Pakistan calls for a UN Charter based approach to reform the Security Council

(2013-02-05)

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan has called for a democratic reform of the Security Council, based on collective and cooperative approaches underpinning the United Nations’ Charter. The UN Charter which enunciates equal rights of nations small and large and which calls for unity to maintain international peace and security should inspire a new approach to Security Council reform, he stated.

Minister of State was addressing the Ministerial conference titled “New Approaches to Security Council reform” held in Rome, Italy on 4 February 2012. He stated that UN membership needed new approaches to Security Council based on flexibility and innovation. “What we need to avoid is harping on rigid position and living in fantasies of unverifiable majority”, he added. He termed the aspiration of individual countries for permanent membership of the Security Council, as anachronistic remnants of the age of world wars and antecedent animosities. Such power configuration has undergone a radical change. The Minister noted that driven by a desire to unite the UN membership rather than splintering it, Pakistan and other members of United for Consensus Group (UfC) proposed a compromise offer in 2009, which should be reciprocated.

More than 70 countries attended the Conference in Rome on Security Council reform. The Conference was jointly organized by UfC members Italy and Spain.

Participants of the Conference which included representatives of all leading groups of Security Council reform, urged inclusive consultations and political will for a compromise solution, which should enjoy the widest possible consensus among UN member states. Participants noted that divisive solution would undermine the Security Council and the credibility of the United Nations as guarantor of international peace and security.

Strong convergence emerged on the need to increase Security Council’s accountability, transparency and effectiveness.

A wide majority made references to the need for a more inclusive UN Security Council with increased profile of the regional dimension.

Islamabad
05 February 2013

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