India doubled down on pushing reforms in the United Nations and proposed NORMS, or New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism, even as it reprimanded Pakistan and China on the issue of terrorism.
Presiding over the UN Security Council open debate on ‘Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism’, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar without naming Pakistan, called out credentials of a country that harboured Osama bin Laden, the terror chief. Jaishankar also said that “multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators”, reflecting China’s continued blocking of UN sanctions on Pakistan-based terrorists.
With a focus on ‘Call for Change’ in the functional apparatus of multilateral bodies such as the United Nations Security Council, India said that there is a need for ‘New Orientation for Reformed Multilateral Systems’ (NORMS) to determine a global order that best reflects contemporary realities.
Jaishankar said that the debate on equitable representation and increase in UNSC membership has ‘meandered aimlessly’ over last three decades while “the real world” has changed dramatically.
Multilateral platforms misused to protect terror perpetrators
India said that even as the world is coming together with a more collective response to address the challenge of terrorism, “multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators”, reflecting India’s multilateral security challenge related to the continued protection of Pakistan-harboured and sponsored terrorists finding multilateral refuge among the Chinese diplomats.
China has blocked the UN listing of a number of Pakistan-based terrorists, including Sajid Mir, Abdul Rauf, Abdul Makki and Shahid Mahmood this year.
Following his address, Jaishankar also tore down Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto’s assertion that adding new permanent members ‘will add to the paralysis on the working of UNSC’.
Jaishankar pointed out Pakistan’s credentials of hosting Osama Bin Laden and “attacking a neighbouring parliament”, while referring to 2001 attack on Indian parliament by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists.
Watch: EAM Jaishankar tears down Pakistani FM Bilawal Bhutto after he rakes Kashmir at UNSC; Says don’t justify “state sponsership of cross border terrorism..” as he lists Islamabad’s “credentials” of hosting Osama bin Laden, role in Indian Parliament attack. pic.twitter.com/7ZlaEQMICQ
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) December 14, 2022
‘Much of the world believed that their interests did not matter’
Addressing the “knock-on effects” of conflict situations, India emphasised on the need for a “more broad-based global governance”.
“Recent concerns over food, fertiliser and fuel security were not adequately articulated in the highest councils of decision making. Much of the world was therefore led to believe that their interests did not matter. We cannot let that happen again,” S. Jaishankar said, after pointing out the change in old world order as reflected by the way “many vulnerable nations of the Global South got their first (COVID-19) vaccines from beyond their traditional sources”.
‘No piecemeal changes will be accepted’
Reflecting on the debates on UNSC reforms since the last three decades, Jaishankar said that the world has “nothing to show” in terms of reforms in multilateral institutions. India called for transforming the current moment of crisis into a moment of multilateralism.
“This is creating an intense sense of frustration among the wider membership. Attempts to propose piecemeal changes will not be accepted by them as an alternative,” S. Jaishankar said.
India took over the presidency of UN Security Council on December 1, in the final month of its two-year stint as a non-permanent member in the council.
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“Reform is the need of the day. And I am confident that the Global South especially shares India’s determination to persevere,” Jaishankar said.
