Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries-India, Brazil, Germany and Japan- have called for early reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In a joint ministerial statement, they emphasised that expansion of the Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories is central to the reform. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira, Foreign Affairs Minister of Germany Johann David Wadephul and Foreign Affairs Minister of Japan Motegi Toshimitsu held the meeting on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

 

The Ministers said that UNSC reform is more necessary than ever before, given the increasingly challenging geopolitical environment. They also underlined the need for greater representation of under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups, including Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The G4 Ministers noted that the UNSC is currently unable to effectively discharge its core responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. They said the representativeness, legitimacy, credibility and efficacy of the Council are in question.

 

They also reviewed discussions on UNSC reform under the Inter-governmental Negotiations framework during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly and discussed the overall state of play regarding the prospects of reform.

 

The G4 Ministers expressed concern over the lack of concrete progress in the Inter-governmental Negotiations framework towards UNSC reform. They also expressed reservations over the presentation of a bridging proposal before the commencement of text-based negotiations. They said the G4 will further collaborate with other reform-oriented groups to develop a consolidated model reflecting the views of a majority of UN Member States and to commence text-based negotiations as a high priority.