No change in India’s stance on UNSC veto: Syed Akbaruddin

Will accept no-veto rule for first 15 years

March 10, 2017 02:38 am | Updated 04:04 am IST - New Delhi

Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin.

Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin.

India is ready to accept a United Nations (UN) permanent Security Council seat without using a veto for the first 15 years, the MEA confirmed here on Thursday.

Answering questions on the stand taken by India’s Ambassador to the UN on Wednesday where he addressed the General Assembly’s Inter Governmental Negotiations on behalf of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan (called the G-4), MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said there had been “no change in the government’s position” on securing veto power at the UNSC, but India did not wish to “impede” the process.

In his submission Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had said that India and other G-4 countries were ready to accept a moratorium on using the veto.

“While the new permanent members would as a principle have the same responsibilities and obligations as current permanent members they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review [expected after 15 years],” Mr. Akbaruddin said. “The Indian Ambassador’s statement merely stresses that the matter of veto need not be made into something to protract urgently needed reforms of the Security Council,” added Mr. Baglay. According to officials, India is hopeful that the Chairpersons of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) will now put out a text recording every country’s views to take the reforms to the next step.

Showing flexibility

“This is one way of keeping the process going, and to show some flexibility on our part,” explained Chinmaya Garekhan, former Indian Ambassador to the UN.

However, Mr. Garekhan said that he doubted India could uphold the moratorium if there were any resolutions at the UNSC that affected India directly.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.