India begins campaign for the election as a non-permanent member of the UNSC

New Delhi – On Friday, India began its campaign to contest election for the non-permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council. While doing so, India spelt out its five priorities as – effective response to international terrorism, reforming multilateral systems, new opportunities for progress, comprehensive approach to international peace and security, and promoting technology with a human touch as a driver of solutions. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated that India could play a crucial role, given the current global events. India’s election as a non-permanent member of UNSC is almost certain. However, it is said that with the campaign, India has put another step towards permanent membership of the UNSC.

The United Nations elects ten countries as non-permanent members for a term of two years, and this time, India is one of the contestants. The Asia-Pacific Group of 55 nations has already backed India’s candidature, which makes it the single-endorse candidate from the region. Moreover, no country has opposed the Indian claim. With all this, India is sure to get elected.

The election for choosing the non-permanent members will be held on June 17 and India has already begun the campaign. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar released India’s campaign brochure. He stated that most of the global organizations had not undergone any change for the last many years, and the Coronavirus pandemic has brought this reality more clearly to the fore. Currently, the world faces conventional as well as new challenges, which the Security Council will have to deal with, underlined External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

While stating India’s five priorities, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said that India would contest the election to bring about “Samman (Respect), Samvad (Dialogue), Sahyog (Cooperation), and Shanti (Peace) to create conditions for universal Samriddhi (Prosperity)”.

So far, India has been elected seven times as a non-permanent member of the UNSC. The Security Council has not undergone any reform over the last seventy years as a result of which it is proving obsolete. For the last few years, India has been insistently demanding for the expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council and has garnered support from across the globe for the same.