As the UN is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its inception, the organisation can be proud of its many successes achieved through many of its agencies. At the same time crises looming around the world are a solemn reminder of the failures of the world body.
Signed on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, California, the UN Charter set out “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” by making the maintenance of international peace and security its main priority.
However, 70 years after the historic document was signed, the organisation has failed to fulfil this mandate on several occasions, most recently in Syria and Ukraine, largely because of political deadlock among the five veto-powers with permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
UN deputy secretary general Jan Eliasson himself has admitted in a recent interview that “the fact that the Security Council has not been able to produce a formula on Syria has already hurt the Security Council and hurt the UN”.
The veto has been meant to be used as a very selective tool by the five world powers - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - when their vital national interests are threatened, however, it has become a political tool that often prevents the council from acting.
While the veto is not mentioned explicitly in the UN Charter, the document calls for agreement among the permanent members of the council, which was an innovation over the League of Nations, the predecessor of the UN, which was later disbanded because major powers weren’t behind it.
While the veto was meant to motivate major powers to use the UN as a platform of dialogue and an instrument to stem conflicts, its repeated use in cases where no vital interests of the permanent members were involved has often rendered the council powerless.
The Israeli-Palestinian question, which has been on the UN’s agenda since its inception, exemplifies this paralysis.
A full-fledged Palestinian state never materialised mainly because of vetoes cast by the US, which is an ally of Israel.
Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people continues unabated despite censures by the UN General Assembly as at the Security Council the US comes to the rescue of the Jewish state.
While the UN has not lived up to its mandate on peace and security, UN agencies independent from the council have made strides in global development, aid and creating international guidelines.
The UN’s millenial development goals, adopted in 2000, have called on governments to meet global benchmarks on development by 2015. Similar goals for the next 15 years are being formulated.
The UN is also playing a pivotal role in co-ordinating efforts towards an agreement to mitigate climate change.
But in global issues like Palestine and Syria too, the UN must learn to act decisively. Only then, it can realise the hope and aspirations of all humankind fully.
