India has called for making United Nations permanent membership more representative, especially with Africa’s participation, highlighting that the political discord in the Security Council is affecting peacekeeping operations.

Making his first address to the Security Council yesterday, newly-appointed India’s Permanent Representative to the UN P Harish said, the lack of political unity in the Security Council, often witnessed in recent years, has negatively impacted UN peacekeeping. The Security Council needs to be more representative of today’s realities-particularly in the permanent category.

Participating in the debate on strengthening peacekeeping operations, Harish noted that India is the largest contributor to peacekeeping, having deployed more than a quarter million troops in more than 50 missions over the last seven decades.