The United Nations came into existence in 1945 after World War II, to succeed League of Nations, which failed as peacekeeper.

 But, has the UN lived up to its mission ‘to maintain international peace and security, to bond friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and function as the centre for harmonizing actions of nations’?

Recent violent unrest in different geographical areas speaks volumes of the UN’s shortcoming in these departments, and also of its waning potency as harbinger of peace.

It has failed to keep trigger-happy governments, terror organizations, armed despots and proxy bullies in check. The 2014 invasion of Ukraine by a war-mongering Russian dictator, and Hamas’ violent, and unprovoked incursion into Israel on October 7th and bloodletting that still continues unabated in Gaza Strip, orchestrated by a vengeful Israel, which has traditionally adopted eye-for-an-eye as national policy equivocally tags  UN as an unmitigated failure as a world body constituted to foster peace.

However, it is indeed naïve to expect lightly (read hardly)-armed UN peacekeepers to prevent modern-day mischief mongers armed to their teeth by heavy-duty weaponry from unleashing mayhem on humanity. But, the UN as a peace broker must be able to prevent nations from attacking nations. As is prevalent now. Either by bringing begetters of violence to the negotiating table, or by adopting   effective deterrents to keep nations and their homegrown hatchet men on short leash.

The UN has failed to do so for various reasons;

  • Member nations in important decision-making arms of the UN like the Security Council and General Assembly are invested with veto power and option to abstain from well-meant resolutions seeking to condemn, red flag, criticize and unequivocally decry mindless acts of war. Member states exercise veto and abstain from resolutions to suit their geopolitical compulsions. The most glaring example is the Indian government’s adamant insistence to abstain from condemning Russian invasion of Ukraine. By doing so, a supposedly ‘peace-loving nation’ condoned territorial violation by a trigger-happy despot. India also abstained from a resolution that called for immediate humanitarian truce in the ongoing violent Israel-Hamas hostilities on flimsy grounds. It is irresponsible countries like India that has rendered UN a mere bystander as nations fight nations, at the cost of innocent lives.    
  • Disunity and trepidation among nations to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to  condemn and disown violence has rendered the UN toothless. This is prominently due to hesitation of nations to let go of apron strings of power blocs that once fought the cold war. Ghosts of Alliances that are dead and buried still haunt the august body.         
  • The UN has been reduced to a marionette dancing to the tune of nations, especially the US-captained West which finances it heavily. The US alone contributed $ 12 billion in 2021, amounting to 1/5 of funding for UN’s collective budget. It is no wonder that the USA considers UN as her 51st state!
  •  Important decision-making body like the Security Council still remains an exclusive club with ‘restricted entry’. The Security Council is West-heavy, with nuclear-tipped China whose track record is suspect in many areas, especially human rights and personal liberty representing Asia. Nations more influential and relevant to world politics, than they were in 1945 are shooed away. An important body like the Security Council must be more encompassing and inclusive.
  • The UN peacekeepers are inadequately armed. Though arming a peace-keeping body with sophisticated weaponry might be counterproductive, the UN must compensate with mechanisms that draw aggrieved parties to the negotiating table where peaceful options like dialogue and diplomacy are preferred peacekeeping methodology.
  • Times have changed from its formative years. Wars are no more about enemy tanks rolling into, and warplanes flying over nations. War is now waged by an unseen enemy-the terrorist, who is usually a fanatic sold to religious fundamentalism. 9/11 saw passenger planes flown by fidayeens strike at the heart of USA. 26/11 witnessed Pakistan-trained L-e-T operatives arriving in fishing boats to storm Mumbai. Terrorism is financed by drug peddlers and drug cartels. Nuclear warheads are all over the place. The UN has been inept at measuring up to warfare that has undergone sea change.

 Summarizing, the UN has been reduced to an organization remote-controlled by a few powerful nations legitimizing bullying and infiltrative ways of a rowdy few.

Examples are rife. When Pakistan violates her borders with India to push in religious mercenaries trained in terrorism in her numerous terror factories, her all-weather friend China approves the violation by vetoing resolutions against it in the Security Council. When Israel takes her self-assumed right not to turn the other cheek to murderous proportions, the US and other Western nations in the Security Council support it militarily. India abstains from vote on Ukraine and West Asian mass murder.  The world body needs to be overhauled big-time to live up to its purported role as an effective peacekeeper.

Under its very nose, dictators and drug cartels have flourished. Innocents have perished by thousands. Nuclear warheads have proliferated. Terror has been adopted as national sport by nations. Citizens have been denied legitimate rights. Stomachs rumble in hunger, and innocents have been incarcerated.  If the UN has to function meaningfully to make the world a better place for humankind to live in, it needs to undergo a thorough overhaul.

Or, would regional alliances and axes do better than the UN?