Since the government itself has already tied up the success in the election bid in the non-permanent category of the UN Security Council with the newly restored democracy and freedom in the country, it is all the more imperative to passionately appeal to the international community for their unflinching support and backing for Nepal’s candidature.

By Nishchal N. Pandey

Nepal was twice member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) under the non-permanent category in the pre-1990 period. It had won the seat in 1968 by defeating Japan and once again got the privilege to be a member of this all-powerful Council in 1988/89. This period was markedly a turning point of the Cold War. After a gap of nearly 17 years, Nepal has for the third time offered its candidature for the seat from the Asian continent.

Unfortunately, the seriousness and dedication needed to promote our candidacy, groundwork that should go beyond mere informing all friendly nations of our candidature and massive lobbying amidst the community of nations through bilateral contacts, multi-lateral forums and international meets seems to have been decelerated. We are certainly occupied in our own internal political turmoil with the peace talks with the Maoist rebels absorbing our concentration at the moment but that should not have hindered the government in bringing all political parties including the Maoists to call upon the international community with a single voice to support us in this crucial election bid. For the past 6 months, the government has done little to advertise, garner support or appeal friendly countries to back for Nepal’s case. Not even a single MP of the Lower House has uttered a sentence on this issue ever since the House was reinstated in April. The House Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committee seem least interested to inquire the government on the progress made so far on this election effort. At least envoys of foreign countries resident in Kathmandu could have been called for a get-together at the Prime Minister’s residence to urge them to advise their respective governments for support. The Foreign Minister could have gone on a whirl-wind tour of various countries to seek for cooperation in this endeavour.

Instead, he went to the SAARC Council of Ministers’ meet and failed to obtain support even from Nepal’s immediate neighbours within SAARC. Even in the NAM Summit recently held in Cuba, Nepal simply did the official diplomatic whispering but failed to go an extra-mile to impress upon NAM’s member states to support our bid.

This evident lethargy and diplomatic sluggishness is accompanied by the challenging reality that our rival contender is Indonesia, the fourth most populous country and the largest Muslim country in the world. Indonesia is a major economic heavyweight in Asia and given its size and diplomatic influence as a voice for the developing world, it has also traditionally been highly influential within the ASEAN. As a moderate Muslim country, it has faced the wrath of international terrorism flamed by radical Islamic elements and this is where it has tried its best to earn sympathy from UN member states. But its role as such diminished as the country became caught up in internal strife and financial crises. Additionally, in 1965, it had given up its membership of the UN and sought to set-up a parallel international body, a blot which remains a permanent scar on its international stature.

We should be able to exploit these shortcomings of our rival in order to advance our cause. Peacekeeping is an area in which Nepal has a clear advantage and the international community has recognized Nepal’s role and contribution in and to the UN in this field from the very beginning. In fact, contribution to peacekeeping operations underscores our commitment to the maintenance of international peace and security. Even as we have been hit hard by an insurgency, Nepal never gave up sending troops to UN peacekeeping operations and has continuously been providing troops, observers and police personnel ever since 1958.

South Korea, another contender for the seat has recently withdrawn its candidature following the victory in the preliminary rounds of the ballot of its incumbent Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon for the UN Secretary General’s post. Mr. Ban unlike his outgoing predecessor seems to be in favour for a ‘strong state’ able and efficient enough to tackle internal strife by itself. Ban has recently said that “The United Nations was created first and foremost to forestall another world war. It has achieved this cardinal goal despite four decades of Cold War; however, we cannot be sanguine about future trends. If the UN’s primary task in the 20th century was to curb interstate conflict, its core mandate in the new century must be to strengthen states and to preserve the interstate system in the face of new challenges.” It is in this context that the preference of Korea also becomes very important in the entire Security Council elections.

Besides, all 5 permanent members of the UNSC have kept silent whether or not to support Nepal. Lately, it has been reported that Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda has claimed that he has already been informed by over 100 countries of their support. Furthermore, it has officially asked Nepal to withdraw our candidature. This would mean that Nepal has to forget of being a member of the UNSC for the next 20 years. Instead of minimizing our drawbacks and aggressive international lobbying, Foreign Minister Oli has said in his address to the 61st session of the UN General Assembly that “Nepal’s election to the UNSC this time will be a great recognition to its democratic credentials and that the people of Nepal deserve due recognition from the international community for this unprecedented courage and determination with which they have defeated autocracy and restored democracy.”

Since the government itself has already tied up the success in the election bid in the non-permanent category of the UN Security Council with the newly restored democracy and freedom in the country, it is all the more imperative to passionately appeal to the international community for their unflinching support and backing for Nepal’s candidature.

(The author is ex-Executive Director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and can be contacted at [email protected])

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