The United Nations organization was established in the year 1945. Its immediate predecessor league of nation was created by the treaty of Versailles in 1919 which eventually got collapsed with World War II. United Nations organization got established on 24 October 1945 with the charter which states about its objective, its principal organs and their role in maintaining peace, security, humanitarian rights, international diplomacy among states, and many other function and duties towards the society. When we talk about its principal organs it consists of a total of six main organs that are the general assembly, security council, economic and social council, trusteeship council, the international court of justice, and the secretariats. For the current article we will focus on the united nation security council, what were the achievements it made under the presidentship of India for August 2021 as well as we will have a look at why still India is not a permanent member of the united nation security council(UNSC).
The establishment of the UNSC has been provided under UN charter chapter 5 ( Article 23 -32). it provides the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. The charterer also provides the four main purposes to UNSC that are: To maintain international peace and security; To develop friendly relations among the nations; To corporate in solving international problems and for protection and promoting respect for human rights; To create a center for harmonizing the action of the nations. According to the UN charter, there is a total of 15 members in the UNSC where 5 are permanent namely the United States of America, France, United Kingdom, Russia, and China. Who is not the only member of the council till it exists but also has a special power that is veto power. The charter defines the veto power as the negative vote cast by any of the permanent members of the security council, it has the effect of nullifying the affirmative votes of the adequate majority of the council. The remaining 10 members are temporary members with the tenure of 2 years these members are selected in the following manner as prescribed in the charter is 5 from African and Asian states, 2 from Latin America and the Caribbean States, 2 from western Europe and other states and 1 from eastern European states.
When we talk about the role of India in UNSC it has been a member of the council a total of seven times and for the first time in June 1950 and last was in November 2012. Currently, India is a member of the security council for the tenure of 2021-2022. the presidency of the council is on a rotating basis based on the alphabetical order for every month among the 15 members of the security council. Similarly, for August 2021 the presidency of the council is with India. The next time India will head the council as the president will be in December 2022. During its presidency in the month of august India has held 3 main high-level signature meetings – maritime security discussed for the first time as wholly chaired by Narendra Modi, 2 events on technology peacekeeping, and counter-terrorism chaired by an external minister. Under the presidency of the council had held three meetings on the Afghanistan issue and issued three press statements for the same on 3, 16, 27 of August 2021 the last one strongly condemning the deplorable attack on the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul. India began its presidency with the high-level signature meeting on maritime security. The Indian ambassador T.S. Trimurti stated it as ‘path-breaking in many ways as it was the first time the PM of India has chaired the council as well as it was the first time that a comprehensive debate was held on the concept of maritime security one of the main focuses was on the dispute of south China sea as many shipments have been attacked over there, freedom of navigation, terrorism. the other two signature events were chaired by the external affairs minister with the focus on how technology can aid in peacekeeping and the other was on the peacekeeping agenda in the Islamic states like Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and the middle east. The council will also be adopting the important resolution on Somalia, Yemen, and an interim force in Lebanon. On the penultimate day of the presidency under India, the council has passed an indomitable resolution on the matter of Afghanistan ‘ demanding that the land of Afghanistan not be used to threaten or attack any other country or aid or shelter any terrorist or plan to finance any terrorism-related activities and to restate the importance of combating the terrorism in Afghanistan as well as taking notes on the Taliban relevant commitments while keeping in mind the international humanitarian law.’
Let’s understand the reasons why India is still not a permanent member of the UNSC. Even though India is the supporter of the UNO from its establishment which is before its independence. India also motivated other nations to become part of the UNO. One of the main criteria to become a member is a democratic country and India has the largest democracy as well as it is a secular country. India is a peace supporter and an anti-terrorism country. Not only this but India is one of the major medicine (polio, malaria) providers for the WHO. Following are the reasons why India is still not a permanent member of the UNSC are: India has not signed the NPT(Non-Proliferation Treaty) 1968 which is one of the requirements for becoming the permanent member under the treaty the country cannot keep the nuclear weapon. Though India has the solution for the same by stating that they will never use the nuclear weapon first, they will only retaliate. Even in the UNO meeting, India has said that they are ready to sign the NPT but all other countries should also implement it and remove their nuclear weapon that law should be the same and equal for all. France who is a member of the council has also not signed the treaty and got the permanent membership though after it they have signed it. The next reason is India has also not signed the CTBT ( Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) 1996 as it is mentioned in the treaty that one cannot test on land, in the air, or water but we also have the solution for the same that is underground testing of the nuclear weapon example – operation smiling buddha 1974, shakti 1998. Therefore, India never violates the CTBT. The next reason is the dispute over J&K though in 1950 when the UN established the Dixon Commission for the same and they have reported that the matter of J&K is not an international matter it is an internal affair between India and Pakistan. The last reason is the Budget though the contribution of India in the budget of UNO is 1-2% of total India is one of the largest suppliers of vaccine (polio, malaria) for free in the world as India provide military assistance whenever required, they all need financial assistance to work.
Therefore, from all the above discussion we can conclude that India should get permanent membership for the UNSC. India can also seek for the test best negotiation within the timeline for the reformation in the UNO as they have the same working pattern which was there from its establishment. India was the first country to bring the concept of maritime security and technology for peacekeeping as the agenda in the council. Hence resting my discussion, we can say that India has not only taken the stand on the major agenda but also played an important role in the Afghanistan issue as well in the united nation security council.
