Society for Policy Studies organised a special lecture on “UN at 70: Relevance for India and the World”
Speaker: Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, Vice President, International Peace Institute(IPI), New York and Secretary General, Independent Commission on Multilateralism(ICM)
Chair
Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd)
Director, Society for Policy Studies
Programme Details
Date: December 7, 2015
Time: 05:30 pm
Venue: Naval Officers Mess Annexe, Kota House Shahjahan Road, New Delhi
Summary:
The Society for Policy Studies (SPS) organised a special lecture by Hardeep Singh Puri, Vice President, International Peace Institute (IPI), New York and Secretary General, Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM) on “UN at 70: Relevance for India and the World” at Kota House, in association with Indian Navy.
Ambassador Puri started his lecture with reflections on the actions that are being taken by the key international forces in tackling the threat posed and executed by the Islamic State. Observing that the international actions are rather wanting, he stressed the need to have a united strategy that can tackle the issue in its bud. On the role of the UN in dealing with this issue, he mentioned that the international organisation is more bypassed in addressing what he called the first-rate conflicts – those that are created by those countries which have the power and the impunity to outrun them. He was critical of the roles of the some of the veto-holding powers and said their conflicting interests often came in the way of conflict resolutions like Syria.
Ambassador Puri touched upon the issue of India’s permanent candidature at the UN Security Council (UNSC) and said that India needs to develop the support system to bolster its chances at the UNSC.
He also raised the pertinent issue of UN funding. He said no country is willing to spend a penny out of its pocket unless and until its interests are being served.
He said multilateralism is not a venue or an event, rather a process and we need to be patient to assess its outcomes. According to him, there is lot of curiosity about the UN in India and across the developing world but there is a need to create awareness about the working style of the UN.
In conclusion, Ambassador Puri admitted there are lacunas in the functioning of the UN but the world needs the UN evidenced by the fact that so many countries keep approaching it for help for a common approach to global problems and do not shy away from participating in its activities.