‘Can’t be my way or highway’: India slams UFC model on UNSC reforms

India on Tuesday slammed the Uniting for Consensus (UFC) model on UNSC reforms, citing that it won’t empower Africa or Global South nations or change permanent seat membership.

The UFC, which comprises 12 countries and two observers, including a P5 nation, stands against the idea advocated by a majority of the UN member states — which is an expansion in the permanent and non-permanent categories of an expanded Security Council.

Some of the countries in the group — nicknamed the Coffee Club — include Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Turkey and China as one of its Observer members.

“How does the model represent Africa, Latin America, and Asia?… When Africa itself is asking for an expansion in both categories of membership, isn’t it uncalled for to do just what Africa was subjected to in perpetuity in the past, which is deciding on their behalf?” India Permanent Representative at the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, asked.

Africa, a 54-member group, has called for an expansion in both categories of an expanded United Nations Security Council.

When Africa itself is asking for an expansion in both categories of membership, is not it uncalled for to do just what Africa was subjected to in perpetuity in the past, which is deciding on their behalf?

While espousing the principle of sovereign equality, India also asked why the “UFC model is content to relegate the delegations of the Global South to the category of non-permanent seats.

Speaking on behalf of G4 — which includes Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan — Ambassador Kamboj said that the expansion of the council in both categories is “absolutely essential”.

The recent events, she said, have indicated that the Security Council has not been able to effectively address its primary mandate of the maintenance of international peace and security.

The model, with 22 non-permanent members, including the present E10, does not provide the checks and balances to the issues related to P5 E10 dynamics, she added.

“We do not operate on the basis of vetoes in the United Nations General Assembly. Thus, when asking for an impossible consensus preceding text-based negotiations, isn’t the UFC just vetoing the whole process and suggesting a my-way-or-the-highway’ approach,” Kamboj asked.

India has maintained that in a multipolar world, there needs to be a new logic to the permanent category composition if it were to continue.