Tricolour to fly high at UNSC as India begins 2-year tenure as non-permanent member

The Indian National Flag will be installed at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) stakeout on Monday as the country begins its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the apex UN body during a special ceremony on January 4, the first official working day of 2021. Flags of four other new incoming non-permanent members will also be installed. Along with India, the incoming UNSC members are Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico. They will join non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam and the five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

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India will be the UNSC President in August 2021

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti will install the Tricolour and is expected to briefly address the ceremony. India will be the UNSC President in August 2021 and will preside over the Council again for a month in 2022. The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month. The tradition of the flag installation ceremony was introduced by Kazakhstan in 2018.

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“Like the changing of the guards, it is the changing of flags from outgoing to the new elected members. This solemn ceremony serves the purpose of affirming and respecting the new members with the recognition they deserve,” Kazakhstan’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Kairat Umarov had said during the 2019 ceremony. "The ceremony was confirmed by all 15 UNSC members to become an annual tradition of the Security Council," Umarov added.

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On December 30, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had shared glimpses from the past when India took part in the conferences. Terming the video as the “Highlights from India’s past tenures at the UNSC”, the black and white images dated back to 1950-51 when India presided over the adoptions of Resolutions, calling for the cessation of hostilities during Korean War and assistance for Korea, as the president of the UNSC.

On December 31, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain welcomed India’s eighth tenure at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for two years starting from January 1, 2021. In a statement shattered on Twitter, Lenain not only said that “France welcomes India” but also vouched for India to get a “permanent seat” in the agency. French Ambassador to India also expressed eagerness to work alongside India to counter the challenges including terrorism.

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(With PTI Inputs)