day IPU conference that concluded today had four sessions to discuss the role of parliaments in conflict prevention, reconciliation and peace building. As part of IPU’s efforts to support UN action to promote peace and security, participants of the conference identified ways the parliaments can strengthen UN field missions, its Peace building Commission and the Human Rights Council in addition to examining the role of legislators in conflict mediation, transitional justice and truth and reconciliation.