India, Germany, Japan And Brazil Seek Reforms In UN Security Council To Make It More 'Legitimate And Representative'

The G4 countries, India, Germany, Japan and Brazil, on Wednesday (22 September) called for reforms in the United Nations Security Coucil (UNSC) to make it more "legitimate, effective and representative".

The foreign ministers of the G4 countries met during the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Brazil's foreign minister Franco França, German foreign minister Heiko Maas, and Japanese foreign minister Motegi Toshimitsu.

"The ministers underlined the urgency of reforming the Security Council in order to make it more legitimate, effective and representative by reflecting the reality of the contemporary world including developing countries and major contributors," a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.

The G4 ministers, reviewing the work of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, welcomed that the Assembly reflected on the commitment of all heads of state and government to "instil new life in the discussions on the reform of the Security Council”, as mentioned in the Declaration on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations.

They expressed their strong determination to work towards launching text-based negotiations without further delay in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN), on the basis of a single document, with a view to its adoption in the General Assembly.

The ministers instructed, to this end, their delegations to the United Nations to support the efforts of the President of the 76th General Assembly and the Chair(s) of the IGN, and to identify ways to develop a single consolidated text as a basis for a draft resolution, the ministry said.

They also decided to intensify dialogue with all interested member states, including other reform-minded countries and groups, in order to seek concrete outcomes in a definite time-frame.

The G4 Ministers reaffirmed that it is indispensable to reform the Security Council through an expansion of both categories, permanent and non-permanent seats, to enable the Security Council to better deal with the ever-complex and evolving challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security, and thereby to carry out its duties more effectively.

In this context, the Ministers expressed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

The ministers also reiterated their support for each other’s candidatures as aspiring new permanent members in a reformed Security Council.