WASHINGTON: India has decried the "disguised, de facto veto" that is preventing the Security Council reform process from going forward.
During the General Assembly debate on Monday on the veto rights of the five permanent members, India's Permanent Representative P. Harish pointed out that this issue was one of the matters before the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) for Security Council reforms, but the process stalled due to a virtual veto that some countries are using.
"The argument of consensus has been harnessed as a disguised, de facto veto in the IGN process as well", he said.
A small group of countries that call themselves Uniting for Consensus has blocked the IGN from adopting a negotiating text by using procedural manoeuvres.
The group is led by Italy and includes Pakistan.
The 2008 General Assembly resolution that is "the foundational decision for the IGN, is clear: the guiding principle is the widest possible political acceptance, not consensus", Harish said.
But even after 17 cycles of the negotiations, "we have no outcome to show for it" because of the de facto veto, which has no basis in the resolution constituting the IGN, he pointed out.
The starting point for comprehensive reforms "is early commencement of text-based negotiations, with clearly defined timelines and milestones", he said.
There are also other secret vetoes that are not sanctioned by the UN Charter, yet even non-permanent members are allowed them in certain vital matters.
Pointing these out, Harish said, "The veto is not only what is cast in the open. There is also the 'effective or de facto veto' that every Council member, elected and non-elected, holds over presidential statements, press statements and the decisions of sanctions committees".
This is because of "the unwritten rule of consensus allows a single member to hold or block a proposal, most often without explanation".
China has at times blocked the sanctioning of Pakistan-based terrorists like Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Shahid Mahmood of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Sajid Mir and Masood Azhar of Jash-e-Mohamad in the secret meetings of the sanctions committee.
"The questions of credibility, legitimacy and efficacy that hang over the Security Council will not be answered by managing the veto alone," Harish said, pressing the case for comprehensive reforms that include expanding it with permanent members.
"They will be answered by a Council fit for purpose, whose architecture reflects today's realities and not that of the outcome of a war eight decades ago," he said.
India has taken the "principled stand" that any country added on as a permanent member through reforms should also have veto powers, Harish said.
"We reiterate that as long as the veto exists, it must be held by all permanent members of a reformed Council", he said.
He said that "fairness and justice demand" it.
Harish also dismissed the idea of creating new "second class" categories of Security Council members with longer terms or permanent members without veto rights because, he said, that "would only further complicate a discussion (on reforms) that is already difficult, and would further entrench the very inequity we are seeking to correct".
Harish was sceptical about the General Assembly requiring countries using their vetoes in the Security Council to come before it and explain their action.
It was meant to be a "harbinger of change" and fix responsibility, but the large number of vetoes since it was introduced "tells a contrary story", he said.