India has begun its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on January 1, 2021. It is the eighth time that India has a seat in the UN Security Council.
Established by the UN Charter in 1945, the UN Security Council or UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It is headquartered in New York. The primary responsibility of the UNSC is to maintain international peace and security. Further, UNSC is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
Composition of UNSC: The UNSC consists of 15 members including 05 permanent members (the United States, the Russian Federation, France, China, and the United Kingdom) and 10 non-permanent members that are elected for a two-year term by United Nations General Assembly. The presidency of the council rotates every month among its 15 members.
India is elected as a non-permanent member of UNSC for a two-year term 2021-22. The election process was carried out by the UN General Assembly in which India was elected after winning 184 votes out of a total of 193 votes.
India was the only candidate from the Asia-Pacific category for the year 2021-22. This is India’s eighth time at the UNSC. Previously, India had been a member in the years 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992, and 2011-12.
India has committed to promoting international peace and security by its 5-S approach:
The 5S approach of India stands for
Samman – Respect
Samvad – Dialogue
Sahyog – Cooperation
Shanti – Peace
Samriddhi – Prosperity
In the fast-changing dynamics, the issues that will arise during India’s tenure two and three years down the road, in the highest decision-making organ concerned with peace and conflict in the global organization, are clearly problematic. Some of the challenges for India can be:
Tensions between major powers; proxy wars in West Asia, and widespread and scattershot use of threat and economic sanctions by the United States.
The rise of China and the bogey of Russian aggression are resisted through military and economic measures by Washington.
The race is on for supremacy in artificial intelligence, high technology, and 5G which will have strategic significance in future decades.
Rising polarization between the major powers.
'America First' doctrine makes U.S. foreign policy more transactional, which in turn will generate less traction to the reform process within the UN and the expansion of permanent membership of the UNSC to which India aspires.
The inclusion of India, Japan, Germany, and Brazil in the UNSC, to which package India is formally committed, will create an even greater imbalance in favor of the West versus the Rest in world affairs.
India needs to uphold the objective of a multipolar world and counter existing trends towards unilateralism, ethnocentrism, protectionism, and racial intolerance.
To protect the World Trade Organisation from American attempts to undermine it, since the WTO’s dispute mechanism is a resource for developing countries.
India should attempt to make progress on the non-discriminatory elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
Protection of the environment against global warming, safeguarding outer space from weaponization and enhancing respect for diversity and plurality in world politics.
India should underline the validity of Article 2 of the UN Charter that provides for state sovereignty and safeguards countries against outside interference in the domestic affairs of other states.
In upholding respect for a rules-based order in international society, India should underline the sanctity of treaties such as the multilateral accord with Iran endorsed by the Security Council and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
New Delhi will feel in the next few years that its time has come for a major role on the world stage, but the big player status will be difficult without India being pivotal in the South Asian region. In this respect, India’s regional status is insufficiently credible.
Accordingly, on all issues before the UNSC, India must give exceptional weightage as to how they will have an impact on the Indian subcontinent.
Demosthenes in Fourth Century BC Athens stated that diplomats had "no battleships at their disposal... their weapons are words and opportunities". India's presence on the UNSC will present opportunities to enhance the country’s reputation.