Pakistan voices opposition, says more permanent members will compound UNSC's inequality, disfunctionality

Pakistan has opposed the addition of new permanent members to the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) saying it will compound the council’s inequality and dysfunctionality.

Addressing a meeting of Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) Framework, Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram strongly reiterated Pakistan’s principled position on UNSC reforms and said Pakistan is opposed to expansion in the permanent category along with veto.

"Permanent membership contradicts the fundamental precepts of sovereign equality, democracy, representativeness and accountability," Ambassador Akram said. He continued that it is only through an expansion in the non-permanent category that the ideal of a comprehensive reform can be met.

"If progress is to be made in SC reform process, it is only by searching for areas of agreement through painstaking discussions in the IGN and through sober consultations, mutual accommodation and innovative compromise," Akram said. The process cannot be railroaded by bullying and coercion, he added.

The Security Council is one of the UN’s six main organs and is aimed at maintaining international peace and security. The UNSC has 15 members and five of them — US, UK, Russia, China and France — are permanent members, who have veto rights.

The ten elected or non-permanent members have a tenure of two years. At present, the non-permanent members are Estonia, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Norway, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.