'India to be voice of reason & moderation at UNSC': Former MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup

Former spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup on Thursday, June 18, said that 'India will be a voice of reason' and 'moderation', as the country won the United Nations Security Council elections unopposed and made its non-permanent entry into the apex global table for the eighth time. 'India will be an advocate of dialogue and a proponent of international law, Swarup said in his tweet.

India has been elected as a non-permanent member to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the eighth-time after voting concluded at the UN headquarters in New York City on Wednesday, June 17. India was the only country from the Asia-Pacific Group and won the election unopposed. India got 184 out of the 192 valid votes. The UNSC term will begin in January 2021.

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On June 5, the Ministry of External Affairs released the brochure which outlined India's priorities to secure a seat. "Ten years since we were last elected to the Security Council, we are facing four very different challenges to international peace and security – the normal process of international governance has been at an increasing strain as frictions have increased, traditional and non-traditional security challenges continue to grow unchecked -- terrorism is the most egregious of such examples. Global institutions remain unreformed and under representative, they are therefore less able to deliver, the COVID-19 pandemic and its grave economic repercussions will test the world like never before," he said.

India has been actively pursuing a permanent membership in the UN Security Council for years and has received support from four of the five permanent members. Barring China, the other permanent members of the Security Council have backed India to join as a permanent member, including two successive US governments.    

The UN General Assembly annually elects five non-permanent members (out of 10 in total) for a two-year term. The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis -- five for African and Asian States; one for Eastern European States; two for Latin American and Caribbean States; and two for Western European and other States.

READ | India elected unopposed to UNSC non-permanent seat for the eighth time with 184 votes