G4, which includes India, calls for UN Security Council reform

G4 or a Group of four countries, India, Brazil, Japan, and Germany, pointed out that there is an urgency of reformation in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and also said that the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) framework needs structural formation.

Addressing the inaugural IGN meeting of the 77th UN General Assembly (UNGA) session, Germany's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Antje Leendertse, on behalf of G4, said: "I would like to point out that the urgency of Security Council reform - which was once again clearly acknowledged by most of our leaders in the General Debate, last September, including developing and developed countries, from all regions of the globe, and most of the permanent members of this Council - is in absolute dissonance with the working procedures of the IGN."

"It is curious to note that the membership expresses frustration on the inability of the Security Council to fulfil its charter-mandated obligations and yet is prepared to sit idly by observing the complete lack of progress in a process that could help to overcome the Council's structure deficiencies," she added.

During the speech, the Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN noted that for the past 15 years, the members are meeting for the IGN but still didn't have a draft to attribute the positions of interested stakeholders, to base the discussions. The member countries do not have a single factual account or record of the IGN proceedings.

"This structural flaw in the format of the IGN contributes immensely to keeping us going around in circles. We need to comprehensively change our approach to this process so that IGN discussions can finally live up to the importance and urgency of the matter. This appeal was clearly articulated in the recent document 'A Call to Action' signed by a diverse group of more than 30 UN members. In this regard, we would like to make a couple of concrete suggestions," Leendertse said.

(ANI)