September UNGA month at Taj Pierre in New York has become my address from years now. Each year, I attend the UNGA week as part of my longstanding association with WFUNA, and it has become a tradition. This year was no different, but there was a moment of personal reflection when I saw Tanmay Lal, Secretary (West), MEA at UN before Dr S. Jaishankar took the floor at the UNGA. It took me back to 2016, when I first met him at the Indian Mission at the UN. Time has passed, but the essence of those discussions remains fresh.
We have just passed the UNGA week — that eventful time in September every year when world leaders converge in New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly. They look very stately behind that wooden lectern, standing out against a green granite background. And once they have spoken, these men and women come out on the sunny porch and hug each other as cameras and photographers go on a tizzy. Every handshake, every hug is analysed and commented upon — from Dhaka to DC. Placards are written, slogans are shouted… all is well with the world.
To tell you the truth, the glass-steel-and-concrete structure at the UN headquarters has never attracted me. From the outside, it seems a rather static, unimaginative parallelogram, as if wedged into the New York soil with a giant hammer. But it’s the inside of this building that has always intrigued me. I would imagine stately diplomats, between mouthfuls of canape or ceviche, debating the fate of the world. Just the sheer grandeur of the Security Council and the General Assembly gave me goosebumps. Grim-looking men and women listening with their white headphones, enrapt in attention, as if missing one word could result in ICBMs criss-crossing the planet.
But who exactly are these people at the Security Council? Who are these 15 delegations who sit at the round table? How did they get there? Well, the answer is not blowing in the wind. Five of them are there for good — permanent members, the big guys: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is a cosy club. Any one of them can shout down all the others. Ten others — non-permanent members — come, stay for two years and go back to wait their turn to return. The General Assembly decides which 10 will join the Big Five at the high table.
As we leave behind the unipolar world led by the US, more and more countries are jostling for attention and power. And rightly so. More people from more regions will like to sit at the table — permanently. The world’s geopolitical realities have changed drastically since the Security Council was set up in 1945, and the veto power exercised by the permanent members has even harmed UN member states in some cases, while protecting some naughty boys.
The new India also wants to be counted at the high table. We think we matter. India and the Global South justifiably point out that military conflict is no longer the only threat confronting mankind. In fact, climate change and pandemics are just as consequential threats, with the most vulnerable populations based in countries that are not permanent members. Such threats cannot be mitigated unless the Security Council is expanded to reflect these concerns. As the world’s most populous country and its fifth largest economy, India is no longer a bit-part player in geopolitics. Our strategy of multilateralism means that we don’t take sides blindly. Rather, our political, military and cultural heft makes us a valuable voice and a crucial ally.
India’s position and power on the global stage have increased manifold since my own visit to the UN building on June 29, 2016. In New York, everybody always looks busy and so did I. I went to the Indian Mission and met Ambassador Tanmay Lal, the then Ambassador DPR of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. It was a courtesy call. From his office I went to the UNGA to witness what turned out to be an important day in the life of the Assembly.
In 2016, there were 193 members at the UNGA. On the day I attended, several rounds of secret ballots elected Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan to serve on the UN’s Security Council for a period of two years, starting from January 1, 2017. This was the election for the five non-permanent seats in the Security Council divided on the basis of geographical grouping. Ethiopia and Bolivia were elected uncontested. Sweden, pitted against Italy and the Netherlands, did extremely well and won one of the two seats from the Western Europe and other groups in the morning rounds itself.
On the other hand, Thailand lost to Kazakhstan in the Asia-Pacific region. The real contest took place between Italy and Netherlands vying for the only one non-permanent council seat. After many rounds of voting, there were no clear winners and, by 5pm, both countries had got 95 votes each. Following the deadlock, the two nations suggested sharing the two-year term, each with a one-year period. I was told this was an unprecedented situation since the UN initiated the rotational membership of countries at the Security Council in 1963. I also learnt that the General Assembly would take a decision next day on who, between Italy and the Netherlands, would go first. What I couldn’t see, however, was the fierce diplomacy and negotiations that took place in the backrooms.
In the evening, I attended a reception hosted by Thailand in a beautiful hall overlooking the Hudson river. The foreign ministers and ambassadors of several countries showed up. It was gracious of Thailand to host a reception even after they lost. I rubbed shoulders with Annika Soder, then deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, and Erlan A. Idrissov, the then Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, and congratulated them.
It was my moment at the world’s high table. Eight years later, as I attended the UNGA, the importance of dialogue and representation was more pronounced than ever. I stood with the global community, echoing the sentiments of Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, and couldn’t help but resonate with the remarks made by the Israeli Prime Minister. This year, the stakes felt higher, the discussions more urgent, and the call for reform louder.
