India on Monday made a renewed push for reforms within the United Nations Security Council, saying that its permanent membership must reflect contemporary realities and there should be adequate representation from all regions of the world.

TS Tirumurti, India’s permanent representative to the UN, said during a meeting on inter-governmental negotiations that the Security Council was being unable to tackle present-day challenges because of the lack of inclusivity.

“We all know that reform at the UN is supposed to be a process, not an event,” Tirumurti said. “However, sadly, there is no process here in the UN that has traversed the torturous pathways more than what this process of Security Council reform has.”

The ambassador said that negotiations for reforms had begun 13 years ago, but no real progress was made due to “length and inertia”. “While the world is not what it was when we began the process, the objections to moving forward remain frozen in time,” Tirumurti said. “While global challenges of the 21st century have multiplied, we have been stopped by the naysayers to even adopt the process in order to move forward.”

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Tirumurti noted that the negotiations could not “continue to serve as a convenient smokescreen for a handful of reform naysayers”. He added that a sincere outcome cannot emerge from an insincere process.

The ambassador demanded that UNSC introduce six more permanent seats – two each for Africa and Asia, one for Latin America and the Caribbean, and one for the West European and others group. “The goal of a reformed multilateralism to preserve peace and promote security is a long overdue idea,” he said. “For our part, India stands ready to play a constructive role in promoting the common objective of a comprehensive and structured reform process.”

India has been pushing for a permanent seat on the Security Council. Earlier this month, the country had formally begun its latest term at the UN Security Council, promising to speak out against terrorism and offer solutions related to matters like international peace and security.

In June, India was elected unopposed to the UNSC as a non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning in 2021.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for a term of two years. There are five seats for African and Asian countries, one for Eastern European countries, two for Latin America and the Caribbean and two for Western Europe and other countries.