Veto powers at UNSC need reform, but de facto veto blocking changes must go first: India

United Nations, Nov 21: Security Council monopoly of the veto by the five permanent members needs to change, but the de facto veto that is holding up the reform process should first end, according to India.

India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said that in the reform process known as the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN), “the consensus argument has effectively become a disguised de facto veto”.

“This approach is blocking progress [and] consequently, no concrete outcomes could be achieved under the IGN framework for Security Council reform”, he told the General Assembly during a meeting on the Council veto.

For 17 years, the negotiations for reforming the Council, from expanding permanent membership to the veto powers, have been blocked by the obstinacy of a small group of mem