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A Reform of the UNO that should not be Delayed Any Further
It is not only unjust but also absurd to keep a country where one out of six persons of the world lives deprived of permanent membership of the Security Council.
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All those committed to peace and justice want the UN to have a more significant role for achieving justice-based peace. This also needs internal reform within the UN, and one such reform is to increase the number of permanent members of the Security CouncilUN Security CouncilOne of the six principal organs of the United Nations, charged with maintaining international peace and security. It has 15 members, including five permanent members with veto power. by including countries like India and Brazil and at least one representative country from Africa.
In particular the case of India for permanent membership of the UNOUnited Nations OrganizationThe intergovernmental organization established in 1945 to promote international cooperation and to create and maintain international order. Often referred to simply as the UN. Security Council is a very strong one and should have been accepted a long time back. This becomes evident by comparing India’s strong points for permanent membership with the status of some of the existing members.
India has about 18 per cent of the world’s people living in this country, compared to less than one per cent each for UK and France. By what yardstick of justice can a country having less than one per cent of the world’s population have greater justification for permanent membership compared to a country having 18 percent of the population. However India has never asked for replacing any other country, India has only asked for being included as an additional member for which there is a strong case. In fact it is not only unjust but also absurd to keep a country where one out of six persons of the world lives deprived of permanent membership of the Security Council. This harms not just India, this also harms the representative character of the Security Council. It is only by including India, Brazil and an African country (apart from anyone else with strong claims) that the representative character of the Security Council can be improved.
While population is the most important factor among several, those emphasizing economic aspects also mention this additional criterion. Here too India scores much higher. While France and UK each have 2.1% share of world GDP (Purchasing Power ParityPurchasing Power Parity (PPP)A theory that states that exchange rates between currencies are in equilibrium when their purchasing power is the same in each of the two countries. It’s used to compare economic productivity and standards of living between countries.), India has 8.1 per cent share.
Whereas the USA contributes 0.04%, the UK contributes 0.57%, and France contributes 1.37% of UN’s peacekeeping troops, India contributes 9.43 per cent (latest data for June 2026).
What is more, there is stronger support for UN in India compared to France, Britain and USA. According to Spring Global Attitude Surveys of the Pew Research Center, the percentage of the population having an unfavorable view of the UN is only 18% in India, whereas it is 43% in both the USA and France, and 33% in the UK, despite the fact that the UN has been consistently unfair to India and has denied it the due place it deserves.
India has consistently been hospitable to various leading as well as lesser-known UN agencies, providing them some of the most conducive conditions for their work, despite having been harshly treated by the UN system in some contexts.
India has been a leader of the non-aligned movementNon-Aligned Movement (NAM)A forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It emerged during the Cold War as an effort by newly independent nations to avoid taking sides in the superpower rivalry. and has contributed well to several peace initiatives of the post-1950 world, while France and the UK have been involved in several wars and aggressions on their own, or as junior partners of the USA, apart from being the perpetrators of some of the worst exploitation, violence, and cruelties the world has ever seen in its history in the era of colonialism and settler colonialism..
Hence considering all these factors, there should be no further delay in including India, Brazil and at least one leading African country soon as permanent members of the UN Security Council, together with anyone else with a strong justified claim.
Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Rift.
