India elected to United Nations' Joint Inspection Unit

United Nations, Nov 23 (PTI) In a significant victory, India has been elected to the United Nations' Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), defeating China in a direct fight for the lone seat from the Asia-Pacific region and returning to this powerful external oversight body after a gap of 35 years. India's permanent representative to the UN offices in Geneva, A Gopinathan defeated Zhang Yan, China's Ambassador in Indian capital New Delhi, to assume a place on the JIU for a five-year term starting on January 1, 2013. India won with a clear majority of 106 votes out of the 183 cast, while China got 77 votes. India has served only once on the JIU 35 years ago from 1968 to 1977. The JIU election was the first time ever that India was locked in a "direct contest" with China in the UN General Assembly. Countries are elected to the JIU for five years and typically extend their term for another five years. China had held its seat for 10 years and its term was to expire in December 2012. It was assumed that China would not seek to re-contest for the post. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri told PTI that he was "very confident" about the country's chances as it had a "good candidate" and also because of "India's standing" at the multilateral body. The JIU is an independent external oversight body of the United Nations system, mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide. It is composed of not more than 11 Inspectors serving for a term of five years, renewable once. The election was for the appointment of an Inspector from Asia, for a term starting on January 1 2013, on the completion of the term of an Inspector that was secured by China in 2003 and will be held by them for 10 years till 2012. In a pamphlet distributed extensively as part of its global campaign for the election, India touted Gopinathan's credentials saying, "Having devoted almost half of his diplomatic career to UN-related work, ambassador Gopinathan's extensive knowledge and wide experience across the UN system will enable him to make important and effective contributions to the work of the Joint Inspection Unit and help bring about improvements in the UN system in the areas of oversight and governance, an objective shared by all UN member states." PTI