In the ongoing tensions of Wars it is very important to understand the International Organisation who’s supposed to keep peace & maintain world order. The Organisation who’s given the duty to maintain Peace is the United Nations Organization. The United Nations Organization is the largest International Organisation. It is an International Body where different countries come together to solve global issues. However when we see ongoing wars & conflicts it’s important to analyse the whole structure of the United Nations Organization.
In order to understand the utility of the UNO we need to ask ourselves a question whether UNO is a Weak or Strong Government? & Whether UNO is still relevant in Contemporary times? And in order to do that we need to analyse UNO ‘s success & failures & the reasons for failure & whether there are any flaws in the apparatus of the UNO & we can also discuss what might be the possible solution to remove such defects.
The United Nations Organization called UNO or UN is the biggest intergovernmental organization. Out of 195 countries 193 are members of the UNO, only few are not members of the United Nations i.e Kosovo, Cook Islands ,Vatican City & Palestine.
Over 800 representatives of 50 Nations assembled for the San Francisco conference where they signed the United Nations Charter on 26th June 1945. The charter begins with the preamble & contains 111 articles categorized into 19 chapters.
The preamble enunciates the objectives
To save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war
To reaffirm the faith in fundamental human rights & promote equality of men & women , Nations Large & Small
To promote respect for international law
Article 1 enunciates the purpose of the organisation
To maintain international peace & security
To develop friendly relations among nations
To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems & to be a centre for harmonizing action of Nations
We may say that the chief task of the UNO is conflict prevention,peacekeeping, peace building & humanitarian assistance.
UNO has 6 organs
General Assembly
Security Council
Economic & social council
Trusteeship Council
Secretariat
International Court of Justice
The General Assembly is the chief Policy making body of the UNO. If any state becomes a member of the UNO then it automatically becomes part of The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Powers & Functions of UNGA
Recommendations
UNGA makes recommendations on issues of International Peace However it can only make recommendations on those international issues which are not under consideration of the Security Council.
Supervisory
It receives reports from various organs of the UNO & makes recommendations.
Elective
It elects non permanent members of the Security Council & some members of security council, it appoints Secretary General but that too only on recommendation of Security Council.
Financial
It approves the budget of the UNO.
As we could see there is a fundamental flaw that despite all the member states being part of UNGA it has a very limited role, even when veto power is used by the permanent member of the Security Council it can only make recommendations. And that is a root cause of failures of UNO.
United Nations Security Council
The Security Council is called the Enforcement wing, it is the only organ that can impose sanctions military or economic. It consists of 15 members. 5 nations are the permanent members China , France, Russia, UK & USA known as the Big 5 (Five). The rest 10 are non permanent members elected by UNGA for a term of 2 years.
Non permanent members don’t have the right of Veto only permanent members have & that is the fundamental problem in the apparatus of the UNO.
How does the Council Settle Disputes ?
The council first strives for direct and peaceful resolution of the dispute among the states. They guide them with several methods of Pacific resolution of the dispute such as mediation, arbitration and conciliation.
If all of these fail then they guide them for judicial settlement through the International Court of Justice.
If the dispute is still not resolved and all the above mentioned means have failed, then the security council will announce its own decision & those who do not comply even with the resolution of the security council on the dispute will be faced with the economic sanctions and in the extreme situation the security council may take military action. If the security council decides to take military action then it is compulsory for all the member States to send armed forces.
UNO’S Major Achievements & Success
In 1946 UNO established a commission to deal with problems of Atomic energy.
In 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted.
In 1950 UNO was successful in removing North Korean troops out of South Korea and in 1953 UNO was able to end the Korean war.
In 1952 UNO created the disarmament Commission.
In 1954 United Nations High Commissioner for refugee was set up and it has one Nobel prize for its work in Europe and middle East
In 1956 one of the major successes of UNO was that it was able to end this Suez canal crisis.
In 1958 Uno setup special fund for development projects around the world
In 1961 UN launched world food program which a providing food
In 1962 UNO Secretary General successfully mediated between USA, USSR in Cuban missile crisis
In 1963 the United Nation agreed to put voluntary members to go against apartheid in South Africa.
In 1964 UNO deployed peacekeepers in Cyprus to end the fight between Greek and Cyprus communities.
In 1965 United Nations children fund (UNICEF) was awarded the Nobel prize.
In 1966 UNSC sanctions on Rhodesia Zimbabwe.
In 1967 UNSC was able to achieve peace in middle east
In 1968 Nuclear Weapons of Non Proliferation Treaty was adopted asking for Non Proliferation & accumulation of Nuclear Weapons, however it can’t be considered as a major success as the Big Five members are not under its control.
In 1969 the UN declared South Africa’s presence in Namibia as illegal and took the responsibility for the territory.
In 1972 the first environment conference of the United Nations was conducted in Stockholm.
In 1973 unsc deployed peacekeepers to and 6 days long Arab Israeli war.
In 1978 UNSC deployed an army to protect Lebanon following the Israel invasion.
In 1979 United Nation convention for elimination of all forms of discrimination against women was adopted , this is an important convention which promotes and protects the rights of the women.
In 1980 United Nations WHO 13 long year efforts to eradicate smallpox from the world were achieved.
In 1987 UNO passed treaty to protect ozone layer
In 1989 UN mission overseas South Africa withdrawal that paved the way for Namibia independence.
Also in 1989 the United Nations adopted a convention on the rights of children which is a legally binding convention which protects and promotes the rights of the child.
In 1990 UNSC deployed peacekeepers in Kuwait to oust the Iraqi invasion.
In 1991 UNO was successful to bring ceasefire to end the 16 year long civil war in Angola.
In 1992 the largest Earth summit in Rio was held.
In 1997 Kyoto protocol was adopted to reduce the level of harmful gases in the atmosphere and to protect the green zone.
In 1999 UNO was successful in bringing peace in East Timor.
History of UNO
In order to understand the effectiveness of the UN we also need to look back at History. After the 1st world war League of Nations was established in order to prevent future generations from the scourge of war. However as we know despite its best efforts it failed to prevent the 2nd World War. And that is the reason why the United Nation Organisation was formed. The League of Nations was formed after World War I but the League of Nations failed to prevent World War II.
In order to understand the success & failures of the United Nations we need to understand the success & failures of the League of Nations & take the thing in context & then analyze how much improvement has been made. The League of Nations did have success in establishing the International Labour Organisation, Refugee Commission, Health Organisation, Permanent Central Opium Board & slavery commission .
Some notable achievements were the success of the Health Organisation to control the spread of epidemic typhus in Russia & prevent it from being in pandemic, Slavery commission etc.
Failure of UNO
CORONA VIRUS
The League of Nations was successful in controlling Typhus Virus & From this angle if we compare then the United Nations WHO failed miserably in preventing Corona Virus. Had the Epidemic of Corona been curtailed in China itself like Typhus was curtailed by the League of Nations Health Organisation in Russia then millions of lives would have been saved. The destruction caused by Corona to the human lives is humongous not just the people who died during the Covid but those who survived many have faced Health Problems like Paralysis, Heart Attacks etc. as side effects of Covid Vaccinations. And of course the destruction to the world economy is so huge that it might take decades to recuperate. However when we speak of World Economy we must exclude the Chinese Economy from this as China’s economy kept growing even during the so called pandemic.
What is the other difference between Typhus of Russia & Corona of China? Typhus was a natural epidemic & Corona was China created epidemic. After the success of Corona, Xi Jin Ping got so happy that he ordered 60 more laboratories for creating such deadly viruses. 15 such laboratories were already present & creating deadly viruses. These are not mere speculations but media reports of that time, even a Chinese Doctor and one scientist who tried to reveal the truth were suddenly seen missing. As it always happens in China when anyone tries to speak the truth & expose the government that person goes missing.
For argument’s sake even if we consider that this were mere speculations but by the time WHO Team entered China to investigate all the evidence may have already been destroyed. It’s obvious a culprit won’t keep evidence to get convicted thus Corona was a big failure of UNO. And that is what exactly happened. When the WHO team entered China that was only allowed after a gap of 2-3 months. And by the time they entered no evidence was left. If China was totally innocent then why did they not allow WHO team to inspect immediately? Why took 2_3 months to allow them to enter?
It’s not to say that WHO has never been successful, it has been on many occasions but it couldn’t save us during the worst pandemic the world has ever seen.
Palestine
Second failure of UNO could be seen in Palestine, Palestine has been applying for membership of UNO since long time but it has been refused, as membership has to first pass through the security council & the council has USA as a permanent member who could use Veto to prevent Palestine from becoming the member of UNO, it is interesting to note that Security Council has Palestine Issue Investigation Commission since long time but the issue of Palestine has never been resolved. It is obvious that it will never be resolved because the USA with the veto power will never allow it to be resolved as we well know the USA political system is highly influenced by the Zionist lobby which is the strongest lobby in the USA.
South Africa had filed a case in the International Court of Justice for Palestine & the International Court of Justice accepted the fact that Israel had illegally encroached upon Palestine. The worst part is that Palestine welcomed Zionist people with open arms and gave them food and shelter to stay but Zionist Israeli government only tormented them in return and UNO kept looking as a spectator. The devastation caused by Israel on Palestine since 1947 has not stopped & perhaps one of the biggest failures of UNO. What’s happening in Gaza since the past few years is just a recent example, the torment has been inflicted since 1947 -48. Recently Israeli forces ravaged even school buildings & hospitals , hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed brutally by Israel and the UNO could do nothing. The only reason is the Veto System and the USA holding Veto power. Trump had declared a ceasefire but even after that violations of ceasefire from the Israeli side have been reported. Secondly it should have been the UNO declaring a ceasefire & not the USA, but because of the veto system it could not be done.
Ukraine
Similarly, one of the worst failures of the UNO is Ukraine. It pains our hearts to see how a beautiful country like Ukraine has been reduced into broken pieces of homes, buildings & debris. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed but UNO again could do nothing. Why? The same answer Veto System the resolution against Russia was Vetoed by Russia. So what is the point of having such a mighty organisation like the United Nation when it cannot even protect women , children and innocent civilians being brutally killed in war crimes. In fact Russia’s annihilation of Ukraine has broken the myth of international law or United Nations being The protector of human rights and that the organisation stands for international peace and security.
USA & ISRAEL’S ATTACK ON IRAN
The latest attack by Israel & USA on Iran escalated into a world crisis. Iran is a sovereign state like any other country it has the right to self defense and to retaliate any act of aggression. By making the UAE base of Military USA also brought them in danger. The whole world knows what kind of problems we faced due to the attack on Iran.
12 days of War in 2025
Last year also Israel & USA attacked Iran, albeit in that war USA remained on side & the attack was led by Israel. This year again it was attacked as we all know.
Role of UNO
This was a much bigger & much dangerous War , as in this War Natural Oil Reserves were at Stack & some of it has also been destroyed. The world over people faced Price hikes. There was a massive shortage of LPG gas cylinders & in some regions of the world like India long queues for purchasing LPG gas cylinders could be seen. Similar shortage was also seen in Sri Lanka, Nepal , Pakistan etc.
Whole world faced severe crisis of Natural Gas due to this attack on Iran. The question that comes to our mind is that why should the whole world pay the Price for an unwanted act of aggression by 2 countries i.e. ISRAEL & USA ?
This is not acceptable at all , why should innocent people around the world suffer due to USA & Israel or anyone for that matter?
It’s not so that USA & Israel are superior to rest of the world & neither any other country is superior to the other because as per the Preamble of the Charter of The United Nations, Equal Rights for Nations Large & small.
AND why UNO Couldn’t do anything?
This is all because of Veto Power that the USA holds. A resolution in the security council was in fact moved by Russia against the attack by the USA but obviously the USA used its Veto Power.
UNO can’t do anything in such matters unless the security council passes the resolution. But how will the security council pass the Resolution? When the aggressor USA itself holds the Veto Power?
The one who’s directly involved in this case is the USA himself & obviously he will not allow the resolution to be passed against him. Obviously the USA used its Veto Power to make the resolution negative.
And the irony is the one who moved this Resolution was Russia who himself used Veto against Ukraine War which was moved by the USA.
So the double standards & pick & choose application of Law makes it futile. If you observe the History of wars directly or indirectly the Interest of one of the Big Five Members is involved. When their own interests are involved why will they allow a Resolution to be passed against them?
When the USA will attack Russia & China will become Peacekeepers & when Russia & China is involved suddenly the USA will become a global Peacekeeper. This pick & choose method for application of Law is dangerous for the whole world.
North Korea
The human rights situation isn’t hidden from anyone in this world but yet what can UNO do to solve those innocent people? The country where you can’t even practice your own religious belief, the country where you can’t even keep hairstyle except the approved 29 hairstyles by the Government.
People are forced to worship their Leader Kim Jong. There’s no freedom, their lives are really suffering but the whole world is looking at it as a mute spectator.
Myanmar
In Myanmar there is no freedom for Muslims they aren’t even considered as Citizens. They have lots of restrictions even to travel within Myanmar. Even accessing health care isn’t easy for them. But UNO Couldn’t do anything to stop this torture.
China
In China the situation of Uighur Muslims is very painful. There’s a gross violation of Fundamental Human Rights but nothing can be done as China has Veto Power.
In 1994 UNSC failed in the Rwandan Genocide.
In 2002 UN peacekeepers failed in the Congo.
In 2012 UN failed badly to control the Syria Civil war crisis.
Apart from this we can see many instances of the Veto paralysis of the security council.
In 1956 when the USSR invaded Hungary the USA used the veto power and block the security council.
In the same here the Anglo frech Veto paralysed the security council in Suez crisis
When USA tabled proposal to freeze assets & put travel ban of Pakistani terrorist Sajid Mir China used Veto.
1983 UNSC tried to pass resolution for illegal invasion of Grenada by the United States of America but USA used Veto power.
Reasons for failure of UNO?
There is a fundamental flaw in the constitution & apparatus of the United Nations. That is the Veto Power of Big 5 permanent members i.e France, USA, UK ,Russia & China and when any of this states interest is involved they use the Veto Power. Veto Power is a negative vote and if any of these Big 5 (Five) use Veto & no action can be taken.
If vote is taken to impose sanctions upon an aggressor whether economic or military, the majority of two third members of the Security Council must necessarily include the Big 5 even if one of them is a party to the dispute. So obviously no action can be taken if any of these Big 5 are involved in a dispute or when they commit an act of aggression. That is exactly what’s happening in Russia’s annihilation of Ukraine or Israel torment on Palestine.
It is Interesting to note that any other member State who’s not a member of the Security Council if party to a dispute it’s representative can attend the meeting of Council but doesn’t have the Right to vote.
So in effect it means Security Council could decide the faith of any member States involved in dispute & even deploy army & use economic sanctions if the Big Five agree to do it. But no action can be taken by other states if these Big Five are involved in a dispute or their interest is involved.
So there are clear cut double standards , the Big Five are in practice above the rest of the member states, ironically the preamble speaks about equality of states big or small. This is the biggest flaw in the apparatus of the UNO & unless & until this Veto Power is removed there will always be failures of the UNO. UNO will appear Strong when this Big Five wants to & it will become weak when it wants to.
Possible Solutions to overcome defects & Weakness?
Can this defect ever be removed?
The answer is Not unless these Big Five agree & why would they ever agree? Who wants to lose superior power compared to others?
Can any other states become permanent members of the security council? No why this Big 5 would ever agree? Why would they want to share the power which is currently only enjoyed by the Big Five, they very well understand if more states become permanent members their power would be weakened.
Otherwise there are many member states which deserve to be a permanent member like India, Brazil Iran, Japan, South Africa, Singapore , Turkey, UAE etc but will they ever become? Unfortunately No, as this Big 5 would never agree.
Either the Veto Power needs to be withdrawn or the number of permanent member of Security Council needs to be increased or if none of this is done then General Assembly should have the power by 2/3rd majority or even if it is by simple majority to overturn the decision which became inoperative because of Veto. This in effect will mean the Veto Power would become redundant and the Majority of the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly)could take action whenever the Security Council failed cause of Veto.
UNO Whether Strong or Weak?
UNO did act strongly & had success in preventing many issues as we have seen in the success part of the UNO.
And also UNO had many failures as we have seen in the failure part & we still keep seeing what’s happening in the Ukraine.
What is the point of having UNO when a permanent member state like China can easily Veto in favour of a Terrorist?
What is the point of having UNO when the annihilation of Ukraine continues?
What is the point of having UNO which fails to protect Palestine from the torment of Israel?
What is the point of having nuclear weapons non proliferation treaty when the major five members continue to increase their nuclear weapons?
There are still many countries with poverty and children dying of hunger & malnutrition but UNO couldn’t do much in it.
Do we need UNO?
What it’s doing is not enough, we need UNO but a strong UNO by removing the defects which are present in the UNO.
Unless we see the Veto Power being removed or in case of Veto paralysis UNGA is empowered to take action by majority there will never be international peace and security.
Conclusion
As a world we do need to appreciate the UNO for achieving the success which it has and whenever it has as we already discussed above but we also need to look at the failures of UNO as discussed before & work for the improvement. If we compare it with League of Nations it has achieved great success, 193 states members of UNO and League had much lesser members.
Till now there hasn’t been World War 3 which could also be seen as success of UNO. However Inter State Wars are still going on in different parts of the world which is still a war & failure of UNO.
And Yes World War 3 hasn’t occurred but the destruction of that magnitude is done by Corona Virus.
International Law as such is a Myth as said by Austin & it’s true to a great extent. But we don’t need to forget that only organisation which can make international Law effective is UNO.
Non Observation of the principles Natural Justice
The UNO doesn’t observes the principle of natural justice as In Veto Power Big Five states can vote even if they are aggressors. As per principles of Natural Justice no one can be a Judge in his own case but under UNSC this rule is not observed.
UNO also promotes Big Five state the Big Brother culture in International arena that is also not good as if the preamble speaks about Equality of Nations Large & Small then why does the constitution of the UNO allows Big Five permanent members to decide the faith of the rest of the world by using Veto.
We can have as many declarations of fundamental human rights , Conventions for the right of child, Convention for Elimination of discrimination against women as we want but when innocent civilians keep being killed then it is needless to say it’s the weakness of the UNO which permits such failures.
We can have as many Stockholm conferences & Rio Summit for protecting the environment & earth but global warming is rising, environment hasn’t improved much apart from empty talks.
The other reason apart from the Big Five permanent members Veto for the failure of UNO is all states are concerned with increasing their own power no one is concerned much with the world as a whole. We may hear Global Village concept time & again but the harsh reality is this that in International Politics all States are concerned with increasing their own power & safeguarding their National Interest.
We can say that UNO becomes Strong when the Big Five wants too & it becomes weak when the Big Five wants too. As an Organisation definitely it has flaws which permits such failures & unless & until the defects are removed we will always see what we have seen till now that UNO will act strongly when the Big Five desires and it will become weak when they desire. It will remain mixture of both success & failures.
No one can say that the Life of innocent civilians of Ukraine or Palestine or Rwanda or Grenada or those who died in Covid was not important or is less important than the rest of the world & Big Five can’t discriminate between civilians based upon their Interest.
In Myanmar the manner in which Minority Muslims have been tortured or the manner in which Uighur Muslims are tortured in China or the way people in North Korea are forced to live is heartbreaking.
How can we sleep peacefully? when we know our brothers & sisters in North Korea are living the life of Slaves. They don’t even have freedom to select the hairstyle of their choice. In one case when a fire broke out in a North Korean home & she tried to protect his kid & didn’t save the Photo of Kim Jong, she was given the death punishment.
Now any person would try to protect his kids in case of fire who will try to protect a photo of a leader?
It’s high time that either a new international body is created which will replace the existing UNO or the existing system of UNO is improved by necessary amendments.
We already discussed the root cause & also discussed recommendations to improve it.
We very much need UNO & it’s very important & relevant for us but we just hope that the existing flaws in the Constitution of the UNO are rectified. Then this world will be a much better place.
By: AMIT LAXMICHAND GALA
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