The origins of the United Nations can be traced back to the aftermath of the First World War. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson delivered his famous Fourteen Points speech, in which he advocated the plan to escape and avoid situations like future wars and conflicts and secure world peace with a new international order based on ‘collective security,’ peaceful resolution of disputes, and cooperation among nations. As a result, the League of Nations was created in 1920; however, the League was Wilson’s initiative, the United States never joined as a result of the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, and other events like Japan’s invasion of Manchuria (1931) and the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy (1935) diluted the very core objective of the League of Nations. Also, World War II broke out 20 years later.
Although the League ultimately failed to prevent the then-global issue, it served as a fundamental framework for the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. Doubtless, it emerged as the institutional successor to the League of Nations while incorporating important structural improvements.
It is often said,
“If Woodrow Wilson was the dreamer who built the League of Nations, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the strategist who built the United Nations.”
The UN was based on the core idea of “collective security,” i.e., one for all, all for one, whereby an attack against one member is regarded as a matter of concern for the entire international community. Today, the UN comprises 193 Member States. During the UN conference on International Organizations, the UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, outlining the principles, structure, and objectives of the UN, emphasizing international peace, cooperation, and security.
Need for the UN: Purpose, Objectives, and Functions
Article 1 of the UN Charter states four purposes. First, the UN seeks to maintain international peace and security by taking effective collective measures to prevent and remove threats to peace, suppress acts of aggression, and resolve international disputes through peaceful means. Second, it aims to develop friendly relations among nations, with respect for the principle of equal rights and the self-determination of people, and to take appropriate action to strengthen universal peace.
Third, to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination based on race, sex, language, or religion. Finally, the goal is to achieve international cooperation in addressing global problems related to economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian issues.
Overall, the birth of the UN with the objectives and functions to protect world peace, promote human rights, and promote development via delivering aid, cooperation, and fostering friendly relations.
As Dag Hammarskjöld stated,
“The UN was not created to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell.”
To materialize these objectives into action rather than leaving them as mere declarations, the United Nations established a comprehensive institutional framework comprising six principal organs and numerous specialized agencies, funds, and programs.
Institutional Structures
The General Assembly is the main deliberative body of all the UN member states. Each country has one vote regardless of its size or economic strength. The Assembly discusses important international issues, approves the UN budget, and makes recommendations on matters related to peace, security, and development. Although its resolutions are generally not legally binding, they carry significant moral and political influence.
The Security Council is responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It consists of fifteen members, including five permanent members having the power to exercise veto power and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. The UN Security Council is considered the most powerful organ of the UN because it can pass legally binding resolutions, apply economic sanctions, and order military action.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) focuses on promoting economic cooperation among states for growth, social progress, and sustainable development, along with coordinating the work of various UN agencies and encouraging international cooperation on issues such as education, health, and human rights.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), located in The Hague, a consent-based jurisdiction, settles legal disputes between countries and provides advisory opinions on international legal matters. The UN General Assembly elects its fifteen judges for nine-year terms. It plays an important role in promoting peaceful resolution of conflicts through international law.
The Secretariat manages the day-to-day operations of the UN. It is headed by the Secretary-General, the UN’s foremost representative and administrative officer, who often serves as a mediator during international conflicts. The Secretariat also supports the work of the other UN organs.
Finally, the Trusteeship Council was originally designed to manage colonial possessions that were former League of Nations mandates. Since all trust territories have gained independence, the Council has remained inactive since 1994, when Palau, the last trust territory, attained independence.
Together, these six organs form the foundation of the United Nations, enabling it to work toward a more peaceful and sustainable world.
Institutional triumphs
· Protection of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), adopted by the UN General Assembly, became the moral foundation and guiding philosophy of the modern international human rights regime. Although it is not legally binding, it profoundly influenced domestic law among member nations, including the Supreme Court of India in expanding the horizon of citizen rights; additionally, it is directly mirrored in the Indian Constitution (Part III, i.e., the Fundamental Rights).
The latest, Global Human Rights Alliance (GHRA), launched in June 2026; this is an operational alliance that acts as a practical mechanism to implement UDHR principles across modern government and private sectors.
With the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) in 1979, an attempt was made to promote women’s rights globally; its framework inspired a rewrite or rebuilding of the domestic law. Brazil’s law, i.e., Maria de Penha (2006) against domestic violence, is one of the successful monumental ones and powerfully echoes Carol Hanisch’s “the personal is politics.” The convention has the potential to act as a guiding light to address the issues especially when globally, sexual violence, including marital rape, remains legally unaddressed or outside the scope of complete safety protection in 64 economies, according to the latest World Bank Women, Business and the Law 2026 report.
· Promotion of Peace
UN peacekeeping is a core instrument of the UN, embodying its primary mission to maintain global peace and security through military, police, and civilian collaboration at the grassroots level. More than 70 peacekeeping operations have been deployed since 1948. Nearly 68,000 peacekeepers currently serve in missions worldwide.
Most recently, UN Blue Helmets are acting as the primary line of physical and logistical defense for medical teams fighting the 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While every mission faces different challenges, peacekeepers often help create a safer environment so that political dialogue and long-term recovery can take place.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also endeavors to bring global peace by conducting regular inspections and verifying compliance with international agreements so that nuclear technology is used only for peaceful, humanitarian or civilian purposes. Additionally, reducing the risk of nuclear materials falling into the hands of non-state actors like terrorists. The IAEA deserves a degree of recognition to avoid full-fledged nuclear war since World War II.
Recently, the IAEA has been active in crisis management at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, monitoring structural safety, evaluating damage, and acting as a neutral deterrent against military sabotage.
· Promotion of development
Development has increasingly become synonymous with peace. As Martin Luther King Jr. observed,
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
Therefore, with programs like UNDP, UNICEF, and UNTAC, the UN has been promoting development focusing on the improvement of living standards and human skills since 2000 with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now succeeded by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from Poverty Alleviation (SDG 1) to Gender Equality (SDG 5), to promote decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and to establish peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16).
Contemporary challenges & alarming issues
Considering the chaotic historical events, the UN was created to replace “Might is Right” with international law and a rule-based order.
But it appears to blur the rule of law and persistence of “might.” As veto power resides with permanent five(P5) nations, block substantive Security Council resolutions based on strategic national interests, thus dominated by a few powers. Along with this, it is widely seen as no longer representing the true representatives, with the absence of major economic and democratic nations from Africa, Latin America, or the Global South as permanent members in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Although the UN was meant for promoting democratic principles globally, this has led many scholars and experts to argue the UN itself is suffering from “democratic deficiency.”
Also witnessing cherry-picking of the UN provisions by major powers at the cost of collective interest. For instance, following USA’s recent strikes on Iran, the USA faced international criticism for invoking Article 51 of the UN Charter to justify unilateral military actions under the doctrine of self-defense.
Likewise, China’s territorial aggression with its neighbor countries and in the South China Sea, particularly its rejection of the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Such actions reinforce the perception that major powers are both “rule makers as well as rule breakers” by bypassing or violating UN provisions, resulting in strengthening the status quo of “might is right.”
Moreover, the UN is also facing financial pressures. Recent decisions by the United States to withdraw from or suspend participation in certain UN bodies, agencies, and international agreements, along with delayed assessed contributions by several member states, have intensified financial pressures on the United Nations, which compelled António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, to warn of “imminent financial collapse,” posing a direct headwind and hampering the organization’s peacekeeping, humanitarian, and development activities.
Unfortunately, the UN proved paralyzed with evidence, like an inability to respond effectively to contemporary geopolitical cacophony, such as escalating tensions involving Iran, Israel, and the United States in West Asia; the Russia-Ukraine war; longstanding hostile bilateral relations between Pakistan and India and even Palestine issue, systematic restrictions on women’s education and employment under the Taliban administration in Afghanistan; and allegations regarding the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, deterring China’s aggression remained unsolved.
Therefore, the above inabilities have led member nations to shift focus toward self-preservation and national defense, triggering global nuclear proliferation and an arms buildup. This has resulted in accelerated nuclear weaponization and global armament, as per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report 2026, all nine nuclear-armed states are actively modernizing and expanding their nuclear arsenals. It is reflecting a vicious cycle eroding faith in multilateral institutions and fueling militarization.
Conclusion
A demand for comprehensive reform of the UN has been raised for decades. More recently, that voice has been louder than before; the demand includes expansion of permanent and non-permanent seats in the UNSC, particularly to enhance the representation of Africa, Latin America, and the broader Global South. Indeed, “Reform is the key to relevance.”
Today, the UN perhaps faces the ‘crisis of confidence.’ Nevertheless, it would be amiss to regard the UN as a fiasco. As the UN has the underlying potential, all that is needed is ‘unlocking its full institutional potential through meaningful reforms.’
Overall, the United Nations remains committed to promoting and serving a plate of peace and hope for a better and sustainable future through diplomacy, peacekeeping, humanitarian action, and sustainable development, making it one of the world’s most important organizations for maintaining international peace and security, but it also requires the political will and collective commitment of its member states to uphold the ideals of the UN Charter.
As António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, aptly remarked:
“We need more of the United Nations, not less.”
By: VINITA MURMU
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