'Multilateral platforms are being misused to justify, protect perpetrators of terrorism': S Jaishankar's veiled attack on China, Pak at UN

Presiding over the UN Security Council open debate on 'Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism', he said: "When it comes to climate action and climate justice, the state of affairs is no better. Instead of addressing the relevant issues in the appropriate forum, we have seen attempts at distraction and diversion."

"On the challenge of terrorism, even as the world is coming together with a more collective response, multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators," he said.

He said all nations are aware that the "Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council” has been on the UNGA agenda for well over three decades.

"While the debate on reforms has meandered aimlessly, the real world meanwhile has changed dramatically. We see that in terms of economic prosperity, technology capabilities, political influence and developmental progress.

"The broad dispersal of capabilities and responsibilities has been expressed for example, in the emergence of the G20. That realization is now steadily percolating through the wider membership of the UN. At the 77th UNGA, we were all witness to a growing sentiment in favour of reform. Our challenge is to translate that into concrete outcomes," he said.

"The call for change has been accelerated by growing stresses on the international system that we have experienced in recent years. On the one hand, they have brought out the inequities and inadequacies of the way the world currently functions," he said.

Jaishankar highlighted that during the COVID pandemic, many vulnerable nations of the global south got their first vaccines from "beyond their traditional sources".

"Indeed, the diversification of global production was itself a recognition of how much the old order had changed," he said.

"The knock-on effects of conflict situations have also underscored the necessity for a more broad-based global governance. Recent concerns over food, fertilizer and fuel security were not adequately articulated in the highest councils of decision-making. Much of the world was therefore led to believe that their interests did not matter. We cannot let that happen again," he said.