India has renewed its call for comprehensive reforms in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), urging that all permanent members enjoy equal rights and responsibilities, including veto powers. It also stressed the need for restraint in using the veto.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, said reforms must address five areas together, including membership categories, regional representation, the Council's size, working methods and veto powers.

"Limiting the veto cannot be separated from the questions of categories of membership, regional representation, size and working methods. We need to move forward on all five clusters together. India reiterates its call for a comprehensive approach towards Security Council reforms," Harish said.

He said the veto carries significant responsibility and must not serve narrow political interests.

"India has always maintained that the veto, which is right now a prerogative only of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is a responsibility that must be exercised with great restraint, especially on matters bearing upon the maintenance of international peace and security. It should not be an instrument of narrow political expediency," he said.

The veto power currently rests with five permanent members: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Harish said its repeated use by a few countries had weakened the Council's credibility.

"The record of the Veto is stark. Over the life of this Organisation, the veto has been exercised 331 times on around 200 resolutions. We also note that two out of the five permanent members have not exercised a veto for over three and a half decades, and most of the vetos or threats of vetoshave emanated from only three of the P5. The Veto Initiative of 2022 was seen as a harbinger of change, by mandating a UNGA debate every time a veto is cast, to fix accountability. However, the actual record of the large number of vetos cast since the UNGAR 76/262 was adopted tells a contrary story," he said.

Harish called isolated discussions on veto reform ineffective and urged member states to pursue text-based negotiations covering all aspects of Security Council reform.

He also reaffirmed India's support for the Common Africa Position (CAP), a unified African Union policy aimed at presenting a common stance on major global and continental issues.

India further argued that creating a new category of permanent members with or without veto powers would complicate the reform process.

“fairness and justice demand that all permanent members enjoy the same rights and responsibilities. A new category of permanent members, with or without the veto, would only further complicate a discussion that is already difficult.”