Indias Role in the Security Council

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 2 UNSC: STRUCTURAL & FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS ....................................................................... 4 INDIAS ROLE IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL .................................................................................. 7 SECURITY COUNCIL & UN REFORMS........................................................................................ 10 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................. 11 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 12

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Indias Role in the Security Council

INTRODUCTION
In the year 1945 the UN was born after the violent and mindless war that ravaged the whole world, the main idea behind the creation of this institution was to have some sort of rule of law at the international level between countries. The earlier experiment of the League of Nations was huge failure and lessons were learnt by the creators of the institution of the UN and in years of existence of the UN, despite all the shortcomings in the institution, this institution has seen the world through tough times like the period of decolonization to the period of cold war and this institution on a daily basis engages with all sorts of issues which concern the world at large like political, social and economic issues. 1 As someone had once very wisely said that the only thing constant in this world is change, so as times are changing accordingly the UN as an institution would also have to change and it is inevitable that the institution would also change. While would be really interesting to have a lengthy discussion on the issue of reforms of the UN but the scope of this paper is a bit different. This paper aims to look into the institution of UN Security Council (hereinafter UNSC) and the role that would be played by India in this very crucial and important institution. India is presently a non-permanent member of the UNSC and it had got elected to membership of the UNSC with a majority of the countries of the UN supporting the candidature of India. The question that now arises is that why is the membership into the UNSC given such importance? Though this question would be addressed after a detailed discussion is made in regard to the powers and functions of the UNSC but I would still hazard a half-baked explanation for the benefit of the person reading this piece. The detailed structural and functional analysis of the UNSC would be done in the first chapter of this paper and so it would not be dealt with in the introduction to this paper. The UNSC has among other responsibilities, the duty to maintain international peace and security in conformity with international law. This is a huge responsibility and wherever there is power, there is politics of all kinds. Everybody i.e. every nation wants be a part of the UNSC because of the power that the UNSC wields at the international level. So for a country like India which has aspirations to become a superpower, would want to have a seat in the UNSC so that it can project an image of a superpower at the international level. Essentially my thesis on why India wants a seat in the UNSC is that India wants power at the
1

Rumki Basu, THE UNITED NATIONS: THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, 369 (2005).

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Indias Role in the Security Council international level so that it can shout to the world that Indias time has come at the international arena. But this explanation given by me is too simplistic an explanation but more or less every reason behind being part of the UNSC is some way or the other related this power hunger of India. With this background it becomes all the more important to do an analysis of the role that India would play in the UNSC given the background of India which is a third world nation with huge disparities in development and a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Further the colonial background of India would also be a factor in shaping international policies. The region that India represents is a region which is afflicted with huge disparities, hunger and poverty and arising out of this disparity are huge problems like issue of communalism and terrorism which this region is especially affected with. So Indias role in these very serious issues would be something worth looking into. Further the role of India in reforming the UNSC and the UN as a whole would be worth looking into. These would be the broad issues that this project aims to look into and hopefully would do a decent job in addressing these issues. In the first part of the project the researcher would look into the UNSC as an institution and the role that is played by this crucial institution, also the role of the UNSC in the larger and changing mandate of the UN would also be looked into. In the second part of the project the researcher would look into the role that India would play by staying within the security council in regard to the larger duties of the UNSC and the final part of the project the researcher would look into the issue of UNSC reforms the 21st century which are highly required and the role that India would play in this crucial issue. As it was said in one of the newspaper reports about Indias election into the UNSC and the real challenge that India faces, Getting the seat was only a small part of the challenge. The bigger trial lies ahead in the course of the two-year term, when India will be called upon to take positions on crucial global issues of war and peace.2

India in the Security Council, THE HINDU (Oct 13, 2010), available at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/india-in-the-security-council/article828742.ece#comments (Last Visited On Dec 20, 2012).

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Indias Role in the Security Council

UNSC: STRUCTURAL & FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

The UNSC is composed of 15 members out of which five members are permanent members of the council namely China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Rest of the 10 members of the council are non-permanent member who are elected by the UN General Assembly for a two year term after which they can contest again for the post.3 This is about the structure of the Security Council but there are countries who have never been elected to the Security Council as members showing the elite nature of the UNSC which is open to a few nations of the world but the powers that have been given to the UNSC are enormous and as per the website of the UNSC the security council has the following functions to perform 1. Maintain international peace and security. 2. Developing friendly relations among nations. 3. To try and solve international problems and at the same time promote respect for human rights. 4. To act as a centre to harmonize the actions of nations. And these four duties of the UNSC have been stated in the UN Charter. Further it has been also stated that while the other organs to the UN can only make recommendations to states, it is the UNSC only which can give binding decisions to member states and then the member states have to follow them.4 Solely looking at the tasks that have been entrusted to the UNSC are serious ones and are a huge duty on the UNSC in itself to perform these functions and this responsibility that has been reposed on the UNSC is the reason why this institution is so important and a post in the UNSC is so much in demand. Carefully looking into the four aims of the UNSC as stated above it can be concluded that the main aim of the institution to maintain international peace and security and the other functions of the institution are some way or the other related to this main function and hence the need to look into the way the UNSC attempts to maintain peace and order across the world. If a complaint is brought before the UNSC in regard to an issue which can be a threat to global peace and security the council would first try to convince the parties to reach an

3 4

http://www.un.org/en/sc/members/ (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). Id.

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Indias Role in the Security Council amicable settlement to the dispute and in the peaceful settlement of the dispute the council has the power to5 1. Set principles for the settlement of the dispute. 2. If required take up the investigation or mediation of the dispute. 3. Send a mission or appoint special envoys 4. Request the Secretary-General to try and pacify both the parties so that the matter can be resolved amicably. If the dispute is not settled amicably and it leads to hostilities then the main aim of the council would be to bring the hostilities to an end in the shortest possible time and apart from this the council has the power to impose directives in the form of economic sanctions and trade embargoes etc. so that pressure is brought about and the parties are forced to listed to the council.6 But these powers of the UNSC are not beyond criticism and the use of economic sanctions against Iraq by way of resolution 687 was severely criticized by experts as that resulted in gross human rights violations which resulted in the death of a lot of children in Iraq.7 Hence it shows that the UNSC as an institution is not above criticism and it is not doubt a political institution rather than a legal body which it is generally perceived to be. Moreover it must be kept in mind that the UNSC derives its real authority not form the legal instrument which created the law but it derives its authority from being a political body and the top nations of the world are a part of this council and hence the power that the council wields in international matters. As regards the functioning of the council is concerned, broadly there are two types of matters which have to be dealt with by the council: substantive and procedural matters. For procedural matters an affirmative vote of nine voters out of the 15 members (each member has one vote) are compulsory for a matter to be passed by the council and for substantive matters 9 affirmative votes are required out of which all the permanent five members have to agree, this stringent rule also known as the veto power which has been used as a political weapon by the permanent members time and again.8 Further is has been mandated that a

5 6

Supra note 3. Elena Katselli, Holding the Security Council Accountable for Human Rights Violations , 1(1) HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL LEGAL DISCOURSE 301, 302 (2007). 7 Ibid at 306 8 Basu, supra note 1, at 62.

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Indias Role in the Security Council representative of all the member states who are members in the council have to be present at the UN headquarters at all the time.9 Just like the Iraq example there are several other example where the council has taken decisions which are totally political decision serving only the interests of the permanent members of the council and there are several stories where the security council has done a really good job in preventing international wars and maintaining international peace and order. The power and influence that the council hold makes this body so popular and a membership so coveted by the member states of the UN. But many people are of the opinion that the council does not have a permanent army because of which the council is not able to perform its duties effectively and there are counter arguments to that as well. As someone had once said very wisely that the strength of international law is in its weakness, I cannot help but concur with this statement because if the council decides to impose its decision by way of force then it would threaten world peace further and states would take it as a threat to their sovereignty and that would result in the whole disintegration of the international order. This is in brief the structural and functional analysis of the council which clearly shows the importance of the council at the international level. The question that now needs to addressed is that after the election of India as a non-permanent member of the council, what would be the role that has to be played by India in the security council and the researcher would mainly base his arguments of the basis of the writings that are available online on the website of the permanent representative to the UN which would show the official position of India on international matters of great importance.

Basu, supra note 1, at 62.

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Indias Role in the Security Council

INDIAS ROLE IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL

Most of the arguments that would be made in this part of the project would be based on the written statement that are there on the website of the Permanent Representative of India to the UN on important issues that are there today at the international level. Basing argument on these written statements would be proper because they would show not just the official position of India on matters of international issue but it would also show the latest position of India on these matters but it must be kept in mind that these positions in itself are fluid and they keep on changing from time to time. My writing today may be relevant but tomorrow my writing might not be relevant at all. India was one of the original members of the UN and India says that since it was one of the founding members of UN it would strongly support the principle of UN would try and forward the principles of International Law, the same has been incorporated in Part IV of the Indian Constitution which is the directive principle of state policy.10 I would go according to the statements that have been issues by the government on various issues. Peacekeeping Missions Since the inception of the UN Peacekeeping forces, India has been the largest contributor of troops and till now Indian troops have taken part in 43 Peacekeeping missions which includes both people from the Police as well as the military and till now the total number of troops that have been contributed are in excess of 1.5 lakhs showing the commitment that India has in regard to the principle of UN. Further in the same note published by the government says that till now out of the troops who have been sent for peace keeping missions, 135 soldiers of India have been martyred and many have got gallantry medals including the highest gallantry medal given by the country.11 Further these peace keeping troops are also involved in giving medical aid to the war affected people. But the question that now would arise is that whether India would be willing to join the US led war on terrorism that is happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries? This would be a question that would come up again and again and as situations change around the world the answer to this question would

10

Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations, available http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/introduction.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 11 Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and Peacekeeping, available http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/contribution.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012).

at at

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Indias Role in the Security Council also change but right now the official policy of the government is to say that the government of India would not be involved in anyway.12 Economic & Development Matters India is one of the growth stories in the world but at the same time the HDI index of India is on the lower end. India is a developing country and hence these issues of inequality and global development and poverty reduction would be issues that would be very close to Indias heart as India is one of the nations which are highly affected by these issues. In support of mu argument India had played a key role to ensure that economic growth of developing countries and the eradication of poverty from the world remains a priority for the UN and this was done through the G77 and to deal with this problem India has advocated for representation of these countries in international organizations which are dealing with the economy, finance and trade related matters, India has also advocated for the increase in ODA (Official Development Assistance) coming to developing countries, also India wants developed countries to transfer technology on equitable terms to these countries. To prove Indias commitment to this issue India had announced a line of credit amounting to US$ 1 billion for the Istanbul Programme of Action.13 Given the nature of policies that India has taken at the international level in regard to this very important issue, India has taken a pro developing countries stand given the background that India has in regard to developing countries. Hence staying within the UNSC gives a larger and more powerful position to India to ensure that justice is delivered to the people who have been victims of the exploitation of these powerful developed countries. These development initiatives should be vigorously pursued by India so that she can project an image of a superpower at the international level. Even though this issue is not totally connected to the council but it is seen that sometimes this issue has become a major bone of contention among the developed nations on the one side and the developing and underdeveloped nations on the other side and hence a discussion on this issue of very important in regard to the larger role of the security council in regard to the maintenance of international peace and security.

12

Ramesh Thakur, Iraqs War & Irans Nuclear Challenge, 41(30) ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY 3297, 3300 (2006) 13 Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations Economy & Development Issues, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/devlpmnt.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012).

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Indias Role in the Security Council

Peace Building As the issue of peacekeeping forces have already been taken into consideration on an earlier occasion in this same chapter hence the same issue would not be discussed again here but the issue of peace building is a bit different and hence this matter has to be taken into consideration. India has taken the position that the international community must be aware of the changes that are happening at the ground level and with that the nature of peace keeping missions are also changing and hence the peacekeeping forces must be aware of the ground realities of the country where they are serving and at the same time the countries 14 who are contributing to the peace keeping forces should also be engaged in the process of mission planning at all levels, India feels that peace building should be a nationally led plan as they are the ones who know the country best and at the same time the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) of which India is member should play only a consultative and secondary role, basically acting as a support organization for the peace building process.15 Being a country which has seen the horrors of colonialism, India would prefer a situation where the country is playing a supportive role and not take over the country and rule according to the whims and fancies of the country which has taken over the nation. Further the suggestion of making the countries part of the mission planning a very fair stand to take after all the countries who are spending to ensure peace in a certain nation, they have every right to see to it their resources are spent in a better and effective manner. Terrorism As far as the issue of terrorism is concerned, India is one of the nations of the world affected by the menace of terrorism. India is a signatory to 13 sectoral conventions on terrorism which have been enacted by the UN which has the objective to provide for a broad legal framework within which terrorism can be effectively tackled, to show Indias commitment to the issue the country took the initiative to draft the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the year 1996 and it was Indias persistence that this convention was advanced to the 6th Committee of the UN General Assembly in the year 2010 with most of
14

Amber Fitzgerald, Security Council Reform: Creating A more Representative Body of the Entire UN Membership, 12(2) PACE INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW 319, 321 (2000) 15 Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations Peace Keeping & Peace Building, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/peacekeeping.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012).

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Indias Role in the Security Council the contentious issues resolved and taken care of.16 India also supports the resolutions of the UNSC in regard to the sanctions against Al-Qaeda/Taliban and Indias Permanent Representative to the UN heads the Security Councils Counter-Terrorism Committer (CTC) showing the importance that India gives to the issue of counter terrorism.17 I feel that the importance that India gives to the issues of counter terrorism at the international level is because of Indias own experiences with terrorism both home grown and external and the ultimately the unnecessary losses of life that it causes. Thus it is very much required that India takes very stern actions against the perpetrators of terrorist violence.

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SECURITY COUNCIL & UN REFORMS

In the latest statement that has been given by Indias Permanent representative to the UN on the issue of Security Council reform has said that the India is a member of a group known as L69 which is a group of developing countries who have been most vocal in expressing their demand for a reformed security council so that the Security Council is reflective of the times that are prevailing at present and hence this has resulted in the convergence of opinions of the African Group and the L69.18 The representative also remarks that not even single country has opposed the proposal of greater representation of countries from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Carribean region. The Indian camp feels that the increased membership of Security Council would be somewhere in the mid-twenties and this increased membership would not only reflect the realities of the present times but it would also increase the credibility and respect of the UNSC which is in the benefit of the international organization.19 I would agree with the position that has been taken by India on this crucial issue of UNSC reforms. To give a little bit of background to the issue of UNSC reforms, this issue was first introduced in the Security Council in the year 1979 as a point for discussion in the General Assembly and the idea behind this proposal was equitable representation for the nations.20 Finally in this regard the Secretary Generals High Level Panel proposed two models for
16

Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations Terrorism, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/terrorism.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 17 Id. 18 Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Indias Statement on UNSC Reforms, available at http://www.un.int/india/2012/ind2137.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 19 Id. 20 Kamrul Hossain, The Challenge and Prospect of Security Council Reform , 7(2) REGENT JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 299, 300 (2010)

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Indias Role in the Security Council reforming the Security Council in the year 2004 and the first model which is Model A suggested that the new council would consist of 6 permanent seats and 3 non-permanent seats which would have a term of two years while Model B suggested that the new permanent seats would not be created but a category of 8 four year renewable seats and 1 two year nonpermanent and non-renewable seat would be created but at present there is no consensus on this issue.21 In my personal opinion, having a consensus on this issue of expansion is very difficult but looking at this issue solely from an academic perspective I am inclined to say there is an urgent need to make the body more representative so that all sorts of points of view can be taken into consideration and hence allow the UNSC to function in a better manner. Also it must be taken into consideration that the expansion would also increase the credibility of UNSC at the international level because the people would feel that decision have been taken after due deliberations and taking into account all the perspectives on the issue.

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CONCLUSION
In the first part of the project the researcher has looked into the UNSC as an organization and the functions that it performs. In the second part of the project the researcher has looked into the position of India on various issues in regard to the Security Council and the issues that the Security Council is involved and the final part of the project the researcher has looked into the issue of UNSC reforms which is due for long time and in my opinion should be done as soon as possible so that the UNSC is reflective more of the times in which we are living. But it must be kept in mind that these positions are fluid and they would keep on changing according to the times and as the international political scenario becomes different. It would have been really interesting to deal with the larger issue of UN reforms but the same is not possible because of the limitation of this project.

21

Ibid, at 307.

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Indias Role in the Security Council

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARTICLES 1. Kamrul Hossain, The Challenge and Prospect of Security Council Reform, 7(2) REGENT JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 299, 300 (2010). 2. Elena Katselli, Holding the Security Council Accountable for Human Rights Violations, 1(1) HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL LEGAL DISCOURSE 301, 302 (2007). 3. Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/introduction.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 4. Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and Peacekeeping, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/contribution.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 5. Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations Peace Keeping & Peace Building, available at

http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/peacekeeping.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 6. Permanent Mission of India to the UN, India and the United Nations Terrorism, available at http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/terrorism.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 7. Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Indias Statement on UNSC Reforms, available at http://www.un.int/india/2012/ind2137.pdf (Last Visited on Dec 20, 2012). 8. http://www.un.org/en/sc/members 9. India in the Security Council, THE HINDU (Oct 13, 2010), available at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/india-in-the-securitycouncil/article828742.ece#comments (Last Visited On Dec 20, 2012).

BOOKS 1. Rumki Basu, THE UNITED NATIONS: THE STRUCTURE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, (2005). International Law II
AND

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OF AN