BRICS Countries Reiterate Support for India and Brazil to Play Greater Role in UN Security Council

BRICS Leaders Unite to Reform UN Security Council

China and Russia have reiterated their support for India and Brazil to play a greater role in the United Nations, including its Security Council, in the New Delhi Declaration of the BRICS summit. According to the Declaration, the leaders of BRICS countries reiterated their support for a “comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council”.

The Declaration pressed for the need to make the UN body “more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the Council's membership so that it can adequately respond to prevailing global challenges and support the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including BRICS countries, to play a greater role in international affairs, in particular in the UN, including its Security Council”. This call for reform is not new, as major emerging nations have been advocating for an expansion of the UN Security Council for several years.

India has been at the forefront of this demand, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushing for a greater role for developing countries in global decision-making.

Over the past several years, major emerging nations have called for an expansion of the UN Security Council. India has been at the forefront of this demand.

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In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday pitched for a greater role for developing countries in global decision-making. He shared the Global South should move from being a “rule-taker” to “rule-shaper”.

Addressing the opening session of BRICS, the Prime Minister shared the current global decision-making architecture looks like a “pyramid” – the powerful at the top are making the decisions, and those at the bottom are the ones affected and have no powers and leverage. Prime Minister Modi shared that the “pyramid of privilege” should be transformed into a “platform of partnership”.

This vision is shared

UN Security Council Reform: A Global Challenge

The UN Security Council has five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Each permanent member holds veto power over resolutions, which has remained unchanged since the Council’s inception in 1945. The current composition of the Security Council has been criticized for being undemocratic and unrepresentative of the global community.

The BRICS Declaration calls for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, to make it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient. This reform is aimed at increasing the representation of developing countries in the Council's membership, so that it can adequately respond to prevailing global challenges and support the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including BRICS countries.

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This number has remained unchanged since the Council’s inception in 1945. “We stress that the UN Security Council reform is to lead to the amplified voice of the Global South.

Recalling the 2022 Beijing and 2023 Johannesburg-II Leaders' Declarations, China and Russia, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, reiterate their support to the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a greater role in the UN, including its Security Council,” the Declaration stated.

A New Era for Global Decision-Making

The BRICS Declaration presents an opportunity for major emerging nations to shape the future of global decision-making. The call for reform of the UN Security Council is a step towards creating a more democratic and representative global governance system.

Prime Minister Modi's vision of transforming the current pyramid of privilege into a platform of partnership is shared This new era of global decision-making will require cooperation, dialogue and collective action among nations to address the complex challenges facing the world today. The BRICS Declaration is a significant step towards achieving this goal, and it remains to be seen how it will shape the future of global governance.