UK reaffirms support for India’s permanent United Nations Security Council seat

The United Kingdom reaffirmed its support for adding new permanent seats for India, Germany, Japan, and Brazil to the UN Security Body (UNSC), advocating for the council to be expanded to include both permanent and non-permanent categories.

Addressing the UNSC’s annual debate on Security Council reform, UK Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said, “Our position is well known. The United Kingdom has long called for the expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.”

“We support the creation of new permanent seats for India, Germany, Japan and Brazil, as well as permanent African representation on the Council,” she said that the UK is in favour of increasing the number of non-permanent members, bringing the overall number of Security Council members to around 20.

After four decades of fair representation, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, addressed on behalf of the G4 nations, which also included Brazil, Germany, and Japan, and expressed her sorrow about the lack of real activity.

“Representation is an inescapable precondition for legitimacy and effectiveness,” she said.

“The longer the Security Council reform is stalled, the greater its deficit in representation. And representation is an inescapable precondition for its legitimacy and effectiveness,” she added.

“This will not be achieved without enhancing the membership in both categories. Only this will enable the Council to effectively manage today’s global conflicts and increasingly complex and interconnected global challenges it faces today,” she further said.