Backing India’s bid for permanent membership, Nepal calls for UN Security Council reforms

Backing India’s long-standing demand, Nepal has called for United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms, making it more representative, inclusive, and transparent.

Addressing the general debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Nepal’s foreign secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal said, “Nepal supports UN reform initiatives, including revitalizing the General Assembly and reforming the Security Council, to make it more representative, inclusive, and transparent.”

Foreign Secretary Paudyal is leading a Nepali delegation to the 77th UN General Assembly which began on September 13 at the United Nations headquarters, New York.

Nepal has been giving its backing for India’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council for a couple of years, stating that it was needed to reflect the changed times and make it more effective.

Proposals to restructure the UN Security Council, which now has five permanent members and ten elected to two-year terms, have been around for over two decades, but have hit a stalemate in the UN General Assembly.

A senior official of Nepal’s foreign ministry elaborated that Nepal was for expanding both permanent and non-permanent categories of Security Council membership and supported India, Japan, Germany and Brazil being given permanent seats.

“Nepal wants the reform in the UN Security reforms to reflect contemporary realities for making it more effective, representative, responsive and capable of handling the increasingly complex global problems. As an immediate neighbour of India, we have been supporting India’s bid for UN Security reforms,” the official told India Narrative.

Nepal’s foreign secretary Paudyal, in his bilateral meeting with Indian counterpart Vinay Mohan Kwatra in New Delhi mid-September, had backed India’s bid for UNSC reforms. The two sides had held discussion on cooperation on multilateral forums including the United Nations.

On September 24, thirty two countries including India called for urgent and comprehensive reforms in the UN Security Council in order to adapt the United Nations to contemporary world realities.

In a Joint Statement, the countries said they stand united as a group of pro-reform like-minded States which are determined to work towards a more inclusive, responsive, and participatory international governance architecture.

Apart from other issues, in his address to the 77th session of the UNGA, Nepal’s foreign secretary Paudyal expressed deep concerns over the deaths and suffering of civilians in the war in Ukraine. He called for an urgent cessation of hostilities and violence and urged all concerned parties to exercise maximum restraint and return to the path of dialogue.

“Nepal opposes any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity, political independence, and sovereignty of a country under any pretext and circumstance,” Paudyal said.

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