Abolish Veto Rights or Provide it to New Permanent Members in Reformed UNSC; Demands India

India continued to press for reforms in the UN Security Council. India said that either the veto rights should be abolished completely or it should be provided to new permanent members in a reformed UNSC.

“Either all nations are treated equally in the context of voting rights or else the new permanent members must also be given the veto,” Pratik Mathur, a counsellor at India’s UN Mission said on Wednesday at the General Assembly.

“Extension of veto to new members, in our view, will have no adverse impact on the effectiveness of an enlarged Council,” he said countering arguments made by some countries against expanding permanent membership.

Mathur was speaking at an Assembly debate held on the first anniversary of the landmark resolution requiring a discussion by the Assembly within ten days of a veto being cast in the Council. Now veto power is with five nations, Britain, China, France, the US and Russia, which hold the seat originally given to the Soviet Union.

The Assembly’s resolution in April 2022 on holding debates on vetoes was adopted after the Council was paralysed by Russia’s veto of a resolution in February last year condemning its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia vetoed another resolution in September condemning its referendums in areas of Ukraine it had annexed.