UN Paralysis Amid Global Chaos: Can the World’s Peacekeeper Be Saved?

There is a monument in Geneva that depicts a giant broken chair, and it stands just across the street from the world's premier organ for international law and cooperation- The United Nations. Originally meant to symbolise the devastation caused by landmines, the chair’s broken leg today serves as a powerful metaphor for the UN itself, as its principal pillars are broken and just one push away from total collapse.

Illustration by The Geostrata

The Vision was noble, born from the devastation of World War II: The United Nations to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” promote human rights, and foster international cooperation. Yet, as conflicts rage, climate chaos accelerates and human suffering intensifies, the stark reality is that the world increasingly suffers because the UN is ignored, its mechanisms paralysed and its resolutions disregarded.

Recent global crises have not only challenged the United Nations but also entrenched its structural limitations, highlighting an institution increasingly constrained in delivering on its original mandate. While the UN’s agencies, platforms, and principles remain essential to the international order, its current operational shortcomings carry significant consequences for global stability and human security.

SUFFERING AMIDST INACTION

The evidence of the UN’s diminished authority is etched in the land of contemporary crises. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stands as the most glaring condemnation. The Security Council’s impotence forced the General Assembly to convene Emergency Special Sessions-an unprecedented move that only underscored how the P5 veto can sideline the very body responsible for peace and security. The suffering of millions continues, while the body designed to prevent such aggression watches, crippled by its own rules.

Similarly, the repeated cycles of devastating violence in Gaza highlight another dimension of failure. Despite clear violations of international humanitarian law, neither independent investigations nor protective mandates move forward in the council.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a critical lifeline, itself faces existential funding crises driven by politicised accusations, further punishing the vulnerable.

In Sudan, the situation has deteriorated rapidly since 2023. The war in Sudan has caused widespread displacement, both internally and across Sudan’s borders. Even as inter-military violence and ethnic cleansing spread, UNAMID (the African Union/UN hybrid operation) had long since wound down, and no new, properly resourced mission was authorised in time to prevent mass atrocities.

Haiti, too, reveals the UN’s faltering peacekeeping legacy. The UN’s withdrawal of its peacekeeping mission in 2017, followed by slow-paced reengagement proposals, left a governance gap that armed gangs have exploited. Also, the UN peacekeeping culture has repeatedly failed, with peacekeepers in Haiti committing the very crimes they were tasked with preventing, highlighting urgent reform needs.

Finally, the UN’s struggle is evident in its response to climate change. Year after year, UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs) produce underwhelming outcomes, hampered by national self-interest, fossil fuel lobbying, and the lack of binding enforcement mechanisms. The UN Framework Convention exists, but its power to compel meaningful, timely action is negligible against the tide of short-term national interests. These case studies are just examples; unsettled chaos continues to exist across the globe.

THE STRUCTURAL CRACKS EXPOSED

These crises do not happen despite the UN; they persist and intensify because of fundamental flaws within the UN system itself. Firstly, at the heart of the UN’s dysfunction lies its most powerful body: The Security Council. The body consists of 5 Permanent members and ten non-permanent members, and is endowed with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

However, the house is divided and the Security Council is stuck in traps of Veto. The misuse of Veto Power is all-time high. Russia’s regular use of its veto over Ukraine-related resolutions, China’s blocking measures addressing Xinjiang and human rights abuses and the United States' inconsistent stances in the Middle East have all rendered the council ineffective.

However, even when the UN escapes a straight-up veto, it gets caught up in its own cumbersome bureaucratic machinery and budget constraints. The slow decision-making process, especially during conflicts when victims simply do not have time for resolutions, takes months. Additionally, coordination failures lead to a critical gap in humanitarian response.

In addition, the UN lacks genuine representation, which includes a Security Council composition that does not reflect global realities. Continents like Africa, Latin America and South Asia lack permanent representation, which is home to billions. General Assembly’s resolutions are non-binding and hence often ignored and rarely implemented.

Many Countries observe the UN as selective-quick to act against weaker states, but silent or toothless when major powers violate international norms.

REIMAGINING THE UN: THE IMPERATIVE OF REFORM

Dismissing the UN entirely is both dangerous and naïve. Its specialised agencies like WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, IMO, ILO, WTO perform indispensable, often life-saving work. The UN needs a fundamental overhaul, not abandonment.

1.  Veto Restraint and Reform: The P5 members should be encouraged to publicly pledge not to use the veto in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and mass atrocities. There should be a fixed number of vetoes to be used in a particular period. Also, the double-veto formation argues for the possibility of vetoing a veto on the Security Council, but only with the inclusion of affirmative votes from two permanent members themselves, i.e., a majority that includes two P-5 votes.

2.  Security Council Expansion: Consider adding new permanent members from Africa, Latin America and Asia and extending the term and influence of non-permanent members to balance decision-making.

3.  Equitable Funding: The reduction of reliance on volatile voluntary funds is crucial, and the UN must explore expanding the core assessed budget. Also, the UN should actively seek funding from non-traditional donors such as the private sector and foundations under clear ethical frameworks to minimise dependence on major state actors.

4.  Streamlining and Modernising Bureaucracy: The implementation of rigorous, independent, and regular reviews of all programs and agencies is essential. Moreover, enhanced accountability and leveraging technology can improve coordination and transparency.

5.  A Balancer: Countries like India, Finland and Armenia offer critical lessons in how balance can be exercised without disengagement. Their diplomacy is neither subservient to great powers nor detached from global realities.

The UN can adopt a similar approach of aligning with principles and not power blocs. Neutrality must not become passive rather evolve into principled independence; the UN must engage all sides while staying anchored in ethical foundations.

CONCLUSION

In July 2023, the president of the General Assembly dedicated theme for 78th session to “rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity” at around the same time when the secretary general stressed in his annual report that the UN has failed to keep pace in an evolving world and the organization has no alternative but to change stating that it's either rupture or reform.

The major powers are strengthening their own regional blocs respectively, the west has NATO and the EU, Africa has the African Union, Russia has the collective security treaty organization, China leads the shanghai cooperation organization but none of these regional blocs have what it takes to tackle Global complications such as climate change, disinformation, pandemics, artificial intelligence and not to forget famines and refugees.

These issues simply reflect that the UN still has a purpose. Nations in the global south visualise the UN as a driver for economic reform and sustainable development. Meanwhile, the UN cannot stop the conflicts, but it offers a platform for de-escalation and political negotiations.

The UN brings together global expertise through agencies like UNESCO, UNHCR, and WHO. To fulfil its founding promise, the organisation must move beyond outdated frameworks, reclaim its moral clarity and adopt bold, forward-looking reforms.It can draw inspiration from balanced, independent nations that understand diplomacy is rooted not in allegiance to power but in a commitment to peace.

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BY SHALU

TEAM GEOSTRATA

info@thegeostrata.com