New York: India has said that multilateral institutions like the UN must undergo metamorphosis to remain credible, and tangible progress on reform of the Security Council is essential to better address challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu, speaking at the Informal Consultations on the Declaration for the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the UN, said that at a time when the world is grappling with increasingly complex challenges, "we need to reaffirm our collective commitment to multilateralism".
The United Nations is marking 75 years of its existence this year and India has led the call for speeding up the long-pending reform process, saying the landmark year is the most opportune one for undertaking decisive action on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms.
India has been calling for the reform of the UNSC along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
The G4 nations of Brazil, Germany, Japan and India support each other's bids for permanent seats on the UNSC.
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Ambassador Naidu said: "While the centrality of multilateral institutions like the United Nations to international relations is recognised, if these institutions are to be relevant and credible, they must periodically undergo renewal and metamorphosis, so that they do not remain relics of an outdated geo-political construct of the 1940's".
"While we all may not agree on the specifics of reform, we can all agree that tangible progress on reform of the key organs of the UN, in particular the Security Council, is essential if we are to better address the many challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Our declaration should reflect this," Naidu said, stressing that the declaration, whether concise or not, should be the one that makes all countries proud.
Other key areas that need greater focus and concerted action is closing the gender gap in incomes and wages, providing social protection to workers in informal sectors and creation of more jobs in formal sector, addressing negative impacts of trade and investment policies on workers in informal sector including women, Naidu said.
He further said that full and effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda will remain a priority in this decade for action and recognising and harnessing the agency of women and youth in development would be critical.
(With inputs from PTI)
