EAM S. Jaishankar during a meeting with his G4 counterparts from Brazil, Germany and Japan, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York. (@DrSJaishankar/X via PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Strongly pushing for reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India, Germany, Japan and Brazil — collectively known as the Group of Four (G4) — have said the council is currently unable to effectively discharge its core responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

Foreign minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira, federal minister for foreign affairs of Germany Johann David Wadephul, minister of external affairs S. Jaishankar and minister for foreign affairs of Japan Motegi Toshimitsu met Tuesday on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The G4 Joint Ministerial Statement on the Reform of the UN Security Council, issued after the meeting, noted that the Security Council is currently unable to effectively discharge its core responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

"The representativeness, legitimacy, credibility and efficacy of the UNSC are in question, the G4 statement said.

They assessed that one of the key underlying reasons was the eight-decade-old architecture, which did not reflect contemporary geopolitical realities and hindered efforts to effectively address present and future challenges to peace and security.

The G4 ministers noted that the IGN framework has been largely "ineffective" in forging any concrete outcomes towards real UNSC reform despite 18 years of activities.

The G4 said they had "serious reservations" about the presentation of a so-called bridging proposal before the commencement of text-based negotiations. They regretted that the proposal does not take into account the views of a clear majority of member states in favour of expansion in both categories of membership. They also recalled that, under the UN Charter and the IGN mandate, consensus is not the benchmark for decision-making on Security Council reform.

"Against this backdrop, the G4 ministers emphasised that it is crucial to implement UNSC reform at the earliest so that the council is fit-for-purpose, truly reflecting contemporary geopolitical realities. They underscored that expansion of the UNSC in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership is central to such reform and that this position is supported by a majority of member states," it added.

"Moving forward, the G4 will further collaborate and identify synergies with other reform-oriented groups with a view to developing a consolidated model that properly reflects the voice of a majority of Member States and commencing text-based negotiations as a high priority, which is the key to realising the vision of real and impactful UNSC reform," the joint statement added.

The G4 ministers underscored their continuing support for Africa's compelling case for enhanced representation in the UNSC, including in the permanent category of membership.

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