For India, WHO reforms can be the door to UNSC

India expects to be elected to the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) non-permanent membership next month for a two-year term beginning in January 2021. By then, the world will, hopefully, have figured out a way to deal with the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), using new and recycled treatments or, better still, a vaccine. In these uncertain times, India will have to decide whether or not to squander its eighth stint on the UNSC’S non-permanent bench as an end in itself as it has before, or use it to further its claim to permanent membership of the world’s most exclusive club of nations, and make it a real possibility.

A need for reforming the UNSC has been felt for decades. But founded in 1945, it saw its first change in 1965 with the addition of four non-permanent members. The next most consequential step came 43 years later in 2008 with the setting up of the Intergovernmental Negotiations to put together “text”, UN speak for a document of proposals for negotiations, with five key issues to be considered for reforms. These include, among other things, the size of the expanded UNSC, sharing of veto power and categories of membership. It’s been all talk since, and there is nothing even remotely conducive on the horizon.

India cannot force the process; no one country can. But a case can be made for it to make UNSC reforms a top priority for its UN mission. Even while handling Pakistan — the clear and present danger next door — championing climate change, social justice and poverty alleviation, further entrenching ownership of yoga and contributing to peacekeeping, India can and should prioritise the pursuit of permanent membership. It should go beyond the annual expression of exasperation at the slow pace of progress — Sisyphean, as former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, described it — and meetings with fellow travellers of the G-4, Japan, Germany and Brazil. It should use the platform to flag and bolster

India’s claim to a promotion through demonstrably proactive leadership on most pressing issues.

Among these should be the reform of the World Health Organization (WHO), which has become a major issue in the light of a growing list of missteps in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO pointedly ignored early warnings and alerts from Taiwan, for one, and then helped China obfuscate on its responsibility in the spread of the virus and suppress its numbers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already called for WHO reforms, joining United States President Donald Trump who has temporarily suspended US funding of the world body. And with a growing international consensus on reforming the multilateral body that still enjoys considerable equity in the developing world, this should not be a complicated purchase for India. Especially as it comes with a bonus buy one, get one prospect: Fix WHO, get a crack at the UNSC.