By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)—The United Nations continues to be virtually paralysed—and remains politically impotent amidst two raging conflicts—as Russia and Israel keep defying the world body.
The killings of civilians and the destruction of cities, particularly by Israel, are devastating and continue despite repeated warnings from the UN, its humanitarian agencies, the International Criminal Court (ICC), UN human rights experts and the Security Council.
This prompts the question: has the UN outlived its usefulness—even as it commemorated its 79th anniversary on the annual UN Day on October 24?
The United Nations, which has failed to help resolve some of the world’s ongoing and longstanding civil wars and military conflicts—including Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Western Sahara, Myanmar, Syria, and most recently, Ukraine—was challenged by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his address to the Security Council last April.
Pic by UN Photo/Manuel Elías
And he rightly asked: “Where is the peace that the United Nations was created to guarantee? And where is the security that the Security Council was supposed to guarantee?
The repeated US calls for a ceasefire by Israel have fallen on deaf ears—even as violations of the UN Charter continue with accusations of war crimes and genocide in Gaza since October 7 last year.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Asian diplomat was right on target when he told IPS the countries that violate the UN charter and commit war crimes are “rogue nations” and should be driven out of the world body.
But that will never happen
with a Security Council empowered with vetoes.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told IPS the UN Security Council has served as the principal obstacle to global peace and security, hindering rather than helping efforts to end conflicts around the world.
Both the United States and Russia have used their veto power to ensure the wars they support, whether Russia’s conflicts in Ukraine and Syria or the US-supported wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen, continue.
Without ending the veto power of these two global powers that are fomenting the worst conflicts in the world, the UN will continue to be a toothless and discredited institution, Whitson declared.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud, a journalist and editor of the Palestine Chronicle, told IPS the question of whether the United Nations has outlived its usefulness or not depends on how we choose to comprehend the initial formation and the original purpose of the organisation.
“If we believe, and many rightly do, that the UN was formed to protect the interests of those who emerged victorious following the devastation of WWII, then, largely, it has succeeded in its mission.”
Indeed, the UN, especially its executive branch, the Security Council, has mainly reflected the balances of global power, which, until recently, was mostly titled in favour of the US and its Western allies, he said.
Though this is somewhat changing, he pointed out, the US continues to prove that it is still capable of being a major obstacle before allowing the institution to serve even a nominal role in imposing international and humanitarian laws on guilty parties, the likes of Israel.
“However, if we subscribe to the misconception that the UN existed as a global guarantor of peace through the generation and implementation of international laws, then there is no question it has miserably failed,” he declared.
Responding to a question at a media briefing in early October, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: “Well, when people talk about the failures of the UN, my question back to you is, which UN are you speaking about?”
“Are you speaking about the inability of the Security Council to come together on critical issues? Are you speaking about Member States not respecting and not implementing resolutions? Are you speaking about Member States not upholding the rulings of the International Court of Justice, which every Member State has signed up to?”
And are you speaking about the Secretary-General feeling that you think he’s not doing enough or his humanitarians are not doing enough? So, I think those types of questions are extremely valid, but I think one has to examine which part of the organisation you’re speaking about,” said Dujarric.
On the margins of the BRICS Summit in Kazan on October 24, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and reiterated his position that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law.”
But Russia’s response went unannounced—even as violations continue.
Responding to a question at a news conference in Colombia on October 29, Guterres said: “We need peace among ourselves. That is the reason I’ve been asking, in line with the Charter, in line with international law, and in line with the General Assembly resolutions.”
“That is why we have been asking for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, releasing all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid to Gaza. That is why we have been asking for peace in Lebanon and peace that respects Lebanese sovereignty and Lebanese territorial integrity and paves the way for a political solution.”
“That is why we have been asking for peace in Sudan, where an enormous tragedy exists,” Guterres said.
Perhaps these are appeals that will continue to remain unanswered.
Meanwhile, the UN’s declining role in geopolitics, however, has been compensated for by its increasingly robust performance as a massive humanitarian relief organisation.
These efforts are led by multiple UN agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), among others.
These agencies, which have saved millions of lives, continue to provide food, medical care, and shelter to those trapped in war-ravaged countries, mostly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, while following closely in the footsteps of international relief organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), CARE International, Action Against Hunger, World Vision, and Relief Without Borders, among others.
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