ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
India's UN Security Council bid gains bipartisan support in Congress
Lawmakers said council structure no longer reflects today's geopolitical realities.
-
IANS - Thu, 23, Jul 2026
- 04:02 EDT
- 23
The White House in Washington, D.C., as discussions on U.N. reform and Security Council expansion continue. / IANS
Calls to expand the United Nations Security Council to include India received renewed support in the U.S. Congress as lawmakers argued that the body's power structure no longer reflects today's geopolitical realities.
During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday (local time) on reforming the United Nations, Rep. Ami Bera said any meaningful overhaul of the organization must address the composition of the Security Council, explicitly naming India among the countries that deserve consideration for permanent membership.
Also read: Air India to operate nonstop Delhi-Toronto flights from Aug. 1
"If we were designing a United Nations that was reflective of today's world, we would design it very differently," Bera said, noting that the Security Council's permanent membership still reflects "what the world looked like in 1945."
He referred to proposals to expand the Security Council by including the G4 nations, "bringing in Brazil, Germany, India, Japan."
The remarks came during a hearing titled United Nations Accountability and Reform: Advancing an America First Foreign Policy Through Strategic Diplomacy and Burden Sharing, where U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and Ambassador for U.N. Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos defended the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the U.N. system.
Responding to Bera's question, Waltz acknowledged that the Security Council no longer mirrors contemporary global realities but cautioned that reform remains politically difficult.
"I do worry about the P5 not reflecting today's world," Waltz said, referring to the five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
"There have been proposals to have more elected members. There have been proposals to give some permanent but not have a veto. It's really kind of all over the map in terms of Security Council reform," he said.
Waltz added that discussions on changing the Security Council were separate from the U.N. secretary-general's ongoing "UN80" reform initiative and said there was "very little consensus" among major powers on expanding permanent membership.
Instead, he argued that more immediate reforms could be achieved through changes in the U.N. General Assembly, which he said had accumulated decades of mandates without sufficient review.
"We could make the most gains... by what happens in the General Assembly," Waltz said, arguing that repeated mandates had contributed to the organization's growing bureaucracy and costs.
Bartos highlighted what he described as successful management reforms undertaken by the U.S. mission over the past several months, including changes to U.N. budgeting procedures.
He said the United States had worked with other member states to reform the U.N. credit system after years of unsuccessful attempts.
"With U.S. leadership reformed the credit system," Bartos said, describing it as an example of how consensus-driven negotiations could still produce institutional change despite the organization's complexity.
The hearing largely focused on the Trump administration's push to reduce U.N. spending, streamline peacekeeping operations and redirect the organization toward what administration officials described as its "core mission" of maintaining international peace and security.
India has long sought permanent membership of an expanded U.N. Security Council, arguing that the body's current composition no longer reflects contemporary geopolitical realities.
New Delhi says its credentials — including being the world's most populous country, the largest democracy, a major economy and one of the U.N.'s largest contributors to peacekeeping operations — justify a permanent seat.
India is part of the G4 grouping with Brazil, Germany and Japan, which advocates expanding both permanent and non-permanent seats on the Security Council.
Despite broad support from many U.N. member states, negotiations have remained stalled for years because of opposition from some countries and the absence of consensus among the existing permanent members over the structure of any reform.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
Leave A Comment
Related
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
Video
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login