{"id":2967,"date":"2026-10-27T09:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T09:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/27\/india-warns-new-unsc-seats-without-veto-second-class\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T09:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T09:31:13","slug":"india-warns-new-unsc-seats-without-veto-second-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/27\/india-warns-new-unsc-seats-without-veto-second-class\/","title":{"rendered":"India warns new UN Security Council seats without veto would be \u2018second\u2011class\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>India\u2019s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Harish\u202fParvathaneni, warned on Monday that a reform of the Security Council that introduces a new class of permanent members without veto authority would effectively consign those members to a \u201csecond\u2011class\u201d status. He argued that such a move would preserve the decision\u2011making dominance of the existing five permanent powers \u2013 China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States \u2013 and would not address the structural inequities the reform process seeks to correct.<\/p>\n<h2>India\u2019s stance on veto and permanent membership<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking at the Inter\u2011Governmental Negotiations (IGN) plenary on the \u201cCluster Debate on the Question of the Veto\u201d in the General Assembly, Parvathaneni reiterated a long\u2011standing Indian position: as long as the veto remains part of the Council\u2019s framework, every permanent member must possess that power. \u201cIndia\u2019s position on the veto is principled and well known\u2026 We reiterate that as long as the veto exists, it must be held by all permanent members of a reformed Council,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that creating a separate category of long\u2011term members without a veto would not alter the P5\u2019s decision\u2011making dynamic but would instead produce a tiered system. \u201cCreating another category of long\u2011term members without the veto effectively makes them \u2018second\u2011class\u2019 members,\u201d the ambassador explained.<\/p>\n<p>Parvathaneni also cautioned that the veto should be exercised with \u201cgreat restraint,\u201d especially on matters of international peace and security, and should not become an instrument of narrow political expediency. He highlighted the existence of an \u201ceffective or de facto veto\u201d that can be exercised through consensus\u2011based procedures, such as blocking presidential statements or sanctions committee decisions, often without a formal vote.<\/p>\n<h2>Historical context and India\u2019s reform proposals<\/h2>\n<p>The Security Council currently comprises fifteen members: five permanent members with veto rights and ten non\u2011permanent members elected for two\u2011year terms. The only expansion of the Council since its founding in 1945 occurred in 1965, when the number of non\u2011permanent seats grew from six to ten, leaving the permanent\u2011to\u2011non\u2011permanent ratio shifting from 5:6 to 5:10. Parvathaneni noted that this change \u201cfurther strengthened the relative power of the P5.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India has consistently called for an expansion of both permanent and non\u2011permanent categories, arguing that focusing solely on increasing non\u2011permanent seats would lead to \u201cfailure\u201d of reform efforts. New Delhi asserts that the United Nations, created in the aftermath of World War\u202fII, no longer reflects 21st\u2011century geopolitical realities and must be updated to remain fit for purpose.<\/p>\n<p>In line with its broader reform agenda, India is seeking a permanent seat at the \u201chorse\u2011shoe table\u201d while also pursuing a non\u2011permanent seat for the 2028\u201129 term. Elections for that seat are slated for June of the following year, with India slated to contest the sole Asia\u2011Pacific Group seat against Tajikistan. India\u2019s most recent tenure on the Council was in 2021\u201122, its eighth term, following earlier memberships in 1950\u201151, 1967\u201168, 1972\u201173, 1977\u201178, 1984\u201185, 1991\u201192 and 2011\u201112.<\/p>\n<h2>Calls for comprehensive negotiations<\/h2>\n<p>Parvathaneni stressed that the veto question cannot be isolated from other reform dimensions, including membership categories, regional representation, the Council\u2019s size and its working methods. He urged the commencement of \u201ctext\u2011based negotiations\u201d with clearly defined timelines and milestones, arguing that the Council\u2019s credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness hinge on a holistic redesign rather than a narrow focus on the veto.<\/p>\n<p>He also criticized the current reliance on consensus in the IGN process, describing it as a \u201cdisguised, de facto veto.\u201d Referring to the General Assembly resolution that set the negotiation framework, Parvathaneni said the guiding principle was \u201cthe widest possible political acceptance, rather than consensus.\u201d He lamented that after seventeen negotiation cycles, \u201cwe have no outcome to show for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concluding his remarks, the Indian envoy affirmed that the questions of credibility, legitimacy and efficacy that loom over the Security Council will only be resolved by constructing a body \u201cfit for purpose, whose architecture reflects today\u2019s realities and not that of the outcome of a war eight decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s UN envoy said any reform that creates permanent members without veto rights would relegate them to second\u2011class status and leave the P5 in control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[3318,3320,3319,3316,3317],"class_list":["post-2967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-india-diplomacy","tag-international-security","tag-un-reform","tag-un-security-council","tag-veto-power","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}