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Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council to “prove that multilateralism can succeed” by implementing its resolutions over the Kashmir dispute.
Participating in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism debate at the Security Council in New York, he said the UNSC had long left the issue of Kashmir unaddressed as an agenda item. “We believe it a multinational agenda—an agenda of this UNSC—and if you want to see the success of the multilateral institution or multilateralism and the success of this very Council, surely you can aid in this process; allow the implementation of the resolutions of the UNSC, when it comes to the question of Kashmir, prove the multilateralism can succeed, prove that the UNSC can succeed and deliver peace in the region,” he said.
Stressing that Pakistan believed further democratization of the U.N., UNSC and General Assembly would empower the institution and provide it with the moral authority to act, he said the global body would not benefit from adding more permanent members to the UNSC or expanding the “tyrannical power” of veto. Noting that the UNSC has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, he said multilateral solutions under its umbrella offered the most effective approach to promoting peace and resolving conflicts.
“Parties to a dispute cannot advocate multilateral processes one day and insist on ‘bilateral’ avenues the day after,” he said in an apparent reference to Kashmir. “Pakistan firmly believes that the major security problems, including those in our region, can be effectively and peacefully resolved through the active involvement of the Security Council and the secretary-general,” he added.
Delineating the benefits of multilateralism, Bhutto-Zardari said it must be based on universal and consistent adherence to the fundamental principles of the U.N. Charter—self-determination of peoples, non-use or threat of force, non-acquisition of territory by the use of force, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states and non-interference in their internal affairs. The UNSC, he stressed, must seek to resolve conflicts and disputes, not merely “manage” them. And, in accordance with their obligation under Article 25 of the Charter, member states must implement its decisions, he added.
Emphasizing that the Security Council should reflect “contemporary global realities,” he said it must be taken into account that the U.N. now included 193 mostly small and medium-sized states as its members who should all be equitably represented. However, he said, this should not be in the form of new permanent members, which would reduce the opportunities for a vast majority of member states. New permanent members would also multiply the possibility of paralysis in the UNSC, he warned.
“The problem cannot be the solution. And, surely, states that have a record of not implementing the resolutions of the Security Council cannot be considered as worthy of consideration for any form of Council membership,” he added in an apparent reference to India’s bid for a permanent seat.
In the current world order, said Bhutto-Zardari, inclusive multilateral processes within the framework of the U.N. offered the most promising prospect for promoting peace and security, economic and social development and effective responses to the several interlocking global challenges. This could be achieved by empowering and efficiently utilizing all the main organs of the U.N., he added.
“This council should support negotiations in the relevant bodies to limit and control the nuclear and conventional arms build-up at the global and regional level, including the development and deployment of new weapons and military technologies,” he said. Nuclear weapons states, he said, must provide binding assurances to non-nuclear states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.
The world’s attention, advised the foreign minister, should be redirected away from narrow, national ambitions and toward collective resolution of existential threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, nuclear threats, and terrorism. “We must confront the rise of the ideologies of hate, xenophobia, populist extremism and racial and religious intolerance, including Islamophobia, which imposes discrimination and violence, and even threats of genocide, against vulnerable minorities in certain countries,” he said, stressing only universal socio-economic development could achieve peace and stability.