India’s Stance: India opposes introducing religion or faith as a basis for representation in the UN Security Council, emphasizing regional representation as the accepted norm.
Comprehensive Reform: India advocates for reforms that include expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories to achieve meaningful reform. Partial reforms are deemed insufficient.
G4’s Position: India, along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan (G4), seeks permanent membership, reflecting contemporary global realities. The G4 model proposes increasing the UNSC to 25 or 26 members, including 11 permanent and 14 or 15 non-permanent members.
Current Composition: The UNSC currently has 15 members: 5 permanent members (P5 – China, France, Russia, UK, USA) with veto power, and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
Uniting for Consensus (UfC) Group: This group (including Argentina, Canada, and others) prefers increasing only non-permanent seats, proposing a 27-member council without expanding permanent membership.
Arab Group’s Demand: Bahrain, speaking for the Arab group, demands full privileges for an Arab permanent seat and proportionate representation in non-permanent seats.
France’s Support: France supports India’s permanent membership and advocates for permanent seats for African states and other nations like Brazil, Germany, and Japan. France recognizes the veto power for new permanent members.
Inefficiency Concerns: India rejects the argument that an expanded UNSC would be inefficient, stating that a reformed council with improved working methods would be effective.
Text-Based Negotiations: The G4 supports text-based negotiations with defined timelines and milestones to achieve concrete reforms.
