India Elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
India was overwhelmingly elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in June 2020, for a period of two years in an unprecedented election, where envoys from the 192 member states voted wearing masks and in adherence to the strict social distancing norms due to the Covid-19 pandemic. India won 184 of the 192 ballots and its two-year term will begin from January 1, 2021. India was the endorsed candidate from the Asia-Pacific States for the five non-permanent seats of the Security Council.
This is the eighth time that India will sit at the UN high-table. Previously, India was elected for 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and most recently in 2011-2012. Less than a year after its term at the Security Council ended, India had put in its candidature for the non-permanent seat in 2013 under the tenure of the then Permanent Representative, Ambassador Asoke Mukerji.
Other Members
Besides India, Ireland, Mexico, and Norway also won the Security Council elections. Djibouti and Kenya vied for one seat, allocated to the African and Asia-Pacific States grouping. Kenya defeated Djibouti and won the Africa seat.
Apart from that, eighteen states were also elected as members of the UN Economic and Social Council for a three-year term.
India, Norway, Ireland and Mexico will sit in the most powerful UN organ along with five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US as well as non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, and Vietnam in 2021. This year, the two-year terms of Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia, and South Africa are ending.
The General Assembly also elected veteran Turkish diplomat and parliamentarian, Volkan Bozkir, as the President of the next session of the UN General Assembly, who will preside over the landmark 75th session of the General Assembly, which will open in September, 2020.
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Guiding Priorities for India
India will be guided by the five priorities under the overarching theme of NORMS, i.e., New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System. These priorities are—
(i) opportunities for progress;
(ii) effective response to international terrorism;
(iii) reforming multilateral systems;
(iv) comprehensive approach to international peace and security; and
(v) technology with a human touch.
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its first session on January 17, 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since then, the Security Council has taken permanent residence at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. It also travelled to many cities and held sessions like in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1972; in Panama City, Panama; and in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1990. A representative of each of its members is present at all times at UN Headquarters so that the Security Council can meet at any time as the need arises.
Powers and Functions
As per the UN Charter, the powers and functions of the Security Council include—
- to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;
- to recommend methods of adjudicating disputes or the terms of settlement;
- to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;
- to take military action against an aggressor;
- to recommend the admission of new Members;
- to exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in ‘strategic areas’;
- to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice, etc.