India has questioned how the UN Security Council, which is "grossly unrepresentative" and has a questionable record in addressing common challenges, pursue the noble cause of responsibility to protect populations and prevent genocide and crimes and humanity.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin's remarks came during a UN General Assembly general debate yesterday on The Responsibility to Protect and the Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity'.
"While Responsibility to Protect, at its core, has an appeal as a 'noble cause', its usage has only been selective in the context of a wider geo-strategic balance of power among competing players or groups," he said.
Akbaruddin said there are many critical questions that need to be addressed if this noble cause is to be pursued in an impartial manner.
"How can we ensure commonly accepted legal definitions of the crimes that we are discussing? What will qualify as a trigger for action by the international community?
Akbaruddin asserted India's view that the current system of collective international security that is sought to be enforced through the UN Security Council "cannot isolate the implementation of a concept such as the Responsibility to Protect from double standards, selectivity, arbitrariness and misuse for political gains."