In a major diplomatic win, 55 countries of the Asia-Pacific group at the UN have endorsed India for a 2-year non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council in 2021/22.
The elections to the non-permanent seats of UN Security Council would be held next year. India is confident of winning the elections.
Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, tweeted a video thanking the 55 Asia-Pacific nations for their support.
A unanimous step.
Asia-Pacific Group @UN unanimously endorses India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the Security Council for 2 year term in 2021/22.
Thanks to all 55 members for their support. ?? pic.twitter.com/ekNhEa19U1
— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) June 26, 2019
In a tweet, he Akbaruddin shared a video showing the flag of the countries which have endorsed India including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan and Pakistan.
India launched its campaign to win the UNSC seat at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the capital of Kyrgyzstan last month. Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting said, “The SCO must support the member countries’ candidatures for the non-permanent membership of the UNSC for the years 2021-2022 and 2027-2028”.
After 8 years since the last term, India is seeking re-election into the non-permanent seat of the UNSC. Previously, India has been a non-permanent member of seven terms: 1950-51, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977-78, 1984-85, 1991-92 and 2011-12.
The United Nations Security Council consists of five permanent members: United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia and France. Along with that, it has 10 non-permanent members elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
For several years now, India had been advocating for the expansion of the number of permanent seats in UN Security Council. Reforms had been hindered mainly due to the opposition of ‘United for Consensus’, a 12-member group that opposes adding permanent members, has used the technicality of preventing the adoption of a negotiating text to be the basis of the discussions and go forward.
