The United Nations (UN) during its founding period was limited to those nations that declared war on at least one of the axis powers in World War II and, thus, were capable of taking a stand against evil. The modern UN has become a pawn in the hands of the world’s only superpower. In these circumstances, a change is needed for the UN to avoid another world war. This is the right time for re-engineering of the UN.
After the fall of communism, the US’s one power one nation theory failed the UN miserably. Since the Vietnam War, the US has been taking advantage of the system. In the recent decade, the US imposed war on Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations, thus killing thousands of innocent people with support from the UN.
The world is now facing a rift amongst European Union (EU) countries after Brexit and the US also faces crisis due to the election of Donald Trump. Trump’s election fuelled the fire, which started after Brexit. The EU is now feeling isolated.
The Arab world is also facing crisis because of the war in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. World nations are in crisis due to the UN’s bipartisan role. At this time the new Secretary General of the UN will face more crisis after his joining. The world is now more divided after 70 years of the establishment of the organisation.
There has been criticism that the five permanent members of the Security Council, which are all nuclear powers, have created an exclusive nuclear club whose powers are unchecked. Unlike the General Assembly, the Security Council does not have true international representation. The first move for the UN is to get out of the US and establish headquarters elsewhere. The US is taking advantage of the UN presence in New York.
The UN under Ban Ki Moon gave nothing to the world. The UN was only watching and supporting during all wars inflicted by the US on poor developing nations. War in these countries has wreaked havoc on nations and thousands fled to Europe and other countries.
The new Secretary General will have to face Trump and the EU after Brexit, the rise of nationalism in France, Bolivia and other countries and older issues, which the UN neglected.
I think that the UN has failed miserably to keep the world together. The UN is the only body where almost all nations are members and they are bound to work for the betterment of humanity. Pre- and post-Cold War periods have shown that the UN strongly needs reforms. I don’t think there is any relevance of the Security Council because of the veto rights by powerful member nations. I hope before the UN reaches its 75th year, the UN will be reformed to make it a body for every nation.
— The reader is a development consultant based in Karachi, Pakistan.
