American Hindu leaders urge for Removal of disparity in UN General Assembly Voting Systems

published on March 12, 2009

On
March 10, 2009. a delegation comprising of Narain Kataria, President of Indian
American Intellectuals
Forum (IAIF), Arish Sahani, Vice President of IAIF, Dr.
Narinder Kukar, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Association of
Indians in America (AIA), Animesh Goenka, National President of AIA and Dr. C.B.
Singh met with Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet, United Nations for about an
hour, and presented the following Memorandum addressed to His Excellency
Ban-Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in New York.

_________________________________________________________




His Excellency
Ban-Ki-moon




Secretary General



The United Nations



1 United
Nationa
Plaza




New
York



,
NY
10017-3515






 




Hon Secretary General:




 



SUB:  REMOVAL OF DISPARITY IN
THE VOTING SYSTEM



            

IN UNITED






NATIONS GENERAL
ASSEMBLY









 



It is a matter of great satisfaction
that efforts are underway to reorganize and reform the United Nations
(U.N).  However, we have noticed the following anomalies in the functioning
of the U.N. which, we believe, need to be addressed immediately:




 



1.


    



There is one set
of countries in the world whose population is only a few millions, e.g. Panama
(3.5 M), U.A.E. (3M), Denmark (5M), Norway (4.6M), Sweden (9M),  Iceland
(less than half million), Israel (7.2M), Jamaica (2.8M), and Syria (19M).
 All such countries have one vote each in the United Nations General
Assembly.


 


2.


    


Then,
there is another set of countries in UN with population ranging from 250 million
to over one billion.  Examples are countries like
United States  (303M),
India (1.13B) and
China
(1.3B).  Surprisingly, these countries too have the same one vote
each.  This practice of United Nations, in our humble opinion, is a
completely unfair and unwarranted setup.






 


3.


    


On the
surface, the above practice is sold as being respectful of even the smallest of
countries on globe. But in reality, it is not only absolutely unjustified but
also  inexcusable because it
deprives  one-sixth of the humanity
that lives in a country like
India , of its rightful place in the
comity of nations

.


 


4.


    


We see
this setup as the worst case of 
under-representation in the world body. In effect, this is shutting out
the voice of a colossally huge segment of human population from the shaping and
functioning of the world body that is supposed to represent all human beings equally.




 






 


5.


    


Additionally,  the founding fathers of U.N. have
un



conscionabl


y
deprived the 1.13 billion people of
India of the permanent membership of
Security Council and, consequently, of their rightful representation in this
world body.






 


6.


    


This
practice of United Nations is not only unfair but also  humiliatingly misrepresentative. The
peaceful, responsible and law abiding one-billion plus masses of

India
deserve a much better
treatment.


 


In the interest of fair
representation of humanity on the planet earth, we urge that the U.N. leadership
work out some sensible formula so that this kind of wild disparity is removed
from the world body. 


 


As such, we believe that all voting
in the United Nations should be measured  on the basis of each country’s
population.  Alternatively, each country may be given, say one vote for
each block of one million people.


 


We further believe that a reformed
system that takes the size of the countries into account while determining their
voting power would represent the humanity on earth in a more fairer and
meaningful manner. In end, that would minimize the resentments and would promote
equity and evenhandedness on earth.


 


Very truly
yours,


 


 


 


Narain
Kataria


President


 


CC: Five Members of the Security
Council



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