New Delhi and the pursuit of reformed multilateralism

India’s support to the nations of the developing world was reinforced during the country’s stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 August 2024
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New Delhi and the pursuit of reformed multilateralism

Multilateralism is in crisis. With every turn of events, multilateral systems and international organizations are being debilitated, almost always at the expense of the Global South.

The UN stands paralyzed. Even as, on the one hand, international laws and agreements are adopted to strengthen the rules-based international order, on the other hand they are being violated with impunity and without accountability.

But the problem runs much deeper. A majority of developing countries have become bystanders in the unraveling of the world order. The only insurance they have against this, universal participation in decision-making processes, is vanishing. Instead, they are presented with two differing, even opposing, worldviews to which they are asked to subscribe.

Almost all of the current problems, whether within the UN, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, can be traced back to the inability of the multilateral system to accommodate new and emerging powers in the post-Second World War architecture.

Multilateralism is caught between those who fight to preserve the status-quo that existed in 1945 and those who demand reforms to reflect the current realities, which are more multipolar.

India has been the biggest advocate of a strengthening of multilateralism over the years. In our changed world, if the most populous country, with the fifth-largest economy, a track record of multilateralism, democracy and a civilizational ethos of humanity, cannot be given its due in terms of global governance, there is clearly a need for reform.

In fact, during the 10th annual summit of the BRICS group of developing nations nations, in 2018 in Johannesburg, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed for the first time his vision for a “reformed multilateralism” that would give major emerging powers a voice in global governance.

India’s track record in the recent past, including its two-year stint as a member of the UN Security Council in 2021 and 2022, reveals numerous examples, if examples were needed, of how we have bridged or overcome differences to build a more inclusive multilateral world.

Accosted by global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, terrorism, and the digital and AI divide, and the sprouting of conflicts that threaten international peace and security, India has become indispensable in the efforts to find solutions.

Lest we forget, when the world was reeling during the pandemic, and many countries were hoarding vaccines for themselves, India stepped forward to produce and distribute vaccines. In our Vaccine Maitri initiative, we prioritized supplies for smaller and more vulnerable countries and saved numerous lives.

In December 2021, as a member of the Security Council, we successfully thwarted a move to wrest climate change policy away from the inclusive process led by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in which all countries are represented, and bring it under the control of the Security Council, which effectively would have placed climate action at the mercy of its five permanent members (the US, UK, Russia, China and France), who are historically the major polluters.

India underscored the fact that this draft resolution sought “to hand over that responsibility to a body which neither works through consensus nor is reflective of the interests of the developing countries.”

The draft was defeated by a vote in which India voted against it and Russia, as a permanent member, exercised its power of veto. Had the resolution succeeded, climate change architecture by now would have marginalized the voices of the Global South, especially those of the most vulnerable among them, including Small Island Developing States.

India yet again took a stand on the side of inclusivity and multilateralism when it played an instrumental role in the setting up in 2015 of the International Solar Alliance, which now has more than 100 member countries.

The G20 is an influential plurilateral group, the members of which are major economies that make decisions on global economic and developmental issues that affect all other countries as well. However, a glaring lacuna was that it did not fully represent the smaller and medium-sized states of the Global South.

To bridge this gap, when India held the presidency pf the G20 in 2022-23, Modi convened the Voice of Global South Summit, in which 125 developing countries took part. The outcomes of the summit were channeled into G20 discussions during India’s presidency, to ensure that the group took informed and inclusive decisions to benefit the vast majority.

In addition, India lobbied for African Union membership of the G20 and inducted it into the organization, which was a huge step for a continent that had not been adequately represented in the G20, Security Council or other international bodies.

Needless to say, India has been at the forefront of efforts to reform the Security Council. Dealing with conflicts is the business of council members — but the inability to deal with them has become its hallmark.

When the UN was established, there were 51 member states. Now we have 193 but we still have only five permanent members of the Security Council, who are polarized and have paralyzed its decision-making.

The days when a small group of countries get to decide what the entire world should do are over. The logical ultimate fall-out from an unreformed Security Council is the emergence of other power centers to challenge it, leading to fragmentation of the world order.

Unless there is legitimate, representative and permanent representation of the Global South, especially that of the largest country, India, and Africa, a continent of 54 nations, we cannot have meaningful decisions made by the council.

Our support to the nations of the developing world was reinforced during India’s stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, during which we stood for their territorial integrity; increased humanitarian assistance; the correcting of historical injustices; reforms; development partnerships; the fight against terror; and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

However, it was India’s independent and proactive stance during the war in Ukraine that acted as a catalyst in helping other developing countries voice their dissatisfaction with the pursuit of a military solution to the conflict, and instead call for diplomacy and dialogue, even in the midst of intense fighting and high emotions when all levers were being weaponized.

This was India saying, in effect, that we do not have to choose sides between warring blocs, however big or important they might be. This was India saying that we stand for another worldview that seeks the path of dialogue over war, seeks an inclusive world over polarization and fragmentation, seeks independence of policymaking over the coercion of small and medium-sized states in their decision-making, seeks territorial integrity over occupation, and seeks reformed multilateralism over the status quo or unilateralism.

• T.S. Tirumurti is a former Indian ambassador and a professor at IIT Madras.


Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel

Updated 5 sec ago
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Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country has remained committed to “diplomacy” but will continue to act in “self-defense” following Israel’s surprise attack nearly a week ago.
“Iran solely acts in self-defense. Even in the face of the most outrageous aggression against our people, Iran has so far only retaliated against the Israeli regime and not those who are aiding and abetting it,” said Araghchi in a post on X.
“With the exception of the illegitimate, genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, we remain committed to diplomacy,” he added.


Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia

Updated 4 min 47 sec ago
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Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia

Saint Petersburg: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that NATO’s push to ramp up defense spending was not a “threat” to Russia, as Moscow had all the weapons it needed to defend itself.
“We do not consider any rearmament by NATO to be a threat to the Russian Federation, because we are self-sufficient in terms of ensuring our own security,” Putin told reporters, including AFP, at a televised press conference in Saint Petersburg.
He added that Russia was “constantly modernizing our armed forces and defensive capabilities.”


Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce

Updated 8 min 37 sec ago
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Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce

  • “He actually offered to help mediate. I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own’,” Trump said

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday to rebuff Vladimir Putin’s offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own war in Ukraine first.

“I spoke to him yesterday and... he actually offered to help mediate, I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump told reporters as he unveiled a giant new flag pole at the White House.

“Let’s mediate Russia first, okay? I said, Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the timing that Trump gave for the call.

“He (Trump) was speaking figuratively. Life is so eventful right now that looking back a few days is like looking back to yesterday,” Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS.

Trump and the Kremlin both previously said on Saturday that the two leaders had spoken that day, with the US president saying Putin had called to wish him a happy 79th birthday.

Later on Wednesday, Trump said a change in Iran’s government “could happen,” and also indicated that negotiations could be on the horizon, without giving details.

“They want to meet, they want to come to the White House — I may do that,” Trump told reporters.

Trump meanwhile insisted that the stalled peace talks to end the Ukraine war were “going to work out” despite Moscow stepping up attacks.

The US president had vowed to end the war within 24 hours of taking office and made a major pivot toward Putin, but talks have so far made little progress.

Trump described the Ukraine war, sparked by Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor in 2022, as “so stupid.”


Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions

Updated 18 June 2025
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Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions

  • Thai PM says leak shows ‘trust problem’ with Cambodian ex-premier

BANGKOK, Phnom Penh: Relations between Thailand and Cambodia suffered a major blow on Wednesday after a leak of a telephone conversation between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and influential former Cambodian Premier Hun Sen that could further escalate tensions. 

Ties between the two neighbors are at their worst in more than a decade after a row over border territory that has sparked fears of a military confrontation following a sharp rise in nationalist rhetoric and the mobilization of troops on both sides of their frontier.

The leaked June 15 phone call, which has been confirmed as authentic by both Hun Sen and Paetongtarn, shows the Thai premier telling Hun Sen, whom she called uncle, that she is under domestic pressure and urging him not to listen to “the opposite side” which includes a prominent Thai military commander at the border.

“He just want to look cool and saying things that are not useful to the nation, but in truth what we want is peace,” she told Hun Sen through a translator in the leaked audio clip, referring to the general.

Paetongtarn later told reporters her conversation with Hun Sen was part of a negotiation tactic and she has no problem with the Thai army.

“I won’t be talking privately with him (Hun Sen) anymore because there is a trust problem,” she said.

Hun Sen said the leak came from one of the 80 politicians he shared the audio recording with. Self-styled strongman Hun Sen was Cambodia’s premier for nearly four decades and has maintained a high public profile since handing over power in 2023 to his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet. 

The two governments had until recently enjoyed warm ties, helped by the close relationship between Hun Sen and Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn’s influential father. Both former leaders are still active in politics.

Fierce rhetoric

The leak could put that relationship in jeopardy and will add to speculation in Thailand that Paetongtarn and the powerful Thai military are at odds on how to respond to the border crisis with Cambodia.

Cambodia’s rhetoric has become more fierce in the past week, with Hun Sen blaming Thai “extremists” and the Thai army for stoking tensions, saying Paetongtarn’s government was “unable to control its military the way our country can.”

The billionaire Shinawatra family has a troubled history with the army, with two of its governments ousted by generals in coups in 2006 and 2014.

Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang, commander of Thailand’s Second Army Area overseeing the eastern border, on Wednesday told local media that Paetongtarn had called him to explain the leak.

“I don’t have any issue, I understand,” Boonsin said. The weeks-long standoff followed a brief border skirmish on May 28 that left a Cambodian soldier dead. Both countries have called for calm while vowing to defend their sovereignty over contested stretches of a 820-km (510-mile) land border, parts of which are undemarcated. Attempts to settle the issue have failed, with Cambodia on Sunday delivering on its vow to seek resolution at the International Court of Justice, the jurisdiction of which Thailand says it does not recognize.

On Wednesday, Cambodia’s defense ministry said Thailand had again violated its sovereignty with drone flights, trench digging and troop deployments, which Bangkok rejected.

Thousands of Cambodians joined a state-organized march in the capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday to support the government, shouting slogans, waving national flags and holding portraits of Hun Manet and Hun Sen.

“Cambodia’s land! We won’t take others’ land, we keep our land!” some chanted.


France plans European ‘initiative’ to end Iran-Israel conflict: presidency

Updated 18 June 2025
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France plans European ‘initiative’ to end Iran-Israel conflict: presidency

  • France, UK and Germany were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers
  • French president urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles

PARIS: France is planning along with European partners to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict between Iran and Israel, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Wednesday.
At a national security council meeting, Macron ordered Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to draw up in the coming days “an initiative with close European partners that would propose a demanding negotiated settlement to put an end to the conflict,” it said, without giving details on the nature of the plan.
Barrot has been in regular touch with his German and British counterparts since Israel launched massive air strikes against Iran on Friday.
All three countries were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions.
The United States withdrew from that accord during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Macron also urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles.
He voice “concern over the current escalation, with Israeli strikes increasingly hitting targets not linked to Iran’s nuclear or ballistic program, and a mounting number of civilian victims in Iran and Israel,” his office said.
He said it was “necessary to urgently end these military operations, which pose significant threats to regional security,” it added.
The French president also urged the foreign ministry to take measures to help French citizens leave Israel or Iran if they wished to do so, the Elysee added, without providing further details.