PM Modi makes renewed push for UNSC expansion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a renewed push for expansion of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and reforms in global institutions to reflect world’s new realities. He was addressing the ‘One Future’ session at the G20 Summit.

The UNSC has five permanent members — the US, China, France, Britain and Russia.

Modi said it is necessary that the global bodies should reflect the new realities to lead the world towards a better future.

He said the world was totally different when the UN was established with 51 founding members as their numbers have now risen to nearly 200. “Despite this, the number of permanent members in the UNSC remains the same. The world has since changed a lot in every aspect. Be it transport, communication, health and education, every sector has been transformed. These new realities should reflect in our new global structure,” he said. 

UN Security Council

• The United Nations Charter established six main organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council. It gives primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security to the Security Council.

• All members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to Member States, only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that Member States are then obligated to implement under the Charter.

• The Security Council held its first session on January 17, 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the Security Council has taken permanent residence at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

• A representative of each of its members must be present at all times at UN Headquarters so that the Security Council can meet at any time as the need arises.

• The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. 

• It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. 

• In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.

• The Security Council has a Presidency, which rotates, and changes, every month.

• The Council is composed of 15 members.

• Five permanent members are: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

• Ten non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.

The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis as follows:

i) Five for African and Asian States.

ii) One for Eastern European States.

iii) Two for the Latin American and Caribbean States.

iv) Two for Western European and other States. 

• Every year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term. 

• Voting is conducted by secret ballot and candidates must receive a two-thirds majority, or 128 votes, even if they run uncontested.

Other main organs of the UN

The United Nations (UN) has six main organs. Five of them — the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat — are based at UN Headquarters in New York. The sixth, the International Court of Justice, is located at The Hague in the Netherlands.

All were established under the UN Charter when the organisation was founded in 1945.

The United Nations is neither a supra-State nor a government of governments. It does not have an army and it imposes no taxes. It depends on the political will of its Member States to have its decisions put into action and relies on the contributions of its Members to carry out its activities.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation. Each year, in September, the full UN membership meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session, and general debate, which many heads of State attend and address. Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority. The General Assembly, each year, elects a GA President to serve a one-year term of office.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialised agencies in the economic, social and environmental fields, supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It has 54 Members, elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. It is the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence. The Trusteeship Council suspended its operations on November 1, 1994, a month after the independence of Palau, the last remaining United Nations trust territory. By a resolution adopted on May 25, 1994, the Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required — by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members or the General Assembly or the Security Council. 

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York. The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised United Nations organs and specialised agencies. The International Court of Justice functions in accordance with its Statute.

Secretariat

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the organisation’s other principal bodies. The Secretary-General is Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year, renewable term. The Secretary-General is also a symbol of the Organisation’s ideals, and an advocate for all the world’s peoples, especially the poor and vulnerable. UN staff members are recruited internationally and locally, and work in duty stations and on peacekeeping missions all around the world.