Pakistan pushes for comprehensive UNSC reform, rejects piecemeal permanent seat expansion

Pakistan reaffirmed its position that any credible and durable reform of the UN Security Council must be tackled as a comprehensive package rather than through piecemeal changes when the stalled Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) devoted to restructuring the 15-member body resumed Tuesday

UNITED NATIONS May 21 (APP), (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2026) Pakistan reaffirmed its position that any credible and durable reform of the UN Security Council must be tackled as a comprehensive package rather than through piecemeal changes when the stalled Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) devoted to restructuring the 15-member body resumed Tuesday.

Speaking in the session held to advance the process of making the Council more representative and effective, Pakistani Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad argued that reforms must bridge divergences across the "five interlinked clusters" to achieve the broadest possible agreement, i.e. consensus, among member states.

The five key reform clusters are: expanding the size of the Council, creating new categories of membership, ensuring equitable regional representation, extending or limiting the veto power, and improving transparency in the Council's working methods.

In this regard, he said that Pakistan, as a leading member of the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, does not support expansion in the Council's permanent members, "with or without veto".

Progress towards restructuring the Security Council remains blocked as G-4 countries -- India, Brazil, Germany and Japan -- continue to campaign for permanent seats in the Council, while the UFC group opposes any expansion in the permanent category, arguing it would create "new centers of privilege".

As a compromise, the UfC group has proposed a new category of members -- not permanent members -- with longer duration in terms and a possibility to get re-elected.

The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and 10 non-permanent members elected to two-year terms.

In a sharp rejection of the aspirants' claim of their qualifications for permanent seats, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said, "A reformed Council must derive its authority not from the permanence of a few, but from accountability to, and confidence of the wider membership."

Pakistan, he said, believes that there are many more than just these few states - a sizeable number of middle powers and small states, many of which are even today making significant contributions to international peace and security.

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"We, therefore, support expansion in the elected category of membership," the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that periodic elections ensure accountability; and accountability ensures legitimacy.

As regards the veto, he said it remains one of the most serious sources of the Council’s paralysis and loss of credibility. "The overwhelming sentiment is opposed to this undemocratic power and its misuse, and favours serious restrictions and curtailment, if it is not possible to abolish it altogether."

Veto must not be extended to any new members, the Pakistani envoy added.

Regional representation must also be addressed in a balanced and equitable manner, he said, while reiterating support to Africa’s legitimate quest to rectify “historic injustice” as reflected in the Common African Position. "This consensus based continental position is fundamentally different from the divisive, national ambitions of the other aspirants for permanent membership" -- a reference to G-4 countries. Similar injustices must also be rectified against the members of the OIC, the Arab Group, the small states, SIDS (Small Island Developing States), and Latin America.

On the size and working methods, enlargement must be meaningful, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said, stressing that every additional seat should strengthen the representation of the broader membership. "Within such a framework, there can be no justification for the permanent allocation of seats to individual countries.

"Working methods must continue to be improved, to make the Council more transparent, inclusive and accountable, more effective functioning of the subsidiary bodies, and stronger engagement with non-Council members," and that reform must unite, not divide.

The IGN, he added, remains the only legitimate, membership-driven platform to undertake this process.

APP/ift