Wednesday, July 13 2005 12:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: The Group of Four's efforts to gain permanent seats in the UN Security Council ran into rough weather as the United States openly opposed the framework resolution and asked member nations to vote against it if brought to vote.

The US also asked the G-4 nations; India, Brazil, Japan and Germany, not to bring their resolution to vote now, as "they lacked support and any vote would prove to be divisive."

"We will oppose calling for votes on proposals that do not command the breadth of support to be put into practice," US State Department Adviser on UN reforms Shirin Tahir-Kheli said in a statement in the General Assembly.

Pakistan and Italy-led 'Uniting for Consensus' (UFC) group welcomed Tahir-Kheli's statement though she equally vehemently rejected the draft circulated by it as also by the African Union.

However, UFC diplomats said they had not moved their resolution and the US official's statement would achieve what they were aiming at.

Several diplomats said the open American opposition could adversely affect the chances of the G-4 resolution, which calls for expansion of the 15-member Council by addition of six permanent and four non-permanent members.

G-4 still confident

Reacting to the statement, India's envoy to the UN Nirupam Sen said it is a democratic process in which different members have different opinions. He said the G-4 plan to bring their resolution to vote at appropriate time.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said he expects G-4 to seek vote next week despite the vehement American opposition.

G-4 foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in New York on Sunday with the representatives of the African Union to reconcile differences between their two drafts and take a decision on when to call for vote.

The resolution requires two-thirds majority and cannot be vetoed as there is no veto power in the General Assembly but Tahir-Kheli warned that any amendment to the UN Charter has to be ratified by two-thirds of member states, including the five permanent members, and could be held up in that process.

"A vote to lock in a particular mode of Security Council expansion at this stage would interfere with our ability to shape a proposal later that would stand a reasonable requisite ratification from member state legislatures," she said.

Counsel must not be the representative of membership: US

Intervening in the debate, she said while the US supports the expansion, it would oppose any proposal that would make the Council less effective than today. She also sought to disapprove the idea that the Council to be representative of the membership.

"Instead of choosing between a body that was representative but too large and unwieldy to deal with emergent security situations, or one that was efficient at the expense of representativeness.

They (the founders of the UN) created a system with multiple bodies with different roles. To deal with security, they formed a body of countries with demonstrated capability to contribute to international peace and security. To ensure worldwide representation, they created the General Assembly," she told the 191-member General Assembly.

The only "responsible way" to approach Council reforms is to ensure that those nations accorded permanent seats on the Council meet appropriate criteria for "tremendous duties and responsibilities" they would assume.

"Founders did not arbitrarily pick a number for permanent membership and try to force-fit countries into those slots. Instead, they asked 'which states have demonstrated capacity to contribute substantially to international peace and security," she added.

So many criterias for permanent membership

The criteria for the permanent membership, she said, is size of economy and population, military capacity, contribution to peacekeeping operations, commitment to democracy and human rights, financial contributions to the United Nations, non-proliferation and counter terrorism records and geographical balance.

Once a consensus has been reached on new permanent members, "we should consider some expansions of non permanent membership that maintains representativeness but without making the Council so large that it becomes ineffective, she told the assembly.

Tahir-Kheli, however, stressed that the US does not think any proposal to expand the Security Council including one based on our own ideas should be voted upon at this stage.

Describing G-4 as "our friends," Tahir-Kheli said the United States is prepared to work with them and other countries in the effort to achieve Council's enlargement "via a plan that is supported by vast majority of UN members and which results in stronger, more effective Security Council in the context of overall reforms." "Unfortunately, however, the timing and substance of the proposed resolution (of G-4) does not accomplish these ends."