New permanent seats in UNSC won't make it more representative: Pakistan

Reiterating its opposition to an increase in the number of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan has questioned how adding new permanent seats could enhance the panel's representativeness and effectiveness.

Speaking in the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform on Thursday, Pakistan's Permanent Member to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said no cogent answer has ever been given to how the move would make the Security Council more representative.

Adding new permanent members to the 15-member body would in fact have the opposite effect, the Pakistani envoy said.

Calling for comprehensive reform of the Security Council, Lodhi warned against a piecemeal approach and argued that the negotiating process must be member-state driven, aimed at achieving the widest possible political acceptance.

Pointing to the role of non-permanent members in the Security Council in bringing about a gradual improvement in its working methods, Lodhi made the case that an increase in such members would further improve the functioning of the council.

"The fate of the rules of procedure of the Security Council is also dependent on the composition of the Council," she added.

She said that all member states had expressed a desire for greater participation in Security Council's work, as well as "enhanced transparency and accountability of the council".

"If we all truly share these ideals, then we must be able to justify our positions in other key areas of reform on the same principles," Ambassador Lodhi said.

"One cannot claim to seek a more democratic, accountable, transparent, effective and representative council in one key area of reform and then propose ideas in other areas that undercut the same principles," she argued.

--IANS

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