Pakistan has called for more non-permanent seats at the Security Council.
The council needs to be expanded so more representation is given to the regional groups that are under-represented in light of increased number of member states, said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi at the intergovernmental negotiations on the Security Council Reform.
Lodhi argued that the expansion was required to achieve a democratic, accountable, representative, transparent and effective Security Council.
The envoy noted that over the last fifty years, the number of new Member States did not correspond equally to all regional groups.
Permanent members do not represent any region and neither were they nominated in the charter to be representative of any particular region. “Their continued presence in this category does not require any endorsement from their regional group or, for that matter, a vote by any of us in the General Assembly”, said Ambassador Lodhi.
Therefore the inclusion of more non-permanent members would assure fair and adequate regional representation.