The United Nations and its reform

The first principle

The United Nations (UN) was built in 1945 on a bargain: every state would be sovereign and equal in the General Assembly, but the five powers that won the Second World War would hold a veto in the Security Council, because peace could only be kept with their consent. The bargain made the UN universal, but it also froze the power structure of 1945 into its constitution. The reform debate is about whether an organisation designed for the world of 1945 can make room for the world of today, when the only people who can change the rules are the ones who benefit most from them.

The core

The Charter and the six principal organs

• The Charter. Signed at San Francisco in June 1945 and in force from 24 October 1945, the Charter commits members to maintain peace, develop friendly relations, cooperate on economic and social problems and promote human rights. India was a founding member, signing before it became independent, and the UN now has 193 members.
• General Assembly. Every member has one vote. The Assembly debates any matter within the Charter, approves the budget and elects non permanent members of the Security Council, but its resolutions are recommendations, except on internal matters such as the budget.
• Security Council. It has fifteen members: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) with a veto under Article 27, and ten non permanent members elected for two years. It is the only organ whose decisions bind all members, under Chapter VII. India has served eight terms, most recently in 2021 to 22.
• The other organs. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the Secretariat headed by the Secretary General, and the Trusteeship Council, which suspended its work in 1994 after the last trust territory, Palau, became independent.

The Economic and Social Council

• Membership and role. ECOSOC has 54 members elected by the General Assembly for three years, with seats shared among regions. Under Articles 62 to 66 it studies and reports on economic, social, cultural, educational and health matters, makes recommendations, and coordinates the specialised agencies through agreements with them.
• Functional commissions. It works through expert commissions: the Statistical Commission, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission for Social Development, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and the UN Forum on Forests.
• Regional commissions. Five commissions cover Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Western Asia; India belongs to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), based in Bangkok.
• Civil society. Under Article 71, ECOSOC grants consultative status to non governmental organisations (NGOs), in general, special or roster categories, which lets them attend meetings and submit statements. It also hosts the High Level Political Forum that reviews the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dimensions

Why reform is stuck

• The rules of change. Under Article 108, a Charter amendment needs two thirds of the General Assembly and ratification by two thirds of members, including all five permanent members. The Council has been enlarged only once, from eleven to fifteen members, in 1965.
• The process. Since 2009, reform has been discussed in Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) in the General Assembly, on five clusters: categories of membership, the veto, regional representation, size and working methods, and the relationship between the Council and the Assembly. The IGN still has no agreed negotiating text, which reformers see as the main obstacle.
• The rival blocs. The G4 (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan) seek new permanent seats for themselves; the Uniting for Consensus group (Italy, Pakistan, Argentina and others) opposes new permanent members; the African Union's Ezulwini Consensus (2005) asks for two permanent seats with the veto and five non permanent seats for Africa; and the L.69 group of developing countries, which includes India, backs expansion in both categories.
• East and West. The permanent members are themselves divided. The United States and its allies push human rights, the responsibility to protect and sanctions, while Russia and China stress sovereignty and non interference, a distrust deepened after the 2011 resolution on Libya was used to justify regime change. Each side vetoes the other's drafts: Russia on Ukraine (2022), Russia and China on Syria, and the United States on Gaza ceasefire resolutions from 2023.
• Money. The UN depends on assessed contributions that several members pay late or in part, which has caused repeated liquidity crises and cuts. In 2025 the Secretary General launched the UN80 Initiative to make the system leaner.

In practice

India's case for a permanent seat

• Representation. India is the most populous country and among the largest economies, yet Asia, Africa and Latin America are under represented among permanent members, so the Council's legitimacy suffers when it decides for a world it does not reflect.
• Contribution. India has been among the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping since the Congo operation of the 1960s, and sent the first all women formed police unit, to Liberia in 2007.
• Record. India's 2021 to 22 term focused on maritime security, counter terrorism and peacekeeping, and the Group of Twenty (G20) presidency of 2023 that brought in the African Union showed its capacity to build consensus. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia have stated support for India's permanent membership; China has not.
• The Pact for the Future (September 2024). Adopted at the Summit of the Future, the Pact commits members to reform the Council to make it more representative, redress the historical injustice against Africa and intensify work on the veto, but it sets no timeline.

The UN and terrorism

• Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC). Created by Resolution 1373 (2001) after the September 2001 attacks, it binds all states, under Chapter VII, to criminalise terrorist financing, freeze terrorist assets, deny safe haven and share information. Its Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), set up by Resolution 1535 (2004), assesses how each state complies.
• The 1267 sanctions committee. Created in 1999 for the Taliban and Al Qaida, and now the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or Da'esh) and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee, it lists individuals and entities for an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Listing works by consensus, so one member can place a "technical hold": China blocked the listing of Jaish e Mohammed chief Masood Azhar for a decade until it lifted its hold in May 2019, and the listing of Lashkar e Taiba's Abdul Rehman Makki came only in January 2023.
• India's role. India proposed a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in 1996, but it has not been adopted because members disagree on the definition, especially on national liberation movements and acts of state armed forces. India chaired the CTC in 2022 and hosted its special meeting in Mumbai and New Delhi in October 2022, which adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new technologies, such as drones, payment systems and social media, by terrorists.
• How effective. The CTC has spread common laws on terror financing and helped many states build capacity, but it cannot punish states that harbour terrorists, listings are hostage to politics, and the absence of a definition lets states call the same group terrorists or freedom fighters.

Issues and way forward

• A Council that reflects 1945. The remedy is expansion in both categories with a fair share for Africa, Asia and Latin America. India's practical step is to press for a single negotiating text, so that the IGN moves from statements to bargaining.
• The veto. Abolition is impossible because the permanent members would have to ratify it, but restraint is possible. The General Assembly's "veto initiative" (Resolution 76/262, 2022) already requires the Assembly to meet within ten working days after a veto, and the French and Mexican proposal asks permanent members not to use the veto in cases of mass atrocities.
• Paralysis on major crises. Where the Council is blocked, the General Assembly can act under the Uniting for Peace resolution (1950), as it did on Ukraine in 2022, though its resolutions do not bind.
• Terrorism. Adoption of the CCIT, an end to anonymous technical holds and stronger follow up of CTED assessments would make the system more effective.
• Funding. Timely payment of assessed contributions, less dependence on a few donors and the merging of overlapping bodies would steady the organisation.

Common confusions

• CTC and the 1267 committee. The CTC monitors what all states do against terrorism in general; the 1267 committee sanctions specific named individuals and groups linked to ISIL and Al Qaida.
• General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. Assembly resolutions are recommendations; Council decisions under Chapter VII bind all members.
• G4 and L.69. The G4 is four candidates for permanent seats; L.69 is a wider group of developing countries backing expansion in both categories.
• ECOSOC and specialised agencies. ECOSOC is a principal organ of the UN; the specialised agencies, such as the World Health Organization, are separate organisations linked to it by agreement.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: UN Charter, principal organs, veto, Article 108, ECOSOC, functional commissions, consultative status, Intergovernmental Negotiations, G4, Uniting for Consensus, Ezulwini Consensus, Counter Terrorism Committee, 1267 regime, technical hold, CCIT.
• Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction with data: "The Security Council has been enlarged only once, from eleven to fifteen members in 1965, while UN membership has grown from 51 in 1945 to 193 today."
  • Introduction with a report: "In the Pact for the Future (2024), all UN members accepted that the Security Council must be reformed to redress the historical injustice against Africa, yet they set no timeline."
  • Conclusion: "Reform will come only when the permanent members see that a Council without India, Africa and Latin America loses the legitimacy on which their own power depends."
  • Conclusion: "Until then, India's path lies in making the existing system work, through peacekeeping, counter terrorism leadership and building consensus as it did in the G20."