Although the draft of the Pact for the Future to be adopted by world leaders could take "the biggest step forward since the 1960s" on Security Council reforms, according to a senior official for the high-level summit, it risks being interpreted as splitting up the expansion of the Council by treating Africa "as a special case."
The Security Council reform segment of the draft is considered by its drafters in the negotiation process "as groundbreaking, as potentially the biggest step forward since the 1960s," Under Secretary-General Guy Ryder, who is the lead for the Summit of the Future, said on Wednesday.
It hopes to set the course for the UN's future as it turns 80 next year and is expected to be adopted on September 22 at the opening of the summit, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending.
The draft, running into 29 pages with 60 action points, covers an array of subjects from artificial intelligence and outer space to the reforming of international financial institutions and reinvigorating peacekeeping.
The last time the Council was reformed was in 1965 when the non-permanent membership was increased to ten and the current reform efforts have languished for two decades.
The Pact draft promises to "redress the historical injustice against Africa as a priority and, while treating Africa as a special case, improve the representation of the underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean."
This leaves the door open for some countries to interpret that the case of other countries like India, Japan, and Brazil for permanent seats on an expanded Council could be delinked from that of Africa, which has demanded two permanent seats and three more non-permanent seats.
The whole reform process has been held up by a small group of countries led by Italy and including Pakistan inspired by their opposition to permanent seats deriving from their own particular rivalries with other countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
This grouping, popularly known as Uniting for Consensus (UfC), has been under intense heat from the 55-member African group for not addressing the continent's exclusion from permanent Council membership.
Ryder said the draft was considered "groundbreaking" because of the commitment "to addressing historic injustice against Africa" and improving the representation of Asia-Pacific and Latin America on the Council and enlarging it "to be more representative of current UN membership."
He also remarked that, "There is an undertaking to redouble efforts in pursuit of an agreement on membership categories and a commitment to elaborate a single model for reform."
However, he said it was still a work in progress and that there are only ten days before its adoption.
"The co-facilitators of negotiations, -Permanent Representatives Alexander Marschik and Tariq Albanai respectively of- Austria and Kuwait, recognised this as groundbreaking language, which appears at this point, to have the broad consensus, subject to confirmation of our member states," Ryder said.
The inclusion of the segment on Council reform into the Pact draft was held up because of the strong differences among UN members and was added only late last month.
The draft states that members "will intensify efforts for reform" through the Inter-Governmental Negotiation (IGN) process "building on the recent progress achieved in IGN."
Taking up the divisive issue of adding permanent members to the Council, the draft says the members would "intensify efforts to find an agreement on the question of categories of membership, taking into account discussions held in the IGN process."
It inserted a caveat here: "the total number of members of an enlarged Council should ensure a balance between its representativeness and effectiveness."
Ryder conceded that the Pact draft does not attach deadlines to the reform process and the process "has been a very, very long process, and results have not yet been forthcoming, at least not in the nature that a number of our member states rightly wish."
But, he added, "There is a genuine sentiment therein, and the fact that the language apparently has a consensus of all parties is testimony to what I am saying, that what is being agreed, or hopefully will be agreed in the Pact for the Future, in ten days' time, does open new doors."
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