SSRN Id3564486

Cairo University
A Critical Analysis to the United Nations’

performance in the light of Contemporary
Global Challenges
Ahmad Medhat
[Economics Graduate from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences,
Cairo University, Major Economics and Minor Political Sciences]
April 2020
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Table of Contents
Abstract: .............................................................................................................. 3
United Nations at a Glance: ................................................................................. 4
The Structure of the United Nations: ................................................................... 7
The Secretary Generals of the United Nations from 1945 to 2020: .................... 16
UN’s successes and failures since 1945 till now: ............................................... 17
Deficiencies in Some Articles in UN Charter: ................................................... 20
General Assembly: (GA) ................................................................................... 23
International Court of Justice: (ICJ) ................................................................... 25
Security Council: (SC) ....................................................................................... 27
Veto Power: ....................................................................................................... 32
Veto Power and the recent Syrian & Israeli/Palestinian cases: ........................... 40
A Brief on Collective Security System: (CSS) ................................................... 47
United Nations’ Institutional and Financial Problems: ....................................... 50
United Nations’ Political Problems: ................................................................... 54
A) UN’s “Double Standards” in dealing with Humanitarian Crises and Political Conflicts: 54
B) Problems of Peacekeeping Operations and Budget: ...................................................... 60
Proposals for Reform of the United Nations: ..................................................... 68
A) Proposals submitted since 1979 till the Arab Spring 2011: ............................................ 68
B) Proposals submitted after the Arab Spring’s Revolutions in 2011: ................................. 75
C) Feasibility of Implementation of UN/SC Reform’s Draft Resolutions: ........................... 78
Recommendations and Conclusion: ................................................................... 82
Bibliography: ..................................................................................................... 85

Abstract:
It is an undeniably fact that the United Nations plays an important role in our world. Since its
establishment, its main aim is to be a beacon of international peace and security in all means. However,
the organizations recently suffered from a lot of institutional, political and other problems, as well as
problems within its significant organs like General Assembly, International Court of Justice and most
importantly, the Security Council. The United Nations has showed a lot of failures and inactions in
tackling and solving a lot of contemporary political conflicts, civil wars, and humanitarian crises that
have been escalated since the Arab Spring’s revolutions in 2011. Moreover, the problems it suffers
from have become more severe, overwhelming and have been threatening its integrity, objectivity,
credibility and effectiveness in the eyes of a lot of scholars, international experts, countries and
populations.
Therefore, this paper gives a critical analysis to the current functioning of the United Nations
organization. Firstly, it starts with an introduction to the organization and summary to the basic
destinations that lead eventually to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. Secondly, it
explains in details the structure of the organization with all of its organs, related international and
regional organizations, committees, councils, agencies, programmes, offices and departments. Thirdly,
it tackles the significant successes and failures of UN in different fields since 1945 till recently. After
that, the critical analysis begins to some articles of the charter and UN’s organs, particularly the
significant ones like General Assembly, International Court of Justice and Security Council. In
addition, the paper provides criticism to the Veto Power accompanies by real cases as well as giving a
brief on the Collective Security System. Last but not least, it discusses the main problems of UN and
challenges and allegations facing the peacekeeping operations. Eventually, it highlights the proposals
submitted to reform the UN and the extent to which the implementation of these resolutions can be
feasible, and ends with a conclusion.

United Nations at a Glance:
The United Nations organization was established after San Francisco conference was held in June
1945, and it is headquartered in New York, United States. The UN’s primary aim is to maintain
international peace and security, to be a global umbrella that incorporates all the countries of the world,
and to be a considerable and successful experiment as the first permanent international organization in
the modern history, after the collapse of “League of Nations” with the escalation of World War Two in
September 1939.
Before the establishment of UN, there was another international organization called “League of
Nations” that was founded after the signature of Versailles Treaty1 in Turkey in 1919. The League
lasted for twenty years, from 1919 till 1939. The League of Nations was supposed to be the first
international organization in the world, yet it suffered from many problems. For instance, it didn’t
include all the world countries, particularly the powerful ones like the United States of America
because of the Congress rejection and Soviet Union till 1934, in addition to the withdrawal of many
powerful countries from its membership like Japan, Italy, South Africa, Germany2 and Latin America
countries starting from 1933, and the expulsion of Soviet Union in 1939 after five years of its
membership because of its aggression on Finland. This made the organization vulnerable and having a
biased European character rather than an international one. Moreover, its covenant3 recommended the
unanimity of the member countries regarding any resolution or decision that shall be taken in the
League in a way that made its implementation impossible in reality4. Furthermore, the covenant didn’t
ban the usage of military power against countries and this was the main reason behind the
organization’s failure when Hitler triggered the flame of World War Two in September 19395. Hence,
the League didn’t succeed in keeping its promise regarding maintaining global peace.
1
“TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY (TREATY OF VERSAILLES).” Loc.Gov, Library of Congress,
2014, www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000002-0043.pdf . Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.
2
“History of the League of Nations (1919-1946).” Unog.Ch, United Nations Office at Geneva: Library,
Registry, Records and Archives Unit,
www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/36BC4F83BD9E4443C1257AF3004FC0AE/%24file/Historica
l_overview_of_the_League_of_Nations.pdf . Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.
3
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XIII -
Office of the Historian.” State.Gov, Office of the Historian, Department of State,
history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv13/ch10subch1. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.
4
Nafaa, Hassan. International Organization: Between Theory and Implementation. Sept. 2017, pp. 1–234.
5
From the reasons why Hitler started a World War is that Versailles treaty punished Germany by making it
confess its guilty for this war, reducing its territory and being forced to pay for the war destructions which
caused Germany to default in 1923, in addition to the collapse of the German economy after the Great
Depression in 1930. Since that, the Nazi party had great popularity across the country and Hitler determined to

The foundation of the United Nations had passed through many destinations since 1941. During the
escalating events of World War Two, a lot of discussions, conferences, declarations and meetings were
held between the world leaders and Allied countries for the sake of establishing an international
organization and providing a bright and peaceful future for the world and the future generations after a
destructive war. Table (1) summarizes these destinations in brief.
Table (1): The Significant Destinations that contributed to the establishment of UN:
Date Place/ Conference Actions
June 1941 Saint James Palace, Declaration of St. James6 by the representatives of Britain, South
London, UK Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, as well as the exiled
governments of many European countries in London in which they
announced their solidarity and unification to defeat the Axis
countries (Japan, Italy, Germany) in the war.
August London, UK The Atlantic Charter7 was declared after a meeting between the
1941 British prime minister, Winston Churchill8, and the American
President, Franklin D. Roosevelt 9 was held. It was just a declaration
of common principles that their countries will implement for the
sake of having a better future world.
restore back the pride and dignity of Germany by making this war and allying with the Axis countries; Italy and
Japan. Retrieved from: “World War II: Causes (1919–1939).” Lcps.Org, International Conference of Physicians
and Surgeons, 2014, www.lcps.org/cms/lib/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/10599/Causes%20of%20WWII.pdf
. Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.
6
1941: The Declaration of St. James’ Palace.” Un.Org, www.un.org/en/sections/history-united-nations-
charter/1941-declaration-st-james-palace/index.html . Accessed 15 Jan. 2020
7
1941: The Atlantic Charter.” Un.Org, www.un.org/en/sections/history-united-nations-charter/1941-atlantic-
charter/index.html . Accessed 15 Jan. 2020
8
Winston Churchill: he was the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for
two times; the first was during the World War Two from 1940 to 1945 when he was both Prime Minister and
Minister of Defence, and the second was from 1950 to 1955. He is considered symbol of victory after all his
political efforts and alliance with USA and Russia during the World War. He was awarded many honours by the
British queen Elizabeth the Second, and had honorary citizenship in United States. Retrieved from: The Life of
Winston Churchill: Soldier Correspondent Statesman Orator Author Inspirational Leader.” Winstonchurchill.Org,
The Churchill Centre, 2007, winstonchurchill.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/churchillbooklet.pdf. Accessed 14
Jan. 2020.
9
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: he was the Democratic President of the United States. He was diagnosed with
contracted Polio and was permanently paralyzed but he continued his political life and he became the only president
in the modern American history to be elected for four successive elections from 1932 to 1944. He launched the
“New Deal” to reform the American economy after the civil war and the Great Depression. He was succeeded by
his Harry Truman who ordered the nuclear attack on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. Retrieved from: “Franklin D.
Roosevelt.” Whitehouse.Gov, The White House, 2017, www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-
house/presidents/franklin-d-roosevelt/ . Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.

January United States of Declaration of the United Nations10 took place by representatives
1942 America of 26 countries who were fighting the Axis countries. It concluded
the exertion and mobilization of full efforts and potential to fight
Hitlerism and the Axis countries.
October Moscow, Russia The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
1943 Northern Ireland, United States of America and Soviet Union had
met to put a basis for the declaration of an international
organization.
December Teheran, Iran The Russian, British and American leaders, Stalin 11, Winston
1943 Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt respectively, reaffirmed the
principles on which an international organization would be
established.
October Dumbarton Oaks It was held by the British, Chinese, Russian and American
1944 Conference, USA representatives in which the proposals for the declaration of a world
organization had been submitted. The proposals were suggesting
establishing for main bodies for the organizations including a
General Assembly, a Security Council, an International Court of
Justice and a General Secretariat. Also debate regarding whether the
jurisdictions of ICJ shall be compulsory or not was opened in the
conference.
February Yalta Conference Resolution of the actual voting method in the Security Council.
1945 in Peninsula of
Crimea, Russia
25 June San Francisco The Charter of the United Nations had been passed by unanimity of
1945 Conference, USA 50 delegations.
26 June United States of The first 50 member countries signed the Charter
1945 America
24 October United States of The member countries ratified the charter and the United Nations
1945 America came into reality.
Source: United Nations Website
The charter of the United Nations specified a number of goals (4 goals) in the first article and a number
of principles (7 principles) in the second article, which the organization was supposed to follow. In the
10
1942: Declaration of The United Nations.” Un.Org, www.un.org/en/sections/history-united-nations-charter/1942-
declaration-united-nations/index.html . Accessed 15 Jan. 2020
11
Joseph Stalin: He was the general secretary (the first secretary) of the Communist Party of Union of Socialist
Republics (USSR). He was supporting Vladimir Lenin, the leader of Bolshevism which dominated Russia after the
Bolshevik revolution in 1917 and overthrowing the Russian monarchy. He was the leader of USSR in 1929 till his
death in March 1953. Retrieved from: Stal, Marina. “Psychopathology of Joseph Stalin.” Psychology, vol. 04, no.
09, 2013, pp. 1–4, www.researchgate.net/publication/264894681_Psychopathology_of_Joseph_Stalin,
10.4236/psych.2013.49a1001. Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.

first article12, the goals are to maintain international peace and security, increase international
cooperation in solving international problems of economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character,
improve the friendly relationships between countries on the principal of mutual respect and right for
self-determination of peoples, and harmonize the international activities and direct them towards
achieving the UN goals. In the second article 13, the seven principles on which the UN is based are
achieving sovereign equality among nations, settling the international disputes in peaceful and
negotiable way rather than wars, no interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, banning
threat of using coercive power against other countries, enhancing good and sustainable international
relations with the honest and friendly implementation of the international treaties with good intentions,
organizing the relationship with other countries which are not members in the UN and making sure that
they are endangering the international peace and security, and cooperating with the United Nations in
achieving its goals and implementing the decisions it takes.
The Structure of the United Nations:

According to the charter, the United Nations organization is composed of six organs14 which are:
1. General Assembly: it is the representative and policymaker organ of the UN. It is considered to be
the global umbrella that encompasses all the UN’s member countries which are 193 members. Its
jurisdictions, voting system and related problems will be tackled in details in the upcoming section
of General Assembly.
2. Security Council: it is the most powerful UN council that is composed of fifteen members, five are
permanent and ten are non- permanent elected each two years. Its jurisdictions, voting system and
other related issues will be tackled in details in the upcoming section of Security Council.
3. International Court of Justice: it is the judicial arm of the UN that is composed of fifteen judges.
Its jurisdictions and other related issues will be tackled in details in the upcoming section of
International Court of Justice.
4. Economic and Social Council: it is the UN principle platform where the issues of improving health
and education, economic development and concurrent economic issues are discussed. Since 1945, it
12
Chapter I Article 1 in UN’s Charter. Retrieved from CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND STATUTE
OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE.” Treaties.Un.Org, 1945,
treaties.un.org/doc/publication/ctc/uncharter.pdf. Accessed 10 Jan. 2020
13
Chapter I Article 2 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
14
“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the United Nations FOR STUDENTS AT
INTERMEDIATE AND SECONDARY LEVELS.” Unic-Ir.Org, United Nations Department of Public
Information, 2008, www.unic-ir.org/Engaboutun.pdf?wmode=transparent . Accessed 17 Jan. 2020

was composed of 18 members before an amendment to Article 61 was passed in 1965 to modify this
number to 27 members, and then a second amendment was passed to increase it again to 54
members15. The 54 member countries are elected for a three-year-term16. Moreover, the seats of the
council are based on the geographical representation of the world countries in which fourteen seats
(the largest number of seats) were allocated to African countries (since the African continent has the
largest number of countries out of other continents), eleven were allocated to the Asian countries,
six were allocated for the Eastern European ones, thirteen were allocated for the Western European
ones in addition to other states, and finally ten were allocated for the Latin American countries 17. It
has nine functional committees, five regional ones, and supervises 14 international economic,
cultural and social organizations18, which accounts for nearly 70% of the councils of UN 19. These
organizations and their rules will be clarified in details later.
5. The Secretariat: it is headed by the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres since January 2017. The
Secretary General is the chief officer who shall be appointed by the General Assembly on a
recommendation from the Security Council for a term of five years which can be renewed20. It
supervises the other organs of the UN in addition to mediating in the international disputes and
organizing the peacekeeping operations21. It is responsible for translating the official documents
released from the UN, in addition to other missions. Moreover, it shall grip the attention of the
Security Council to any case or crisis that may threaten the international peace and security
according to article 99 22.It is divided into twelve offices and seven departments headquartered in
New York, as well as special representatives in various regions and other regional offices located in
Nairobi (Kenya), Geneva (Switzerland) and Vienna (Austria)23. All of these offices, departments
15
Tomova, Nadezhda. History and Structure of the United Nations. Mar. 2014,
www.academia.edu/16995894/History_and_Structure_of_the_United_Nations?auto=download Accessed 15
Jan. 2020.
16
Schwelb, Egon. “Amendments to Articles 23, 27 and 61 of the Charter of the United Nations.” The American
Journal of International Law, vol. 59, no. 4, Oct. 1965, pp. 834–856, www.jstor.org/stable/2197095 ,
10.2307/2197095. Accessed 20 Jan, 2020.
17
“UN Economic and Social Council.” Un.Org, www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/members.shtml. Accessed 9 Jan.
2020
18
Some of these international organizations are what so called international Financial Institutions (IFIs) which
encompass IMF, WBG, IFAD, and others.
19
Economic and Social Council is called the House of Organizations since it is responsible for 14 specialized
agencies and organizations which account for nearly 70% of UN.
20
Chapter XV Article 97 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
21
IBID
22
Chapter XV Article 99 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
23
IBID

and special representatives will be clarified in details in the upcoming sub-sections. Furthermore,
the Secretariat should be loyal to the United Nations only, not to any single individual country.
6. Trusteeship Council24: it is the successor of the “Main Mandates Commission” which was created
by the League of Nations25. Its main mission was to help the colonized provinces and monitor their
transition to their independence from the colonial powers, and its mission was supervised by the
Security Council26. Its mission ended in 1994 with the independence of the latest occupied territory,
Palau Islands. Since then, the council was left obsolete without any future responsibilities27.
These six organs supervise and monitor a lot of committees, subsidiary organs, and specialized
agencies, which are international organizations having wide ranging responsibilities and jurisdictions
across the economic, cultural, social, technological and political fields. The following tables summarize
the important funds, subsidiary organs, organizations, programs, regional commissions, functional
committees, offices and departments supervised by these organs, particularly General Assembly,
Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Secretariat28.
24
“Trusteeship Council.” Un.Org, www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/trusteeship-council/. Accessed 11 Jan.
2020
25
IBID
26
“The United Nations Today Asdf.” Un.Org, United Nations Department of Public Information, 2008,
www.un.org/ar/geninfo/pdf/UN.today.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020
27
IBID
28
“The United Nations System.” Unsceb.Org, www.unsceb.org/CEBPublicFiles/18-
00159e_un_system_chart_17x11_4c_en_web.pdf . Accessed 10 Jan. 2020

1) Table (2): Entities supervised by the General Assembly 29:
Funds & Programmes Research Institutions Offices & Entities
1. UNDP: United Nations 1. UNIDIR: United Nations 1. ITC: International Trade

Development Program. Institute for Disarmament Centre.
2. UNEP: United Nations Affairs. 2. UN-WOMEN: United
Environmental Program. 2. UNITAR: United Nations Entry for Gender
3. WFP30: World Food Programme. Nations Institute for Equality and Women
4. UNICEF31: United Nations Training and Research. Empowerment.
Children’s Fund 3. UNSSC: United Nations 3. UNCTAD: United Nations
5. UNFPA: United Nations System Staff College. Conference on Trade and
Populations’ Fund. Development.
6. UNHABITAT: United Nations 4. UNHCR: United Nations
Settlement. Human Rights’ Council.
7. UNCDF: United Nations Capital 5. UNRWA: United Nations
Development Fund. Relief and Works Agency
8. UNV32: United Nations for the Palestinian
Volunteers. Refugees.

2) Subsidiary Organs & committees supervised by the Security Council 33:
1. Counter-Terrorism Committee34.
2. Military Staff Committee35.
29
IBID
30
World Food Programme was founded in 1960 after the American President Dwight Eisenhower addressed
the General Assembly to alleviate the world hunger and declared that USA is ready to provide foods to other
states depending on the technical assistance of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). His proposal was
taken into account and the Programme came into reality in 1960 during Kennedy’s presidency. Now it is funded
by Food For Peace program of the US government. Retrieved from: “History’s Hunger Heroes: Dwight
Eisenhower.” World Food Program USA, 22 Sept. 2014, www.wfpusa.org/stories/historys-hunger-heroes-
dwight-eisenhower/ . Accessed 17 Jan. 2020.
31
UNICEF cares about children’s rights and enhancing their potential beginning from the childhood passing
through the adolescence age. It operates within 190 member countries. Retrieved from: “What We
Do.” Unicef.Org, www.unicef.org/what-we-do. Accessed 3 Jan. 2020
32
United Nations Volunteers aims to achieve peace and development through the volunteerism process. It has
around 150 staff in the headquarters and around 6500 volunteers deployed in this field. It sends its reports to the
executive boards of the United Nations Development Program, United Nations Population’s Fund and United
Nations Operational Services. Retrieved from: “Who We Are | UNV.” Www.Unv.Org , 9 Dec. 2019,
www.unv.org/about-unv/who-we-are. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
33
IBID
34
Counter – Terrorism Committee: it is a subsidiary organ which is guided by the Security Council’s
resolutions 1373 and 1624 to support the United Nations’ efforts in combating terrorism across borders in all
regions of the world. It was established after the deadly attacks on United States on 11 th September 2001.
Retrieved from: “United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.” United Nations Security
Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, www.un.org/sc/ctc/. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
10

3. International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
4. Peacekeeping Operations and Political Missions.
5. Ad hoc standing committees and sanctions’ committees.
3) Committees and organizations supervised by the Economic and Social Council 36:
A) Committees:
1. UNAIDS: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
2. UNGEGN: United Nations Group of Exports on Geographical Names
3. Nine Functional Committees which are: narcotic drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice,
population and development, statistics, status of women, United Nations forum on forests,
sustainable development, science and technology for development, and social development 37.
4. Five Regional Committees for Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the
Pacific, Western Asia and Europe.
B) Research Institutes:
1. UNICRI: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute.
2. UNRISD: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
C) Specialized Agencies38 and Organizations:
1. ICAO39: International Civil Aviation Organization and it was established in 1944 in order to reach
a consensus on certain standards and recommended practices of the global civil aviation. Its main
aim is to ensure a sustainable, environmentally friendly, efficient and safe aviation sector.
2. FAO40: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and it is responsible for fighting
hunger all over the world and ensuring the food security within its 194 member states. It is the new
face of the Nutrition Committee which was created under the League of Nations41.
3. ILO42: International Labour Organization and it was established in 1919 after the end of World
War One in the wake of signature of Versailles Treaty with Germany. Its vision is based upon the
35
This will be tackled into details in the section of the Collective Security system.
36
IBID
37
“Research Guides: UN Documentation: Economic and Social Council: Functional
Commissions.” Research.Un.Org, research.un.org/en/docs/ecosoc/functionalcommissions. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
38
Some of these specialized agencies were founded before the establishment of United Nations and League of
Nations, and some were before the beginning of the 20 century. When UN was founded, these agencies had been
working under its umbrella.
39
“About ICAO.” Icao.Int, 2019, www.icao.int/about-icao/Pages/default.aspx . Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
40
“About FAO.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2010, www.fao.org/about/en/.
Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
41
IBID
42
“History of the ILO.” Ilo.Org, 2019, www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/history/lang--en/index.htm. Accessed 4
Jan. 2020.
11

achievement of social justice as a means to ensure the international peace. It became the first
specialized agency to work under the umbrella of UN in 1946. Its mission is to protect workers by
providing decent employment opportunities and discussing all labour related issues.
4. IMF43: International Monetary Fund and it was established after the Bretton Wood Conference in
1944. It is an international financial institution whose main aim is to maintain global economic and
financial stability, sustaining economic growth and facilitating international trade. It has about 1
trillion dollars that it can lend to any of its 189 member countries and it is currently engaging in 36
lending agreements with member countries.
5. IMO44: International Maritime Organization and it is responsible for maintain the shipping and
maritime safety and prevention of water pollution. It was the first international organization which
was established by a UN convention in 1948 to be dedicated for maritime issues 45 with 174
member states and three Associates.
6. ITU46: International Telecommunication Union and it is the United Nations’ Agency for the
information and communications technologies. It was founded in 1865 to ensure cooperation
among the global telegraphy networks and it is considered one of the oldest international
organizations in the world. It releases a lot of indices to assess the information and
communications technology (ICT)’s status in the world countries. Among these indices are ICT
Opportunity Index (IOI), ICT Development Index (IDI), Network Readiness Index (NRI), Digital
Access Index (DAI), and others.
7. UNESCO47: United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization which is concerned
with preserving the cultural places and monuments in the member countries and tackling
educational problems, along with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2015). It is
the successor of the Committee of Intellectual Cooperation which was created under the League of
Nations48.
8. UNWTO49: United Nations World Tourism Organization and its duty is to ensure environmental
sustainability and promoting a sustainable, responsible and accessible tourism, due to its great
43
“About the IMF.” IMF, 2012, www.imf.org/en/About . Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
44
“IMO – WHAT IT IS.” Imo.Org, International Organization for Migration, Oct. 2013,
www.imo.org/en/About/Documents/What%20it%20is%20Oct%202013_Web.pdf. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
45
IBID
46
“About ITU.” Itu.Int, 2019, www.itu.int/en/about/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
47
“Education Transforms Lives.” UNESCO, 30 July 2018, en.unesco.org/themes/education. Accessed 4 Jan.
2020
48
IBID
49
“About UNWTO | UNWTO.” Unwto.Org, www.unwto.org/who-we-are. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
12

effect on economic growth and development in all countries. It includes 159 member states and six
associates.
9. WHO50: World Health Organization and its constitution came into force in 1948. Its aim is to
ensure a healthy environment for the populations and serving the most vulnerable ones. Its mission
extends to providing access to medical care, encourage people to participate in national health
policies, and improving access to data and information. It is the successor of the Health
Organization which was created under the League of Nations51.
10. WIPO52: World Intellectual Property Organization and it is described to be the basic international
platform for intellectual property services. It is founded in 1967 based on WIPO Convention and
its main duty is to protect the property rights to ensure innovation for the benefits of the society.
11. UPU53: Universal Postal Union and it is considered to be one of the oldest international
organizations in the world, along with the International Telecommunication Union. It was founded
in 1874 to improve the quality of postal, parcel and financial services provided to consumers,
develop the international mail exchanges and ensure a universal network of updated products.
12. WMO54: World Meteorological Organization and it is concerned with providing science and
technology in operational meteorological and hydrologic services in various fields as well as
providing networks in which all data related to climate, weather and water can be found and
accessed everywhere. It was founded in 1950 and it encompasses 188 member countries.
13. IFAD55: International Fund for Agricultural Development and it is considered to be the central hub
of United Nations for food. It aims to alleviate poverty through improving the agricultural sector
by providing financial assistance through grants and low-interest loans.
14. WBG56: World Bank Group and it constitutes five main organizations. Three of them are under the
supervision of the Economic and Social Council which are: IDA (International Development
50
“What We Do.” Who.Int, 2018, www.who.int/about/what-we-do. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
51
IBID
52
“Inside WIPO.” Wipo.Int, www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
53
“Universal Postal Union – The UPU.” Upu.Int , www.upu.int/en/the-upu/the-upu.html. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
54
World Meteorological Organization. “What We Do.” Wmo.Int, 20 Jan. 2016, public.wmo.int/en/our-
mandate/what-we-do. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
55
“About IFAD.” IFAD, www.ifad.org/en/about. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
56
World Bank Group aims to eradicate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity among its 189 member
countries through its loans, programs and technical assistance. World Bank Group and International Monetary
Fund together constitute the Bretton Woods Institutions. Retrieved from: “Who We Are.” World Bank, 2019,
www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
13

57
Association), IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and IFC
(International Finance Corporation) 58.
4) Table (3): Offices and Departments supervised by the Secretariat59:
Offices Departments
1. UNOCHA60: Office of the United Nations for 1. DESA: Department of Economic and Social
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Affairs.
2. ODA: Office of Disarmament Affairs 2. DMSPC: Department of Management Strategy,
3. UNODC61: Office of the United Nations for Policy and Compliance.
Drugs and Crimes. 3. DOS: Department of Operational Support.
4. OLA: Office of Legal Affairs. 4. DGC: Department of Global Communications.
5. OIOS: Office for Internal Oversight Services. 5. DPO63: Department of Peacekeeping
6. OHCHR62: Office of the United Nations’ High Operations64.
Commissioner of the Human Rights. 6. DPPA: Department of Political and Peace
7. UNISDR: United Nations Office for Disaster building Affairs.
57
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association
together constitute the World Bank Group.
58
The other two organizations; International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) are not specialized agencies.
59
IBID
60
UNOCHA is concerned with providing humanitarian support and coordinate the global emergency response
to save people in the humanitarian crises. It influences the decision making regarding enforcing more
humanitarian responsibility and emergency preparedness. Its framework can be summarized within five areas of
action which are coordination, humanitarian finance, policy, advocacy and information management. Retrieved
from: “OUR WORK.” OCHA, 29 Sept. 2016, www.unocha.org/about-ocha/our-work. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
61
UNODC’s main mission is to combat the drug and illegal trafficking, corruption and terrorism. It has five
normative areas of activity which are related basically to ensuring a criminal justice system, fighting corruption,
combating transitional organized crime and mitigating the corruption’s terrible economic and social effects.
Retrieved from both: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “About UNODC.” Unodc.Org, 2010,
www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/index.html?ref=menutop Accessed 4 Jan. 2020. And “Five Normative
Areas of Activity.” Unodc.Org, www.unodc.org/images/about-unodc/activity-areas_1100x1251px.jpg .
62
OHCHR develops responses to the contemporary humanitarian crises and it is considered the principle body
for the protection, advocacy, education and research of human rights in the United Nations. Retrieved from:
“OHCHR - United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.” European Commission, 15 Nov.
2018,ec.europa.eu/knowledge4policy/organisation/ohchr-united-nations-human-rights-office-high-
commissioner_en. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
63
Department of Peacekeeping Operations: it was established by the Secretariat in 1992 to direct the UN
peacekeeping operations and make communications with the Security Council, the financial contributors of
these operations, and the parties of the conflict in order to implement the Security Council mandates in a proper
way. Retrieved from: “United Nations Military Staff Committee | United Nations Security Council.”Un.Org,
www.un.org/securitycouncil/subsidiary/msc. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
64
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations has three main offices which are Office of Rule of Law and
Security Institutions (OROLSI), Office of Military Affairs (OMA), and Office of Policy, Evaluation, and
Training Division (DPET). Retrieved from: “Department of Peace Operations.” United Nations Peacekeeping,
2019, peacekeeping.un.org/en/department-of-peace-operations. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
14

Risk Reduction. 7. DSS: Department of Safety and Security65.
8. UNOP: United Nations Office of Partnerships.
9. SRSG/CAAC: Office of the Special
Representative of the Secretary General for
Children and Armed Conflict.
10. SRSG/VAC: Office of the Special
Violence Against Children.
11. SRSG/SVC: Office of the Special
Sexual Violence in Conflict.
12. SASG/PVRTP: Office of the Special Advisors
of the Secretary General for the Prevention of
Genocide and Responsibility to Protect (RTP).
13. UN/OHRLLS: Office of the High
Representative for the Least Developed
Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing Countries.
14. Regional Offices at Nairobi, Vienna and
Geneva.
In addition to that, there are important organizations and committees which are supervised by more
than one organ, as Security Council and General Assembly together cooperate in monitoring the
following organizations:
1. IAEA66: International Atomic Energy Agency.

2. ICC67: International Criminal Court.
3. IOM68: International Organization for Migration.
65
The Department of Safety and Security (DSS) encompasses the Department of Field Support (DFS) which is
responsible for enforcing the mandates released from the Security Council. Retrieved from:
“Secretariat.” Un.Org, 18 Nov. 2014, www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/secretariat/. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
66
International Atomic Energy Agency was founded in 1957 to be the first intergovernmental organization
enhancing the international cooperation in the nuclear field. It aims to achieve international peace and security
and the sustainable development goals by providing technical assistance and affirmation of safe and health uses
of science and nuclear energy’s technologies. Retrieved from: “Overview | IAEA.” Iaea.Org, 8 June 2016,
www.iaea.org/about/overview. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
67
International Criminal Court was established by the Rome Statute in 2000 to investigate and make trials to
individuals, either military leaders or presidents, accused of committing a crime of four: aggression, genocides,
war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It is the first world’s permanent International Criminal Court. The
Rome statute of ICI can be retrieved from: “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” Icc-Cpi.Int,
International Criminal Court, 2016, www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/Documents/RS-Eng.pdf. Accessed 5 Jan.
2020.
68
International Organization for Migration was established in 1951 with the aim of promoting international
cooperation in the field of migration and to protect the migrants and protect their rights. It has 174 member states
15

4. ISA: International Seabed Authority.
5. WTO69: World Trade Organization.
6. ITLOS: International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
7. OPCW70: Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
8. Peace Building Commission.
The Secretary Generals of the United Nations from 1945 to 2020:

Table (4) mentions the Secretary Generals that ruled the United Nations Organizations since its
establishment in 1945 till the current year. Throughout the 75 years of the organization’s life, the
Secretariat was headed by only eight Secretary Generals. Most of them were from European countries
and were having two terms of appointment 71. It is important to remark that the Secretary General is
appointed for a term of five years and this term can traditionally be renewed once.
Table (4): The Secretary Generals of the United Nations:
Secretary General Period Number of Terms Nationality

Gladwyn Jebb72 October 1945 - One United Kingdom
February 1946
Trygve Lie February 1946 - One Norway

November 1952
Dag Hummerskjold April 1953 - September Two (1953-1957)&(1958- Sweden

1961 1961,died in a plane crash)
U Thant November 1961 - Two (1962-1966)& (1967- Myanmar

December 1971 1971)
with offices in more than 100 of them all over the world. Retrieved from: “About IOM.” International
Organization for Migration, July 2014, www.iom.int/about-iom. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020
69
World Trade Organization was established in 1991 after the Uruguay negotiations Round. It aims to
promote free international trade, prevent tariff and non-tariff barriers, administering trade agreements, providing
technical assistance and settling trade disputed among its 164 members. Retrieved from: “What Is the
WTO?” Wto.Org, 2013, www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/thewto_e.htm. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
70
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: It was established in 1997 after the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC) was entered into force. It aims to implement the articles of the convention using
the chemical weapons regarding not using chemical weapons. Retrieved from: “Mission a World Free of
Chemical Weapons.” OPCW, www.opcw.org/about-us/mission. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
71
“Former Secretaries-General.” United Nations Secretary-General, 14 July 2016,
www.un.org/sg/en/content/former-secretaries-general. Accessed 4 Jan. 2020.
72
Shakeel, Anwar. “List of Secretaries General of the United Nations.” Jagranjosh.Com, 6 Mar. 2018,
www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/list-of-secretaries-general-of-the-united-nations-1364197187-1.
Accessed 17 Mar. 2020.
16

-he was formally
appointed in November
1962.
Kurt Waldheim January 1972 - Two (1972-1976) & (1977- Austria

December 1981 1981)
Javier Perez de Cuellar January 1982 - Two (1982-1986) &(1987- Peru

December 1991 1991)
Boutros Boutros Ghali January 1992 - One Egypt

December 1996
Kofi Annan January 1997 - Two (1997-2001) &(2002- Ghana

December 2006 2006)
Ban Ki Moon January 2007 - Two (2007-2011) &(2012- South Korea

December 2016 2016)
Antonio Guterres January 2017 - One Portugal

December 2021
UN’s successes and failures since 1945 till now:

Since the foundation of the United Nations, its role was ranging from positive to negative regarding
various issues and crises in different fields. It made a lot of remarkable achievements and witnessed the
signature of various conventions and treaties. To begin with, among its political achievements is
avoiding the eruption of a third world war, delivering aid and food for Palestinian civilians since 1950
through the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) 73.In addition,
it helped in ending the triple aggression on Egypt in 1956 and establishing the World food program
(WFP) in 196074. It also helped in ending the civil war in Salvatore, ending the conflict between Iraq
and Iran during the Persian Gulf War in 1980s, and demolition of Berlin Wall and Germany’s
unification in 1989. Furthermore, it played a vital role in sending 42 peacekeeping troops and
monitoring ceasefire in conflict zones and unstable areas, resulting in rewarding the peacekeeping
forces with Nobel Prize for peace in 198875. Last but not least, it contributed to the withdrawal of
Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1990s. United Nations Commission on Human Rights enhanced
73
UNRWA was established by the UNGA resolution in December 1949 to deliver aid and help to thousands of
Palestinian refugees who were displaced since Palestinian war 1948. Retrieved from: “Who We Are
UNRWA.” UNRWA, www.unrwa.org/who-we-are. Accessed 5 Jan. 2020.
74
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75
“The Nobel Peace Prize 1988.” NobelPrize.Org, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1988/summary/ Accessed
6 Jan. 2020
17

democracy and free elections in more than 45 countries through its investigations and technical
assistance.
United Nations also witnessed the signature of dozens of significant conventions and treaties on the
political, humanitarian, environmental and diplomatic levels. Among them in the political and
humanitarian fields are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights76 in December 1948 after
Truman77’s request from the UN to declare an “International Bill of Rights” 78to respect the human
rights and stop the aggressions that were committed in World War Two, the signature of Refugees’
Convention79 in 1951 regarding the rights granted for the refuges during conflicts and managing many
refugees’ crises after World War Two, and signing a very important treaty which was the treaty on the
Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons80 in 1968 in order to enhance global safety through preventing
the countries from disseminating nuclear weapons and facilitating the implementation of the
International Atomic Energy Agency’s safeguards regarding peaceful nuclear experiments. Moreover,
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea81 in 1982 was released to govern the territorial
boundaries of countries and the continental shelves, and the rights granted for each country to utilize
the international waters and its assigned economic zones.
On the environmental aspect, it took an important step towards climate change mitigation by the
signature of the Kyoto Protocol82 in Japan in 1998. It is considered to be the first measure taken
76
“Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble.” Ohchr.Org, Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf.
77
Harry Truman: He was the vice president of Franklin D. Roosevelt for 3 months till 1944 then he became
president of the United States after his death until 1953. He had sharp huge experience in domestic affairs from
his long work in the local government while he lacked knowledge in international affairs and negotiations with
the Russians and the British after the Second World War. He ordered the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima in August 1945, thus ending the world war with American victory. Retrieved from: Mark O. Hatfield,
with the Senate Historical Office. Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993 (Washington: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1997), pp. 411-418,
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/harry_truman.pdf
78
IBID.
79
Weis, Paul. “THE REFUGEE CONVENTION, 1951 THE TRAVAUX PREPARATOIRES ANALYSED
WITH A COMMENTARY.” Unhcr.Org, United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees,
www.unhcr.org/4ca34be29.pdf Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.
80
“Text oftheTreaty.” Un.Org,2015, www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2015/pdf/text%20of%20the%20treaty.pdf.
Accessed Jan. 2020.
81
“United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” Un.Org,
www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf. Accessed Jan. 2020.
82
“KYOTO PROTOCOL TO THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE
CHANGE UNITED NATIONS.” Unfccc.Int, United Nations, 1998, unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf.
Accessed Jan. 2020.
18

regarding climate issues to decrease the Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG) and mitigate the global
warming phenomenon and it was a further development to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 83. On the diplomatic field, the United Nations Conference on
Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities (UNCDII) in Vienna witnessed the signature and ratification of
three principle conventions which are: “Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 84”, “Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations and Optional Protocols 196385”, and “Vienna Convention on the
diplomatic representation of states in their relations with international organizations of a universal
character 197586”. Moreover, it witnessed the signature and ratification of many conventions and
statutes that established a lot of international organizations and courts like IOM, ICAO, IAEA, ICC,
and others87.
On the contrary, the organization failed to solve a lot of international contemporary conflicts. Among
them are the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and the
failure of peacekeeping operations in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia in 1990s, which Kofi Anan
described as the greatest failure cases of UN. Moreover, it failed in solving other political conflicts like
the Syrian crisis, Yemen crisis, Libya’s crisis, Iraqi crisis, Somali crisis, and the civil war in Sri Lanka
(1983-2009) and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the Peninsula of Crimea in 2017. In addition, it
failed in solving many border and maritime conflicts in different regions like the conflict on the
province of Kashmir between India, China and Pakistan, the Southern Chinese Sea between the
“ASEAN”88 countries and China, and the Mediterranean Sea geopolitical conflict between Greece,
83
UNFCCC: it is the parent treaty of Kyoto Protocol. It works with its 197 parties to limit the greenhouse gas
emissions (GHGs) effects. It supervises the National Adaptation Programmes of Action which identify priority
activities that the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) urgently need to decrease its vulnerability to climate change
and to have the ability to combat it. Retrieved from: “UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.” European Commission, 3 Oct. 2018, ec.europa.eu/knowledge4policy/organisation/unfccc-
united-nations-framework-convention-climate-change_en. Accessed Jan. 2020.
84
“VIENNA CONVENTION ON DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.” Unido.Org, Apr. 1961,
www.unido.org/sites/default/files/2010-10/Vienna_Diplomates-E_0.pdf . Accessed Jan. 2020.
85
“Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963.” Legal.Un.Org, United Nations: Office of Legal Affairs,
2005, legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_2_1963.pdf. Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.
86
“A NEW CONCILIATION PROCEDURE: THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE REPRESENTATION
OF STATES IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF A UNIVERSAL
CHARACTER.” The Italian Yearbook of International Law Online, vol. 4, no. 1, 1 Jan. 1978, pp. 31–46,
legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/5_1_1975.pdf, 10.1163/221161379x00035. Accessed Jan.
2020.
87
IBID
88
ASEAN: it refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is a regional intergovernmental
organization that is established on 8th August 1967, it encompasses ten countries in South Asian region and it is
headquartered in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. They are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar,
19

Cyprus and Egypt from one side and Turkey from the other side. Moreover, it didn’t play an influential
role in combating terrorism and protection of minorities’ rights in many regions in the world,
especially in the Middle East, Africa, China and Myanmar, as well as other crises around the world.
Moreover, the peacekeeping operations working under UN slogan face severe difficulties and
accusations in their missions, especially in African countries and Haiti. Some of these crises will be
tackled in details throughout the paper.
A great portion of these problems haven’t been solved until now because of several reasons, one of
them is the abuse of veto power by the permanent countries to refuse certain decisions that are not in
their interest, or in other words due to lack of cooperation and consensus among the Security Council’s
member countries and especially the powerful ones like Russia, USA and European countries. Another
significant reason is the absence of clear clarification or the presence of some deficiencies in some of
the charter’s articles which hindered taking the quick, suitable and right actions by the UN to handle
these situations and crises, created problems of bureaucracy concerning implementation, and paved the
way for the powerful countries to implement them according to their whims. A third reason is the
existence of major administrative problems in the institutional framework of the international
organization as well as its recent exposure to financial crises.
Deficiencies in Some Articles in UN Charter:

The Charter of the United Nations, along with the statute of the International Court of Justice, forms
the formal constitution of the international community 89. The charter is important to the extent that if
any obligations of a member country to UN contradicted with its obligations to any other regional or
international organization in which it is also a member, its obligations to UN will prevail90. Despite
that, there are some gaps and contradictions in some articles in the charter which created problems
concerning the framework of the organization and left a great opportunity for the countries to both
interpret and implement these articles differently from the purpose for which they were originally
created, according to their own interests and whims. Examples of these gaps can be expressed in the
upcoming paragraphs.
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao PDR, and Brunei Darussalam. Retrieved from “ASEAN
Member States - ASEAN | ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE COMMUNITY.” ASEAN | ONE VISION ONE
IDENTITY ONE COMMUNITY, 2019, asean.org/asean/asean-member-states/. Accessed Jan. 2020.
89
IBID
90
Chapter XVI Article 103 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
20

Firstly, the second article in the charter mentioned the principle of no interference in matters which are
essentially within the domestic jurisdictions of a state91, and this represents one of the most important
rules of contemporary international law. However, the charter didn’t specify what is meant by the
domestic jurisdictions, or what falls under the category of international specification 92, and this article
was vulnerable to many interpretations that took place in the last few decades concerning its
implementation. During the 1990s there were the waves of human rights which added an exception on
this article that the international community mustn’t interfere in any country’s affairs unless there was
an observable transgression of human rights in this country. In this case the international community
has the right to interfere to protect the human rights in this country. Unfortunately, the powerful
countries nowadays make advantage of this exception to justify their interference in other smaller
countries by cutting down the military or economic aid, or making economic siege or political pressure
on them under the pretext of protecting human rights, in order to oblige these countries to do
something in the favour of these powerful countries. There was no clear specification or clarification of
this article or the cases when it will be implemented in, which created a chance for the powerful
countries to use it against the small countries according to the former’s whims. This is quite noticeable
in many recent cases, like the Egyptian-American relations which sometimes witness some tensions
due to the human rights and democracy issues which the American administration sometimes exploits
to cut or decrease the military aid to Egypt.
Secondly, the second article mentioned also the principle of “Sovereign Equality” among nations93,
which means that all countries have the same position and they shall be equal in their rights and duties.
There shall be no differences among them because of political power or area or population size or any
other geographical, political or economic advantageous factors. However, among the fifteen members
of the Security Council, there are only five members, which are United States of America, United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Republic of France, People’s Republic of China and
the Russian Federation, which have the privilege of veto power which is their right to oppose any
decision or proposal to settle a certain dispute without mentioning a reason. The veto power represents
an authoritarian right for only FIVE countries to hinder any action, even if all the countries in the
world agreed on it, for the sake of their political interests. In other words, it paved the way for those
five countries to take control of the other 188 member countries’ decisions. This is completely unfair,
no longer achieves the principle of sovereign equality, and represents a clear contradiction to it.
91
Chapter I Article 2 Paragraph 7 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
92
IBID
93
Chapter I Article 2 Paragraph 1 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
21

Thirdly, the charter recommended in article seven in the chapter tackling the UN94 organs that the
organs of UN are six which are: An International Court of Justice, a Security Council, a General
Assembly, an Economic and Social Council, a Trusteeship Council and a General Secretariat.
However, the Trusteeship Council no longer exists and its mission was accomplished since the
independence of Palau islands, the last remaining UN trust territory, in 199495. This represented a gap
in the charter that was needed to be modified and updated.
Fourthly, it was stated in the fourth chapter tackling the General Assembly that the mission of the
General Assembly is discussing all the issues, the political, social, economic, environmental, and
human issues, (and also the issues concerning the international peace and security which are discussed
by the Security Council, but on condition that it mustn’t take action or implement a solution regarding
these issues unless the Security Council so requests)96. In addition to that, among the missions of ECO-
SOC is the discussion of the international economic, health and social issues97, as well as discussing
violations of human rights and fundamental freedom and publishing reports regarding these
issues98.Therefore, a great overlapping between the missions and jurisdictions of both ECOSOC and
General Assembly exists in many cases regarding science, technology and developmental planning.
Therefore, there was no clear distinguishment between the missions of each organ separately. Provided
that the number of members in General Assembly is 193 countries while only 54 member countries in
ECOSOC, the General Assembly became more powerful than ECOSOC, and the ECOSOC became
unimportant, trivial and has no influence.
Fifthly, regarding the Security Council, the charter of UN didn’t mention what is meant by
“Aggression”99and didn’t specify the circumstances or situations which represent a threat to the
international peace and security and require the urgent intervention from the Security Council. Instead,
it left this problem completely to the assessment of Security Council’s members. This created an
opportunity for the council to intervene whenever it wants, even if the condition seems for the
international community that it isn’t considered a threat to the global peace, and to not intervene
whenever it wants, even if the situation seems for the international community that it is considered a
major threat to international peace and calls for urgent action. Hence, the intervention of the Council
94
Chapter III Article 7 Paragraph 7 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
95
IBID
96
Chapter IV Articles 10, 11, 12 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
97
Chapter X Article 62 Paragraph 1 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
98
IBID
99
Chapter VII in UN’s Charter, IBID.
22

will be controlled by the interests of the five permanent members. Hence, this represents a major
drawback in Security Council and in the charter too.
Last but not least, another drawback in the charter regarding the Security Council is that it didn’t
specify the majority of the cases that require simple voting (or in other words the procedural issues)
and those who require substantive voting (or in other words the objective/non-procedural issues)100, it
specified only two cases in which simple voting is required like election of ICJ judges and holding
conference for the charter revision. This misspecification created a chance for the permanent countries
during San Francisco conference to specify certain issues that require simple voting like cancelling
missions on the Council’s schedule, or the permanent representation of a member country in the
council, or holding sessions in UN’s offices located in Geneva or Panama or Ethiopia instead of New
York, in addition to some trivial issues that are related to the council’s framework. Moreover, this lead
also to the arise of Double Veto problem which will be discussed later. It is considered a major
disadvantage as such an important and powerful Council requires from the charter to specify its voting
procedures in all the issues it tackles.
General Assembly: (GA)

It is one of the six principle organs of the United Nations. It is composed of 193 member countries,
with a president who is elected annually. They meet on the third Tuesday of September annually, but
sometimes there may be emergency sessions that are held after 24 hours from the approval of a request
of a member country by two thirds of member countries or a request from the majority of member
countries or a request from the Security Council 101. Its jurisdictions according to article 18102are:
election of the secretary general of UN, electing the member countries of the Economic and Social
Council, planning the annual budget of the organization and each member country’s annual quotas
that, suspension of rights and privileges of membership, expulsion of member states, and electing the
judges of International Court of Justice and the non-permanent countries within the Security Council
(after a recommendation from the Security Council). It has two types of voting, simple majority
(50%+1) and substantive majority (two thirds of member countries) regarding the topics mentioned in
article 18103. Most of the topics are discussed in six basic committees which are: Disarmament and
International Security’s Committee, the Economic and Financial committee, Social, Humanitarian and
Cultural Committee, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, the Administrative and
100
Chapter V Article 27 Paragraphs 1,2 in UN’s Charter, IBID
101
IBID
102
Chapter IV the part of functions and powers in UN’s Charter, IBID.
103
IBID
23

Budgetary Committee and the Legal Committee104. In addition, it has a lot of other committees and
subsidiary organs to perform its functions 105.
It seems that it is a huge council with an outsized number of member countries having equitable
number of votes. However, there is a major disadvantage in that organ, which is that its decisions are in
the form of recommendations; they are not implemented in reality. All the points of agreement and
action plans upon which the members agree after their meetings and discussions are just
recommendations and have no power to be implemented. The charter didn’t recommend the instant and
compulsory implementation of any actions or decisions taken by the General Assembly (except in
cases when Unity for Peace resolution is implemented and it will be explained later) and it didn’t
specify any punishments that will be imposed on a member country if it refused to implement them.
This represents a major weakness in the General Assembly, and by this it is converted into an advisory
agency with no influence, despite its huge number of members.
Moreover, the General Assembly doesn’t have the complete and independent authority in making
decisions concerning most of the organizational and domestic affairs of the UN. It has to take the
recommendation from the Security Council first before making actions in such affairs. For example, it
has to take the SC’s approval concerning the election of the non-permanent countries in the Security
Council, approval of new member countries in the United Nations (which requires the approval of two
thirds of SC members including the Big Five), the appointment of the Secretary General of the United
Nations, election of the judges of International Court of Justice, and imposing sanctions on member
countries or their expulsion or suspending their membership for a while. This recalls the unfairness and
demolition of the “Sovereign Equality” principle, when the decision of 188 member countries is
controlled by the decision, approval and recommendation of only five members, since most of these
topics requires the agreement of the five permanent countries on any proposed decision regarding
them106. Moreover, this consolidates the inequality and deep imbalances among the organs of the
organization, bearing in mind the number of member countries in each of them.
There are examples that show the weakness of the recommendations taken by General Assembly in
many cases. For example, when Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact states107 invaded Magyar in 1956, the
104
“Main Committees of the General Assembly of the United Nations.” Un.Org, 2019,
www.un.org/en/ga/maincommittees/. Accessed Jan. 2020.
105
IBID
106
IBID
107
Warsaw Pact was a military and political agreement between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European
countries that was formed in 1955 to counterbalance the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) signed
between USA, Canada and the Western European countries. Retrieved from: “The Warsaw Treaty Organization,
24

General Assembly recommended the withdrawal of Soviet troops and made a committee of inquiry to
investigate the situation there, but the Soviet troops didn’t withdraw and the Soviet Union refused to
meet this committee108. Another example is when the General Assembly released many decisions
during the Soviet invasion to Afghanistan calling for stopping the invasion and the withdrawal of the
Soviet troops, but the Soviet didn't respect or consider these decisions. A third contemporary example
is when Egypt submitted a proposal in December 2017 that condemned the US declaration of
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel109 and its intention to relocate its embassy there instead of Tal
Aviv110. Egypt requested from the countries to implement some measures to encounter this decision
and refrain from making diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. Although 128 countries approved Egypt’s
situation which represented a great majority, there were no recommendations or action plans put by the
Assembly to encounter this situation or to punish Israel and USA111. As a consequence, USA
inaugurated its new embassy in Jerusalem in May 2018 in a clear disregard, confrontation and
ignorance to the world countries, Arabs, Muslims, United Nations and international law. This reassures
the ineffectiveness and weakness in General Assembly’s work.
International Court of Justice112: (ICJ)

It is one of the most important organs of the United Nations. It is the new face and successor for the
Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) which was part of League of Nations after World War
One113. Its statute is an integral part in the Charter of the United Nations. Its major mission is to act as
the judicial body of the UN by helping the countries settle their disputes in a peaceful way or a way in
1955.” State.Gov, Office of the Historian Department of State, 2019, history.state.gov/milestones/1953-

1960/warsaw-treaty. Accessed Jan. 2020.
108
IBID
109
“President Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel.” American Journal of International Law, vol.
112, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 306–310, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-
law/article/president-trump-recognizes-jerusalem-as-the-capital-of-
israel/48ECBF4DE94471D12116081FFE03DB3D , 10.1017/ajil.2018.35. Accessed Jan. 2020.
110
Landler, Mark. “Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move.” The
New York Times, 6 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-
capital.html . Accessed Jan. 2019
111
This will be discussed in details in the chapter of Veto Power.
112
The main difference between International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) is
that ICJ deals with disputes between states, while ICC charges the individuals suspected themselves. Retrieved
from: Understanding the International Criminal Court. 2013, www.icc-
cpi.int/iccdocs/pids/publications/uicceng.pdf . Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.
113
In 1945, the members of the Permanent Court of International Justice held a meeting and decided to transfer
its responsibilities and jurisdictions to the new International Court of Justice. Since then, the Permanent court
was dissolved, IBID
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which the international peace and security will not be endangered. It contributes to achieving the
principles of United Nations concerning maintaining peace, solving the international conflicts in
peaceful ways, implementation of the international law rules and international conventions, and
obliging the countries all over the world to respect them. ICJ has fifteen judges having different fifteen
nationalities, who are elected from the most important, skilled judges occupying a great position in
international law, and they remain for nine renewable years114. The elected judges shall represent the
six main legal systems in the world which are the Islamic, French, Anglo-Saxony, Latin, Confucius
and German legal systems. According to article 19 in the statute of ICJ115, the judges have diplomatic
immunities and privileges so that they can perform their jobs well, efficiently, unbiased and with
integrity and objectivity. Moreover, they shall perform their jobs impartially and conscientiously
according to article 20 in the statute116.
However, the provisions of ICJ are not final and its jurisdictions are not compulsory, except if the
Security Council recommended the implementation of these judgements. This problem escalates
particularly if one of the big five was involved in a case. It means that if the court released a judgement
in a conflict between two countries, and one of these countries is a permanent member in Security
Council having veto power, and the provision wasn’t in the interest of this country, this country has the
right to use veto power when a session concerning this case is held in the Security Council so as not to
implement that provision. In this case ICJ has nothing to do with the veto. This impeded the
achievement of international justice and the proper implementation of the international law, especially
if the five permanent members did not implement these judgements if they were against their will or
interests.
An example of this case was in 1986 when there was a conflict between USA and Nicaragua regarding
the military and paramilitary activities. United States claimed that Nicaragua was operating some
illegal military activities and it imposed sanctions on Nicaragua and tolled its ports. Nicaragua
complained about the aggressive actions of United States to ICJ, and ICJ released a judgement urging
USA to stop its sanctions and removing the mines from Nicaragua’s ports. However, USA didn’t
114
“STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE Article 1.” Legal.Un.Org,
legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/sicj/icj_statute_e.pdf. Accessed Jan. 2020
115
IBID
116
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implement this judgement after it used its veto when the case was discussed in the Security Council’s
session117.
Security Council: (SC)

It is the most important and powerful organ in the United Nations organization. It is composed of
fifteen members; five permanent members that aren’t changed by the charter’s recommendations
which are The Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United
States of America, People’s Republic of China and Republic of France 118, in addition to ten non-
permanent members who are elected each two years119. (These members are speculated to provide an
equitable global geographical representation). It has a presidency that is transferred to each of its
fifteen members in English alphabetical order monthly 120. The current president of the Council is
People’s Republic of China in March 2020 and it will be the Dominican Republic in April 2020.
Moreover, its important duty is to keep up international peace and security, and taking actions or
authorizing military interventions in cases threatening the global peace. Its sessions are held in UN
headquarters, but sometimes they can be held in any of UN regional offices. For instance, it held a
session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1972, a second one in Panama City in 1973, and a third one in
Geneva, Switzerland in 1990 121.
The charter’s articles in the fifth chapter122 specified a number of authorities and jurisdictions that the
Council ought to acquire. For example, the Council elects the secretary general of the United Nations,
the non-permanent members, the judges of International Court of Justice from a list made annually by
the Secretary General, and also it declares the conditions on which the non-member countries will join
the statute of ICJ. It approves or refuses the membership requests of new countries to join UN, imposes
sanctions on the member countries or agrees to raise those sanctions on a particular country after a
while of their imposition. Moreover, it gives the final decision concerning the expulsion of member
countries. It was supposed to be responsible for the organization of the collective security system (but
117
Scott, Gary L., and Craig L. Carr. “The ICJ and Compulsory Jurisdiction: The Case for Closing the
Clause.” American Journal of International Law, vol. 81, no. 1, 1 Jan. 1987, pp. 57–76,
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/icj-and-compulsory-jurisdiction-
the-case-for-closing-the-clause/9DA2273496AC2864A3088AFEB14255F2#fndtn-information ,
10.2307/2202131. Accessed Jan. 2020.
118
Chapter V Article 23 Paragraph 1 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
119
120
“Security Council Presidency | United Nations Security Council.” Un.Org, 2020,
www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/presidency . Accessed Jan. 2020
121
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122
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this didn't happen). It organizes the cases of disarmament in unstable regions and sending the
peacekeeping operations in the conflict zones. It was supervising the mission of Trusteeship Council
concerning the colonized territories and supporting them to gain their independence. It holds emergent
sessions upon the request of the Secretary General or a member country in the Council or a country
that is even not a member in SC but a member in UN. In addition, it also implements the rules of the
seventh chapter of the charter123 concerning the military interference in a country that is colonized or
suffers from mass atrocities or threatened from another country, to kick out troops of the latter country
and impose military or economic or political sanctions on it or regarding any threats or breaches to
global peace or acts of aggression.
There are two types of voting in the Council which are the simple majority that requires the approval
of nine or more out of the fifteen members 124, with no essentiality for the inclusion of the Big Five
among these nine. This is usually applied to some trivial organizational affairs concerning the work of
SC like approval of holding a session, or approval to hold a session in other regional UN’s offices in
Geneva or Panama or Ethiopia, instead of its head office in New York, or even cancelling some works
from the council’s schedule or electing the ICJ judges. While most of the urgent problems require the
substantive majority which is nine out of the fifteen, but the five permanent members MUST be among
these nine and the veto power is practised here 125.
Unlike the General Assembly, the Security Council acquires the privilege of having power to
implement the actions and decisions on which its members agreed. The recommendations and
decisions taken by the Security Council, the power it has to implement these decisions and the
agreement of five permanent countries on most of the problems presented in the sessions has led to
disproportionating the role of Security Council on the behalf of other organs like ECOSOC or General
Assembly. This created a state of imbalance between the United Nations organs, with most of the
power owed to only SC; this made the United Nations as if it is infected by personal schizophrenia due
to the significant imbalance among its organs.
A major drawback in the Security Council is the limited number of member countries existing in it.
The number of members is only fifteen; so it is illogical to represent the 193 member countries in the
General Assembly or in United Nations in general by only fifteen members. Historically speaking, the
members were only eleven (or the non-permanent members were only six) since 1946, until the charter
was modified in 1963 to increase the number of non-permanent members to ten so they became
123
Chapter VII Articles 39-51 in UN’s Charter, IBID
124
125
Chapter V Article 27 Paragraph 3 in UN’s Charter, IBID
28

fifteen126, but it is quite obvious that it is still unfair representation of the world countries. Moreover,
another obvious disadvantage in the permanent members in particular is that they don’t represent the
world continents in a fair way. Three out of the five members are from Europe, while we don’t see a
single country from Africa or Latin America or Australia or from the Arab countries which in all have
more than 82 countries. Asia is represented by only China, while there are some other economic
powers that do not exist like Malaysia or India or Japan or South Korea or even Singapore. Even in
Europe, Germany is not a permanent member while it is apparent that Germany is the most important
economic and political power in Europe and it is one of the powerful countries in the European Union.
India, Germany, Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea and others are outstanding examples of countries that
ought to enjoy permanent membership in the Council. This was crystallized in G4 resolution 2005
which will be tackled in details in the section of proposals to reform the United Nations.
The criticism here is directed to the permanent members in particular because the actual power in
Security Council lies in their hands, not in the non-permanent countries. May be Egypt, Uruguay,
Jordon, Senegal and Japan were non-permanent members between 2015 and 2017127, but they didn’t
have the complete power or veto power that the other five members have, and their decisions or
proposals can be easily hindered by the permanent countries, and this had already happened recently.
Besides that, given that privileges of SC members and by comparing between the decisions that result
from a Council that has only fifteen members which are more powerful and implementable than the
recommendations resulting from a council that has 193 members, this lead to the inconsideration and
the reduction of the terms of reference 128 of the General Assembly in practise.
Regarding the Council’s authority in the imposition of sanctions, they sometimes seemed to be
ineffective, and the charter didn't specify the conditions or the regulations upon which they shall be
based. The economic sanctions that the Council imposed on some political regimes in some countries
due to threatening international peace and security through their illegal humanitarian or military
actions harm the populations more than they impact the political leaders of the country. To illustrate,
there were studies done by pioneer professors working in global economic institutes and centres to
state the cases where the economic sanctions imposed had an impact and contributed to the solution of
126
IBID
127
“Security Council Elections 2015.” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, 2 Oct. 2015,
www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/srr_unsc_elections_2015.pdf . Accessed 25 Jan. 2020.
128
Terms of References: the topics or areas or subjects that an organization or inquiry has been ordered to deal
with. Retrieved from: “Terms of Reference.” Dictionary.Cambridge.Org,
dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/terms-of-reference. Accessed Jan. 2020.
29

the crises from 1914 to 1990, like Gary Hufbauer129, Jeffrey Schott130 and Kimberley Ann Elliott131.
They reached the result that only five cases out of forty were recorded successful cases. Moreover,
about 12% of the cases of sanctions’ imposition only did the sanctions imposed in a true constructive
way132. This means that the sanctions were imposed without any planning or regulations and eventually
they came at the expense of the country’s population, children, sick and innocent people and economy
more than the political regime. Sanctions don't only damage the target country, but they also negatively
affect the neighbouring countries as a result of trade embargoes133, losing investments and reduction in
the government generated revenues, causing many economic crises as well as collateral damage 134 to
the punished country. Another apparent thing is that the imposition of sanctions is affected by the
interests of the powerful countries as they impose them on certain countries but not on others. The
imposition of sanctions had been subjected to double standards practised by the Council. For example,
Israel, Indonesia, Morocco and Turkey had invaded some foreign areas and the Council didn’t impose
sanctions on them, but when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991, the Council imposed severe and harsh
sanctions on Iraq that resulted in death of children and complete deterioration to the economy due to
the severe conditions of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. The experts wondered if the
sanctions’ original purposes could be used for the justification of human suffering.
For instance, in the aftermath of the Gulf war 1991, Iraq suffered from “Oil for Food Program
(OFFP)135”'s harsh economic and social consequences since its operation in December 1996 till the
129
Gary Clyde Hufbauer is Marcus Wallenberg Professor of International Financial Diplomacy at Georgetown
University and international Financial Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
130
Jeffrey J. Schott joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics in 1983 and is a senior fellow
working on international trade policy and economic sanctions.
131
Kimberly Ann Elliott is a visiting Fellow with the Centre for Global Development and the author or co-author
of numerous books and articles on trade policy and globalization, economic sanctions, and food security.
132
James, Paul. “Sanctions: An Analysis.” Globalpolicy.Org, www.globalpolicy.org/global-
taxes/41475.html.https:/www.globalpolicy.org/global-taxes/41475.html . Accessed Jan. 2020.
133
Embargo: a government or group of governments impose a legal ban of the sales or exports of goods and
services from entering specific countries. There are types of embargoes like trade embargo which bans exports
from specific countries, oil embargo which means banning oil exports to a country, and strategic embargo which
bans exports from entering a country which supports a military power. Usually embargoes are tools of economic
pressure and war. Retrieved from: “Embargo | International Law.” Encyclopaedia Britannica,
www.britannica.com/topic/embargo-international-law . Accessed Jan. 2020.
134
Collateral damage is a general term for deaths, injuries, or other damage inflicted on an unintended target.
Retrieved from “COLLATERAL DAMAGE | Meaning in the Cambridge English
Dictionary.” Dictionary.Cambridge.Org, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collateral-damage.
Accessed Jan. 2020.
135
OFFP is a United Nations Security Council’s resolution which was obviously made to alleviate human
suffering in Iraq while maintaining the 1991 Gulf war-related sanctions regime. Intentionally, it was designed to
make economic siege on Suddam Hussein’s regime by controlling Iraqi oil exports and preventing oil revenues
30

American invasion in 2003. This proved that the illustrated sanctioning variation reflects the
inadequacy of calculations, regulations, strategies and considerations towards poor countries and
populations.
Another vital issue tackles the Council’s authority in sending peacekeeping operations to the conflict
zones. These operations have recently encountered many problems regarding finance, security,
leadership and military instruments. The Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, called the Council for
exerting more efforts to protect the international soldiers participating in these operations. The
challenges and allegations facing the peacekeeping troops in addition to other details will be tackled in
the upcoming section of political problems of the United Nations.
Furthermore, Security Council fell in the trap of super power dominance. It had been basically lead by
the interests of the permanent countries in a lot of the presented cases, as well as the harmful
repercussions of their usage of veto power which will be discussed in the next section. The powerful
countries failed to achieve international peace and security because of their selfish acts as they can do
whatever they want in the Council due to the fact that many specifications weren’t mentioned in the
charter regarding this Council’s framework, and the another fact that there is no legitimate or judiciary
supervisory on the Council. The Security Council failed in making resolutions or fatal decisions in
many contemporary complicated cases because of the conflicting interests between USA and the
western countries on a side and Russia and China on the other side. The Council became an arena for
the countries to accuse each other, disagree or not cooperate in solving the necessary and critical
problems and they turned the Council into a court.
Moreover, in response to the recent inaction of Security Council and disability of UN to carry out its
responsibilities towards the humanitarian crises happening in Syria and Palestine, and in a courageous
unprecedented step, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refused to acquire a non-permanent seat in the Council
in 2013136.
from reaching Suddam’s regime, but rather earned under a UN-controlled escrow account. The program instead
increased human suffering and economic depression of Iraq till Unites States invaded Iraq in 2003 . Retrieved
from: Katzman, Kenneth, and Christopher Blanchard. “CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web
Order Code RL30472 Iraq: Oil-For-Food Program, Illicit Trade, and Investigations.” Fas.Org, Congressional
Research Service ˜ the Library of Congress, 14 June 2005, fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL30472.pdf. Accessed 22
Jan. 2020.
136
“Saudis Reject UN Security Council Seat | Middle East Policy Council.” Mepc.Org, Middle East
Policy Council, mepc.org/commentary/Saudis-reject-un-security-council-seat. Accessed Jan. 2020.
31

Veto Power:
One of the significant disadvantages and weaknesses that exist in the Security Council is the presence
of what so called Veto power, which the five permanent member countries acquire. The veto right is an
authoritarian right which gives the country acquiring it the ability to refuse any proposal or impede any
decision taken by another country or by the Council without mentioning reasons, even if the remaining
world countries agree on it. Once the draft resolution137 is vetoed by a permanent country, it is
cancelled and not implemented. The veto is a final decision and the countries don’t have the right to
oppose or protest against it as it represents an obligatory order to other countries not to consider that
proposal or not to implement it 138. Veto is practised in the procedural cases which require the
substantive majority, which represent the majority of cases that the Council tackles related to
international peace and security. Moreover, during the declaration of the United Nations, the
permanent countries (the allied countries in World War Two) put a condition that they should have
veto power during the establishment of the organization in 1945 139.
The Veto power represents a dictatorial instrument which contradicts the principles and basics of
freedom, democracy and international justice and had been exploited by the permanent countries to
take control of the United Nations and dominate its decisions. Ironically, during the establishment of
the organization and signing the charter, the representatives of the allied countries during the war;
which are basically United States of America, Soviet Union and United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, declared that their acquisition of Veto is for the sake of unifying their plans and
courses of actions in order to apply the mandate of the Security Council in the maintenance of
international peace and security. The British representative insisted that having veto power is not
considered a menace to smaller states, but it would be a safeguard for all the peace-loving states to
ensure that there are no ideological significant differences among them regarding maintaining global
peace140.Unfortunately, the recent actions observed from these countries, particularly the United States
and Russia, do not prove these intensions. Instead, their actions seem to contradict these intensions by
acting to serve their interests.
137
A solution/ proposal suggested for a crisis in the Security Council is called a “Draft Resolution” before
reaching the voting phase. Once it passes by the required majority in the Council, it is called “Resolution”.
138
“VETO | Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Dictionary.Cambridge.Org,
dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/veto. Accessed Jan. 2020.
139
Rukambe, Kujee. The United Nations Security Council and the Veto Power of the Permanent Members. 2017,
repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/65718/Rukambe_United_2018.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed Jan. 2020.
140
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In addition, it is illogical that only five member countries which were the allied countries in a
destructive world war that ended 75 years ago to control the decisions of 188 countries and to have the
ability to ruin or hinder any proposals that a country may provide just because they are not parallel
with the permanent countries’ political or military interests, or because of conflict of interests among
the permanent members themselves. By veto power, the permanent countries can oppose the will of the
international community behind a certain proposal or solution so it will no longer be valid. The veto
had made the permanent countries put their private interests ahead of the international community’s
interests. It created the Principle-Agent problem141, where the agent is the permanent countries and the
principle is the world countries. In addition, it can easily make all the efforts that non-permanent
members exert to solve a conflict or a humanitarian crisis go in vain, and this happened lots of times in
the last decade. Moreover, it opposes the famous and standard rule of majority in taking decisions by
all councils in many regional and international organizations, as only one country can reject the
solution easily. The Veto represents an unjustifiable discrimination for the permanent members against
the remaining countries, which again hinders and demolishes the achievement of sovereign equality
among nations and destroys the idea of achieving international justice.
The abuse of veto power by the permanent countries could lead to the “disability “of Security Council
to take action in a certain crisis that threatens the international peace and security. Historically
speaking, this was obvious during the Korean crisis (1950-1953)142. The Republic of Korea was under
the Japanese control from 1919 till 1945. After the Japanese troops surrendered after their defeat in
1945, the Republic of Korea was divided between the American troops who invaded the Southern parts
and spread capitalism there, and the Soviet troops who invaded the Northern parts. The Americans and
Russians agreed to divide the Republic of Korea into Northern Korea and Southern Korea, with
Parallel 38º line143 separating between them. Meanwhile, there was a civil war in China between the
nationalists backed by the Republic of China, and the communists who were backed by the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and the Soviet and Northern Korean troops between 1945 and 1949. In 1949,
the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
141
Principle-Agent Problem: when one party acts on the behalf of other party in an organization. Retrieved from:
Polutnik, Lidija. “Principal-Agent Problem.” Wiley Encyclopaedia of Management, 21 Jan. 2015, pp. 1–2,
www.researchgate.net/publication/319374194_Principal-Agent_Problem, 10.1002/9781118785317.weom080077.
Accessed Jan. 2020.
142
The Korean Crisis (1950-1953) is worthy to mention because it is considered one of the most famous
and important cases of Veto abuse and as an example of applying the Collective Security system which
will be tackled in the following section.
143
Line 38° Parallel: it is the line that separates between Northern Korea and Southern Korea. A Demilitarized
Weapon Area was created there after the Korean War. Retrieved from The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
“38th Parallel | Geopolitics.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 7 Dec. 2011, www.britannica.com/place/38th-parallel .
33

The Republic of China (the defeated party in the civil war and backed by the nationalists) was
supported by United States and its allies, and they allowed it to have a permanent seat in the Security
Council. When the People’s Republic of China took the political leadership under Mao Tsi Tong144 in
1949, it wasn’t supported by US and it refused to have a permanent seat in the Council. The Soviet
Union was backing PRC, so as a consequence to US’s refusal for PRC to be a permanent member, the
Soviet Union boycotted the UN and Security Council’s sessions 145.
Meanwhile, the Chinese wanted to do a favour to the Northern Koreans for their support during the
Chinese civil war, so they helped the Northern Korean troops to invade South Korea and clash with the
American troops there. When this happened, United States urged the United Nations to intervene and
solve this political or military conflict there. The Security Council orders regarding ceasefire and
finding political peaceful solutions were taken with the consent of only four out of the big five, as
Soviet Union was boycotting the sessions. After the presidency of the Council was transferred to the
Soviet Union in 1950, the Soviet Union abused veto concerning any issue that was presented in the SC
sessions about the Korean crisis or the American troops’ situation in South Korea, and it impeded any
decision in that case deliberately, which threatened the escalation of a third nuclear world war in that
unstable area. It represented one of the famous cases in which the Council reached a deadlock status as
a consequence of US and Soviet Union conflict of interests.
Finally, the Secretary of State146 in the United States proposed the “Unity for Peace” decision which is
approved by the General Assembly in its decision 377 on 3rd of November in 1950. However, the
“Unity for Peace” decision didn’t succeed in settling all the disputes between countries since then, and
wasn’t the perfect solution regarding the collective security system operations.
(Unity for Peace Decision 1950147: it recommends that if the Security Council didn’t have the ability
to exercise its primary responsibility in the maintenance of international peace and security due to the
lack of unanimity between the permanent countries as a result of abuse of veto power by one of them,
then the terms of references of SC shall be transmitted immediately to the General Assembly, even if
144
Mao Tsi Tong was the leader of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) from 1935 till his death in 1976. He
began a revolutionary development and modernization in China which resulted in a famine that killed 20 million
people during the period from 1959 to 1962. Retrieved from: “Mao Tsi Tung.” History TV, 2019,
www.history.co.uk/biographies/mao-tse-tung .
145
“Korean War.” Resources.Saylor.Org, Saylor Academy, resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/Korean-War.pdf. Accessed Jan. 2020.
146
Secretary of State: he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the United States of America.
147
“Security Council Deadlocks and Uniting for Peace: An Abridged History.” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United
Nations Security Council, Oct. 2013, www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Security_Council_Deadlocks_and_Uniting_for_Peace.pdf . Accessed Jan. 2020
34

the Security Council didn’t request that directly from the General Assembly. In this case, the
General Assembly has the right to discuss the cases that are viewed as a breach or a threat to
international peace and security by the Security Council and takes actions and appropriate
recommendations, and this is the ONLY case when the decisions taken by the General Assembly are
obligatory and should be implemented by the member countries. Although it is obviously opposing
148
article 12 of the charter (because of the violation of the condition written in bold letters) and the
Soviet Union opposed it because of its unconstitutionality, it was implemented in many crises like the
case of Korea in 1951, the triple aggression on Egypt in 1956, as well as other countries like Hungary
(1958), Congo (1960), Bangladesh (1971) and Afghanistan (1980)149.
Furthermore, using veto left a great opportunity for the permanent countries to filter the disputes
between them which were inherited since the end of the Cold War in 1990150. Since the establishment
of United Nations, the permanent countries used veto to hinder any proposal suggested by a country
that was from the Axis countries in World War Two. The veto was used by the countries that followed
the Western camp under USA leadership to stop actions or decisions suggested by a country that
followed the Eastern camp under Soviet Union leadership, and vice versa.
In addition to that, during the first ten years of the United Nations’ life the “Membership Crisis”
happened. The countries that were following the Western camp used veto against any country that
wanted to be a new member in the UN and this country was following the Eastern camp, and the same
thing happened with the countries of the Eastern camp regarding the new memberships of countries
that were following the Western camp. In 1955, the “Integrated Bargain” was implemented and all the
memberships’ requests were approved.
Nevertheless, it has been apparent that USA uses veto to hinder any draft resolution submitted by
Russia or China, as both countries’ interests will never meet those of USA, and even Russia and China
use veto against any draft resolution suggested mainly by USA because this will contradict their
political interests, given that USA’s main goal in settling any disputes in the world is to beat the
148
IBID
149
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150
Cold War: it was a long conflict between the United States and Soviet Union that began since the end of
World War Two till 1991. It was a sort of ideological conflict between capitalism and socialism, and a sort of
competition towards global supremacy in the space, economic, military and nuclear fields. It ended with the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Retrieved from: “The Cold War (1945-1989) -Full Text.” Cvce.Eu,
University of Luxembourg’s CVCE.eu research infrastructure, Nov. 2011,
www.cvce.eu/content/publication/2011/11/21/6dfe06ed-4790-48a4-8968-855e90593185/publishable_en.pdf .
35

Chinese and Russians to keep the balance of power in its favour at the expense of the populations who
suffer in the unstable areas, even if that resulted in proxy wars.
There is a very important issue that should be tackled concerning veto, which is the charter didn't
specify the cases that require voting by substantive majority (nine including the Big Five) or the issues
that require voting by simple majority (nine whether the Big Five are among them or not) except two
issues which are electing ICJ judges and holding public conference to revise the charter. So this paved
the way for the permanent countries to decide by themselves which issues will require which type of
voting, this resulted in the appearance of the “Double Veto”151. This veto means that the topic will be
presented first in the session of the Security Council, on the basis that it is a procedural topic (requires
simple majority). Then a permanent member may use veto for the first time so that the topic will be no
longer a procedural one and will be converted into a non-procedural one. After that, the permanent
member may use the veto for the second time to hinder any decision that might be taken in that issue
without reasons, so the permanent member used veto two times in the same topic so it is called Double
Veto. This represents the selfishness of the permanent countries, as they can use veto to decide which
topics will be procedural and which will be non-procedural with the corresponding type of voting in
each of them, and all of this is done according to their interests. These topics should have been
previously and explicitly determined and specified by the charter, instead of being left to be
determined by the permanent members.
Furthermore, from the disadvantages that result when the permanent members use veto is that the crisis
they were discussing is left unsettled and this makes it more complicated when it is discussed again
later, as well as posing the international peace and security to more danger. A lot of draft resolutions
didn't even reach the voting phase and became resolutions because of being vetoed. In addition, the
permanent countries have the right not to be abided by the judgements that the International Court of
Justice releases if they are against their situation as the aforementioned case of military activities
between the United States and Nicaragua 152.
The greatest problem doesn’t lie in the powers and ramifications of the veto itself, but it lies within the
countries that acquire it. If the countries owning veto are on one side and agreed on a solution for any
case that threatens international peace and security, there will be no need for using veto and the world
can avoid the bad implications of using veto, hence maintaining international peace, settling disputes
151
Rudzinski, Alexander W. “The So-Called Double Veto.” The American Journal of International Law, vol.
45, no. 3, July 1951, pp. 443–461, www.jstor.org/stable/2194543?origin=crossref&seq=1 , 10.2307/2194543.
Accessed Jan. 2020.
152
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and ending civil wars and populations’ suffering. But the problem is that in San Francisco conference
during the United Nations’ establishment conference, Veto had been given to certain countries that will
never ever agree on any issues153. For example, United States of America, China and Russia weren’t
and won’t agree on any issue, either political or economic or military, because their interests are
always contradicting each other. USA and Russia had had a cold War that lasted for 46 years, starting
from the end of World War Two in 1945 till the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991154, so they will not
have a common situation concerning what is discussed in Security Council’s sessions about cases
threatening the international peace and security. In addition, the criteria on which those countries were
selected was winning a horrible world war 75 years ago, and even some emergent powers like
Germany and Japan weren’t selected in that time because they lost this war. Here the Council seems to
be outdated and not consistent with the drastic changes happened in the international system since
1945.
In addition, there has been a fierce trade and economic war between USA and China in 2018 and 2019,
and this shall be definitely reflected in any political disagreement that shall happen between them
regarding any important contemporary case, as economics and politics are closely related to each other.
Hence, it is illogical that basically three powerful countries, which their interests do not match each
other and each one wants to retain the international balance of power to be in its favour, acquire the
Veto power. So it is easy to understand why most of the international disputes weren’t settled and most
of the draft resolutions didn’t see light because of using veto either by USA, or by China and Russia as
well as the harmful consequences of using veto that take place at the expense of the suffering
populations in the unstable areas.
Moreover, there had been wide consensus among many scholars and academics that the Security
Council has been suffering from democratic equity problem. The Veto power, or in other words, the
right to ever present in the Council, had gave the Big Five too much representation, even higher than
their representation in other related regional or international organizations like IMF or WBG. On the
other hand, other Asian, African and Latin American countries had been given underrepresentation.
This reinforced the need to dilute this power in many draft resolutions and proposals 155.
153
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154
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155
Gould, Matthew, and Matthew D. Rablen. “Reform of the United Nations Security Council: Equity and
Efficiency.” Public Choice, vol. 173, no. 1–2, 14 July 2017, pp. 145–168,
www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.667185!/file/paper_2016009.pdf , 10.1007/s11127-017-0468-2. Accessed 10
Mar. 2019.
37

An apparent thing is that usage of veto power leads to a contradiction and imbalances between the
work of UN organs and UN agencies. For example, there are the Security Council and the United
Nations Office for Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The mission of UNOCHA is to
deliver humanitarian aid and food to the suffering civilians in the conflict zones or the borders
inhabitants in order to lessen their suffering 156. However, the Security Council could disrupt and put
obstacles in the work of this agency if one of the permanent countries refused to deliver this aid
because of political reasons and this has happened in Syria lately in 2018. This doesn't achieve the
United Nations’ principles, hinders the achievement of the missions of UN’s agencies and consolidates
the power of veto that encroaches upon the humanitarian missions of the organization agencies.
Last but not least, there is another problem regarding veto which is the case of the expulsion of nations
from the membership of United Nations. Article 6 in UN’s charter157 mentioned that if a member
country is threatening the international peace and security or disobeying the international law, or
disrespecting the principles and the goals of UN deliberately, this country should be punished by being
kicked out of the organization. In order to do that, there are some rules recommended by the charter in
that case. Firstly, two thirds of member countries in General Assembly must approve the decision of
expulsion. Secondly the Security Council must agree by a majority of nine or more of its members
including the five permanent countries that own veto right (substantive majority). In that case, there is
a chance for the permanent countries to use veto if they refused to kick a specific country out of the
UN, especially if they have strong economic or political relations with that country.
If we looked into the real world, we can find apparently some countries that threaten the international
peace and security and disobey the international law deliberately day after day like Israel, North Korea
and recently Turkey. Israel kills Palestinians, divides the occupied territories, chases any ships that
carry aid to Gaza, and continues in its illegal settlement policy and judaization158 of Jerusalem. North
Korea threatens the global peace in general and the Asian peace and its neighbouring countries’
regional peace in particular by developing its nuclear weapons and running out sudden nuclear
activities on its ballistic missiles and hydrogenise bombs with disrespect to the UN, the nations’
denunciation and warnings, and the precautions of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Last but not least, Turkey has been intervening in the domestic affairs of other neighbouring countries
like in Iraq, and it made some illegal military interventions in Northern Iraq under allegations of
156
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157
Chapter Article 6 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
158
Judaization: to adopt the Palestinian places with the customs and identity of the Jewish. Retrieved from:
“Definition of JUDAIZE.” Merriam-Webster.Com, Merriam Webster, www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/Judaize . Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.
38

fighting the Kurds which Turkey describes as terrorists and classifies their political party, Kurdistan’s
Workers Party, as a terrorist organization. Recently, Turkey announced that it will send some Turkish
soldiers to Libya to support the militia of Fayez El-Serag, the head of the Libyan National
Reconciliation government, against the military troops of Khalefa Haftar, and it signed a Maritime
Delimitation agreement with ElSerag’s government in November 2019 regarding the governance and
utilization of the international waters and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ)159. Experts revealed that
some countries disagreed with this agreement like Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and United Arab Emirates.
They admitted that this maritime agreement violated the international law as well as the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCOLS) 1982, and disregards their water rights. It is important to
know that one of the main reasons for Turkish signature of this agreement is that it did not ratify the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as it was always objecting its jurisdictions because if
they were implemented, it will limit the water rights for Turkey and limit the scope of its continental
shelf and EEZ as well as preventing it from acquiring benefits from the newly discovered natural gas
findings in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, provided that Turkey is a major importer of energy 160.
In addition, some international reports from concerned organizations and intelligence agencies as well
as scholars from research institutes in universities had revealed the some illegal connections between
Turkey and ISIS161. Turkey assisted ISIS logistically by giving them equipments and trainings in
Istanbul. Turkey provided its fighters with weapons and satellite photos and this was confirmed
through interviews that had been made with the truck drivers who transmitted the weapons to the
fighters. The Turkish hospitals cured a lot of injured fighters in their terrorist attacks so the assistance
encompassed also granting medical care to ISIS fighters during committing their terrorism. Moreover,
Turkey assisted ISIS financially by purchasing oil illegally through illegal pipelines by cheaper lines.
To conclude, Turkey had been recently a big supporter and financer to one of the most dangerous
terrorist organizations that appeared and committed a lot of terrorist attacks and massacres in a lot of
countries, particularly the European countries. Therefore calls had been requesting to expel Turkey
from the United Nations or at least from NATO162.
159
To access the Maritime agreement, see “Turkey’s Parliament Ratifies Agreement with Libya
(Text).” Keeptalkinggreece.Com, Keep Talking Greece, 5 Dec. 2019,
www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2019/12/05/turkey-libya-agreement-mou-text-english/ .Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
160
Lindenstrauss, Gallia, et al. “The Perils of the Turkey-Libya Maritime Delimitation Deal.” Inss.Org, Tal
Avev University: Institute of National Security Studies, 18 Dec. 2019, www.inss.org.il/wp-
content/uploads/2019/12/No.-1238.pdf . Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
161
ISIS refers to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It is a terrorist organization.
162
SASSOUNIAN, HARUT. “Columbia University Researchers Confirm Turkey’s Links to ISIS.” Anca.Org,
Armenian National Committee of America, 24 Nov. 2015, anca.org/columbia-university-researchers-confirm-
turkeys-links-to-isis/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
39

If we made a hypothetical scenario for expulsion of a member state in UN, if for instance the case of
Israel’s expulsion is presented in the General Assembly and Security Council sessions, it is guaranteed
that USA will use veto against that and therefore it will remain in the organization continuing
practising its aggressive actions with legal American cover (if we assumed that two thirds of the
General Assembly’s members approved the expulsion decision which seems to be already difficult).
Ironically, this happened in reality in mid 1980s when United States threatened to lessen its financial
contribution to the organization if any decision from the UN resulted in expulsion or punishment of
Israel163. In the case of North Korea, China and Russia will use veto and therefore nothing new will
happen. The case of nations expulsion didn’t happen actually in the history of UN till now (there was
only one case when the African countries wanted to kick out South Africa, but it is countered by
French, British and American veto in 1976 164). This truly assures that the veto usage consolidates the
power and demolishes international justice achievement and respecting the international law and UN
goals, which eventually comes at the expense of populations and their children in the unstable
countries and the areas that suffer from terrorism and instabilities.
Furthermore, a recent disappointing report in 2019 released by the Security Council was discussing the
current development in the sessions and draft resolutions presented. The main findings of this report165
mentioned that the tumultuous relations between the powerful countries significantly contributed to a
lot of non-consensus draft resolutions. The Council failed to condemn certain actions and release draft
resolutions because of the frustrated relations between the permanent countries, particularly between
United States on one side, and China and Russia on the other side. The number of vetoed and non-
consensus resolutions has been continuously increasing since the beginning of the Arab spring
revolutions in 2011.
Veto Power and the recent Syrian & Israeli/Palestinian cases:

The Arab populations and countries are always the losers from any resolution that is vetoed by either
United States, or Russia and China, particularly in the Syrian and the Palestinian cases. In the Syrian
case, the Arab countries were always requesting the Security Council to condemn the stubbornness of
the Syrian regime and military under the leadership of Basher ElAssad on committing massacres,
163 Kampmark, Binoy. “The Politics of Funding: Cash Crisis at the United Nations.” Globalresearch.Ca, Global
Research Center for Research on Globalization, 11 Oct. 2019, www.globalresearch.ca/cash-crisis-united-
nations/5691555 . Accessed Feb. 2020.
164
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165
“Monthly Forecast.” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, 30 Jan. 2019,
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2019_02_forecast.pdf . Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.
40

throwing the exploded drums on the Syrian civilians, killing children and destroying the hospitals. The
Arab countries submitted a lot of proposals, supported by some non-permanent countries in the
Council to handle the Syrian situation, lessen the population suffering and allowing the passage of
humanitarian aid, and applying ceasefire between the conflicting parties. Unfortunately, these
resolutions were mostly encountered by Russian and Chinese vetoes or encountered by American veto
if these resolutions were suggested by Russia. The repeatable usage of Russian veto had complicated
the crisis and left a golden chance for ElAssad to escape from justice and continue these aggressive
actions that his regime embarked on for seven years. Shamefully, Russia vetoed any resolutions
regarding the Syrian crisis for 12 times since the crisis’s beginning in 2011 166.
To illustrate, there were 34 public meetings which were held in the Council regarding the mass
atrocities occurring in Syria and the usage of chemical weapons by the troops of the regime. However,
they did not reach decisive resolutions in the end due to the political divisions between the United
States, which is against the Syrian regime, and both Russia and China which support it. The results are
either draft resolutions that were vetoed by the permanent members or fell short of the required
majority so they did not pass167. Among these 34 meetings were two draft resolutions that were
presented to the Council to punish the Syrian regime and taking immediate actions to stop the
aggressions on the civilians, but they were blocked by Russian and Chinese vetoes.
A third one was on 22nd of February in 2018, when Security Council failed to impose immediate
ceasefire in the Eastern Ghouta in Syria as Russia vetoed a ceasefire resolution made by Kuwait and
Sweden168 after an unstoppable deadly bombing from the Syrian regime for successive days which
resulted in more than 400 murdered people along with hundreds of injured and displaced civilians. A
fourth one was a session held in June 2018 to discuss an American proposal to make a new
independent investigation mechanism that works under UN slogan in Syria to investigate the usage of
chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against the civilians, and it was blocked by Russian veto, as
166
“Russia’s 12 UN Vetoes on Syria.” Rte.Ie, 11 Apr. 2018, www.rte.ie/news/world/2018/0411/953637-russia-
syria-un-veto/. Accessed Jan. 2020.
167
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168
Borger, Julian. “Russia Blocks UN Resolution on Eastern Ghouta Ceasefire.” Theguardian.Com, The
Guardian, 22 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/22/russia-un-resolution-eastern-ghouta-
ceasefire-syria . Accessed 5 Jan. 2020.
41

well as Chinese abstain169. At this time, this reinforced the military option of America and its European
Allies against Syria which the UN tried to alleviate.
Last but not least, in 2014 a rare positive sign was noticed when the fifteen members of the Security
Council agreed on the resolution 2165 170 regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria through
areas controlled by the opposition military forces, or not controlled by the Syrian government. The
resolution basically recommended the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance and aid to Syria through
the Turkish borders, with ensuring the security and safety of UN staff, not prejudicing their missions,
and reaffirming the importance of finding a political solution to the escalating Syrian crisis.
Nevertheless, in 2019 the Council failed to renew this resolution, as this resolution was supposed to
expire on 10 January 2020 171, as a result of Russian and Chinese vetoes, thus putting millions of
civilians and injured people at the risk of death to please their ally, the Syrian regime 172. It was worthy
to mention that if the Security Council couldn’t renew this resolution before its expiration date, it
would have to ask for the approval of the Syrian government to renew this resolution, which seemed to
be impossible.
To conclude the Syrian case, Russia and China are the main reasons behind the disruption of the
internal politics of the United Nations regarding the Syrian humanitarian crisis. This problem emerged
because a disproportionate amount of decision making power had been given to these countries in
addition to other three western countries. Accordingly, the political divisions happening currently
between Russia, China and the West, and the Russian abuse of veto throughout the ongoing crisis
resulted in the semi-paralysis of the UN in its humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis, not having an
affirmative action or agreement on most of the draft resolutions aiming to solve the unprecedented
169
Kennedy, Merret. “Russia Vetoes U.S. Resolution On Syria In U.N. Security Council.” NPR.Org, 10 Apr.
2018,www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/10/601153602/u-n-security-council-meets-about-syria-as-
inspectors-prepare-to-head-in . Accessed Jan. 2020.
170
“With Millions of Syrians in Need, Security Council Adopts Resolution 2165 (2014) Directing Relief Delivery
through More Border Crossings, across Conflict Lines | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org, United
Nations: Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, 14 July 2014, www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11473.doc.htm .
Accessed Jan. 2020.
171
“Russia/China Veto of UN Resolution on Syria Aid ‘Indefensible.’” Refugeesinternational.Org, Refugees
International, 20 Dec. 2019, www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2019/12/20/russiachina-veto-of-un-resolution-
on-syria-aid-indefensible. Accessed Jan. 2020.
172
“Amnesty International.” Amnesty.Org, Amnesty International Organization, 10 Jan. 2020,
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/01/syria-failure-to-renew-un-resolution-on-cross-border-aid-spells-
humanitarian-disaster/ . Accessed Feb. 2020.
42

crisis, and not enabling UN to put sanctions on the Syrian regime for committing these transgressions
and war crimes against the civil citizens 173.
Moving to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, there has been no doubt that Arab countries are the main
losers from using veto power. When an Arab country submits a proposal or compliment in the Security
Council that condemns Israel because of committing massacres and crimes to the Palestinians in
Jerusalem or the West Bank, and they request from the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel
or stop its aggressions, this is always encountered by an American veto and this happened lots of times
since the 20th century till now. The international community and mainly the western countries like
USA always stand by Israel’s situation in most of the cases. They always defend it and reassure
Israel’s right to protect itself if the Arab countries complained about Israel’s launching of missiles on
Gaza or any other regions in Palestine, or even in Golan in Syria. In addition, the Arab countries don’t
have common military or even political unity which makes them strong enough to encounter the
American Veto and the Israeli military power. America always uses veto and Israel continues
committing its aggressive crimes, with no humanitarian action, unexplained and terrible silence from
the international community and complete weakness from Arabs. Consequently, the veto represents a
complete and deliberate demolition to the respect of international law and an arrogant consolidation of
power.
To begin with, in March 2001 the third world countries submitted a proposal to the Security Council
that condemned Sharon’s government 174 for killing Palestinians and building hundreds of settlements,
and they requested from the Council to urge Israel to stop its settlement policy, stop isolating and
dividing the occupied territories, and returning back the communications and humanitarian aid to the
Palestinians, but USA vetoed this proposal. This gave the green light for Sharon troops to continue
killing and displacing Palestinian children, without punishment or resistance from the international
173
Dorith, Lisa. The United Nations Humanitarian Response in Syria. pp. 1–81,
openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/66029/The%20United%20Nations%20Humanitarian%20Respon
se%20in%20Syria.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed Jan. 2020.
174
Ariel Sharon was the prime minister of Israel during the period from 2001 to 2006. His period experienced a
lot of violent acts against the Palestinian citizens especially after his visit to the Temple Mount in September
2000. In addition, Oslo Peace process ignited frustrations among the Palestinians and the Camp David’s process
in July 2000 was blocked in his reign. Retrieved from: Peled, Yoav. “Dual War: The Legacy of Ariel
Sharon.” Middle East Research and Information Project, vol. 34, no. 2, Aug. 2006, pp. 197–203,
www.researchgate.net/publication/240539820_Dual_War_The_Legacy_of_Ariel_Sharon ,
10.1080/03017600600743324. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.
43

community and exploiting the busyness of the world and United States with 11 September’s terrorist
attacks175. 176
In the past three years, the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict has been critical and arisen on the horizons in
the Council’s sessions. In 2018, nearly the conflict’s issues were discussed monthly especially when
the violence escalated between the Israeli troops and civilians in Gaza after the American declaration
of Jerusalem as Israeli’s new capital. Trump’s administration declared Jerusalem as the capital to
Israel, making it the first American administration that took this step since the issuance of Jerusalem
act in 1995 by the Congress, as each president was signing a waiver for six months to delay this
declaration for the sake of reaching a final solution in the peace negotiations between the Palestinians
and the Israelis177. In response, in December 2017, Egypt submitted a draft resolution178 aiming to
condemn the declaration of Jerusalem as the new capital of Israel by the American president Donald
Trump179. (This step was agreed on previously in an act issued by the American Congress in 1995180,
but no president implemented it before Trump). Egypt wanted the world countries not to agree on the
precautions that will be taken as a repercussion of this decision and not to relocate their diplomatic
missions to Jerusalem. Fourteen members agreed on Egypt’s draft resolution and only United States of
America used veto against it. This represented the extreme and rare case in the Security Council at
which all the members, permanent and non-permanent, were unified on a specific draft suggested by a
member and only one permanent member blocks it by veto in complete unfairness. As a consequence,
the draft resolution was blocked in a complete ignorance to the rules of majority that should be taken in
any decision making problem.
175
11/9/2001’s Attacks: attacks on the twin towers in New York that were committed by 20 terrorists carrying
Arabic nationalists. The attacks were intended to also the Pentagon and the White House. Thousands of
Americans died in these attacks. After that, America started a series of invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan in
revenge for these attacks. Retrieved from: “9/11 FAQs | National September 11 Memorial &
Museum.” 911memorial.Org, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, 2011, www.911memorial.org/911-faqs . Accessed Jan.
2020.
176
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177
“Trump’s Decision to Announce Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel: Motives, Implications, and
Prospects.” Dohainstitute.Org, Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Dec. 2017,
www.dohainstitute.org/en/Lists/ACRPS-PDFDocumentLibrary/12%20december%20situation%20assessment.pdf
. Accessed Jan. 2020.
178
“Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016).” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, 23
Dec. 2016, www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/SRES2334.pdf . Accessed Jan. 2020.
179
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180
“Jerusalem: The Capital of Israel.” Aipac.Org, THE AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE,
7 Dec. 2017, www.aipac.org/-/media/publications/policy-and-politics/aipac-analyses/issue-
memos/2017/jerusalem-the-capital-of-israel.pdf. Accessed Jan. 2020.
44

After that, Egypt went to the General Assembly in an emergent session to consolidate the support of
member countries against the American decision to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating
the American embassy there. Even though 128 countries approved Egypt’s situation, which
represented a great majority of the attending delegations at that time, the American ambassador Nicky
Hayley warned that USA will not forget the countries that didn’t defend its situation and started
blackmailing those countries by saying that USA always helped those countries by financial, economic
and military aid, so it is very disrespectful that after this support these countries don’t stand besides
USA in this situation in such a rude way. Moreover, she blamed the Security Council and United
Nations for not having USA’s back, while USA is the biggest country that devotes aid and money to
the organization and peacekeeping operations (27.9% of the peacekeeping operations’ budget in
2019181). She threatened to cut the financial aid and not to pay its annual quota, given that the UN can’t
punish USA for that, so she blackmailed the United Nations as well 182. Instead of supporting the
Palestinian case which USA pretended that it cares about and wants to reach peace between
Palestinians and Israelis, USA insisted on its illegal and arrogant situation, exploited its power and
veto, and turned the case into a personal issue between itself and the countries that opposed its
decision. USA blackmailed them and insisted on relocating the American embassy from Tal Aviv to
Jerusalem, even without the international community will and in a complete deliberate demolition to
the long peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinian authorities.
Indeed, the Israeli ambassador supported USA and announced that any action that will be taken by UN
against the Israeli or American will won’t be considered, declaring that Jerusalem will always and
forever be the capital of Israel, 183 which is also the previous clear and permanent declaration of the
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This proves the non-consideration and effrontery of Israel
as well.
Moreover, another emergent session was held in May 2018 after angry demonstrations in Gaza against
the American embassy relocation to Jerusalem. Israeli troops used disproportionate violence and killed
more than 60 civilians, as well as injuring thousands. The member countries called for ending the
violence and protecting the civilians as well as urging Israel to be patient. Kuwait made a draft
resolution calling for the international protection of the Palestinian civilians and urging Israel to stop
181
“How We Are Funded.” Peacekeeping.Un.Org, United Nations Peacekeeping, 2000,
peacekeeping.un.org/en/how-we-are-funded. Accessed Jan. 2020.
182
“General Assembly Overwhelmingly Adopts Resolution Asking Nations Not to Locate Diplomatic Missions
in Jerusalem | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org, United Nations: Meetings Coverage and Press
Releases, 21 Dec. 2017, www.un.org/press/en/2017/ga11995.doc.htm . Accessed Jan. 2020.
183
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using disproportionate, excessive and indiscriminate violence. USA vetoed the UN resolution
regarding that and its ambassador defended the Israelis saying that they were already patient and there
is no other country that could behave like how Israel behaved if a similar crisis happened in their cities.
She blackmailed the countries by saying that they have worse record of human rights violation and that
they are not allowed to call Israel for such orders. Moreover, she complained that the Security Council
became biased against Israel recently while they don’t mention Hamas which controls Gaza and whom
USA reports as terrorist organization184. After that, United States introduced some amendments to
Kuwait’s draft resolution, which were intended to support Israel in an implicit way. The new draft was
supported by only its sponsor, while it received veto power and abstentions from the other fourteen
members of the Council.
Since 1970s, a lot of draft resolutions and proposals were presented by many countries to the security
council to punish Israel or demand it to stop building the isolating wall, or stop its settlement policy,
and ALL of these were encountered by American veto. United States of America used veto for more
than 70 times, and around half of them were to defend Israel’s interests. America used veto for more
than 14 times since the end of cold war to defend Israel. There were 39 decisions that Security Council
called for and urged Israel to implement them, but Israel didn't consider any of them185. This is not the
first case regarding the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, but there were lots of cases that were
presented by different countries, mostly Arab countries, that condemned Israel or wanted the council to
impose sanctions on it or to order it to stop its aggressive actions, dividing the occupied territories,
attacking the civilians and children, and building many settlements as well as attacking the Aqsa
Mosque, and almost all of them were encountered by two ways; either by American Veto, or the
Security Council may succeed in launching decisions to order Israel to stop its actions, but Israel didn’t
respect those decisions ever. This shows the American and Israeli deliberate and intention arrogance.
This clearly proved to the Palestinians and Arabs that they can no longer trust or depend on USA and
they should consider it as impartial broker in the peace negotiations with Israelis.
All of these examples and dozens of evidence were to prove that United Nations became a weak
organization, and the veto power made the UN unwillingly biased to the Americans and the permanent
countries and it became a theatre for conflicting interests between Russia and the west. This proved
clearly that UN will never ever work with unbiasedness, integrity, effectiveness, objectivity, and
184
Wilner, Michael. “US Vetoes Kuwaiti Resolution Calling for ‘Int’l Protection’ of Palestinians.” JPost.Com, THE
JERUSALEM POST, 1 June 2018, www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/US-vetoes-Kuwaiti-resolution-calling-for-
intl-protection-of-Palestinians-558957 . Accessed Jan. 2020.
185
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therefore will not achieve its goals or enforcing international justice and the respect of international
law, as long as the veto right exists, and as long as USA and Russia own it.
A Brief on Collective Security System: (CSS)

The Collective Security system was mentioned in the charter of United Nations in article two. It is one
of the principles that called for banning the threatening or the actual use of coercive power against any
member country. Article 51 recommended that any country could, either individually or with the help
of other countries in the form of alliances, to enter another country if the latter country was posed to
coercion or occupation by another country, thus protecting the occupied country until the Security
Council takes a decision in that case186. This system operates by the idea that an attack on a single
country is considered an attack on the international community, and therefore the international
community must intervene to defend this country. The idea of this system is that the United Nations
wanted since a long time to establish an army, which is composed of soldiers and war instruments from
many member countries. This army would be headquartered in the UN position in New York under the
control of the organization187 and it shall be ready to intervene whenever any country attacked another
country in a way that threatens the latter’s regional peace as well as international peace and security.
It is worthy to mention that the main council which is responsible of implementing that system is the
Security Council. To illustrate, Article 47 in the charter188 recommended that Security Council should
establish the Military Staff Committee. This committee consists of the war officers of the armies of the
five permanent countries that acquire veto, meaning the war officers of the French, British, Russian,
Chinese and American armies, or those who represent them189. This committee is protected against
dissolution, unlike other committees that the Security Council shaped. The principle mission of this
committee is to provide consultations and help the Council in the topics regarding what is needed from
military instruments and necessities to maintain international peace and security, the preparation,
armament and employment of the troops under its control, and preparing the specific programs for
disarmament190. Any intervention or any action that shall be taken by the Council in this system must
have the consent of the five permanent countries.
186
Chapter II Article 51 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
187
IBID
188
Chapter VII Article 47 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
189
Chapter VII Article 47 Paragraph 1 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
190
Chapter VII Article 47 Paragraph 2 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
47

Since the committee’s establishment, its members never held any meetings till now. The main reason
behind that is the Cold War which was between United States of America and Soviet Union191. For a
hypothetical instance, the Americans and Russians were not in a peaceful situation that could permit
the military officer of the American army and those of the Russian and Chinese armies to set together
on one table and decide the precautions of preparing the United Nations’ army and the implementation
of the collective security system during crises. If the permanent countries had met during the 46 years
of Cold War to discuss and decide what will be done concerning that issue, the veto power would have
been definitely used. The conflict of political interests among the Big Five would have definitely
dominated the discussions and no decisive and constructive results would have been reached. This
should have been expected, especially if the facts told us that veto was used for 200 times during the
period from 1946 to 1983, with the Soviet Union having the greatest number of vetoes till 1960s, and
then it was replaced by United States and the West.
In addition, from the basic obstacles that prevented the Security Council from the proper preparation
and implementation of the Collective security system is the freeze of the Military Staff Committee and
the replacement of collective security system with “areas of influence”. These areas of influence were
established as the world was split between two superpowers which were the United States controlling
the Western part and the Soviet Union controlling the Eastern part. There were two military alliances
which were NATO192 in 1949 and Warsaw Pact in 1955. In fact, their missions were contradicting the
main goal of the collective security system, as certain countries in specific geographical areas will be
protected, not all the countries of the UN193. Moreover, the apparent implication of the establishment
of these two alliances is that any crisis that shall happen at that time in any of these two areas will be
discussed within who controls them, either Russia or United States. Any decision that will be taken
will be recommended by these two superpowers, not by the United Nations. So here the United
Nations will be weak and the basic objective of the Collective Security system will not be fulfilled.
Historically speaking, the Collective Security system was implemented but in a different way than it
actually means. The way is that the Security Council gives permission for a country or a group of
countries or an alliance to enter an occupied country to defend it against the occupier or the attackers,
191
IBID.
192
NATO: it is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which was created in 1949 as a political and military
alliance between the United States and the Western European countries. It carries out crisis management
operations when any diplomatic efforts or negotiations fail. The last two countries that joined it were both
Albania and Croatia in 2009. Retrieved from: What Is NATO?” Nato.Int, NATO, 2009, www.nato.int/nato-
welcome/index.html . Accessed Feb. 2020.
193
IBID
48

instead of the intervention by a unified army under UN’s control as the charter mentioned. This
happened in the Korean crisis in 1951 when the Security Council (in the absence of Soviet Union)
allowed for Britain, America and Taiwan to enter the southern lands of Korea to kick out the northern
Koreans and Chinese troops and deploy the system of collective security under the slogan of United
Nations194. A second example was in the case of Kuwait when Iraq invaded it in 1991. In Iraq and
Kuwait war, the Security Council published the decision 678195 for American and Britain troops to
enter Kuwait to kick out the Iraqi soldiers. A third example was in Libya in 2011 after the revolution
against the Libyan president Muammar Qadhafi. The civilians were repressed by Qadhafi’s troops. The
situation escalated and Security Council drafted a resolution urging for imposing no-fly zones and
arms embargoes in the Mediterranean Sea on Libya. Finally, UN ordered NATO to enter Libya to
defend the civilians and monitor the implementation of the aforementioned resolution in March 2011 196
under an operation called *Operation Unified Protector (OUP)* which ended on 31 October 2011.
Unfortunately, the way in which the Collective Security system was implemented created a golden
opportunity for the powerful countries to fulfil their needs and achieve their political interests during
their interventions in other countries. The main reason is that the Security Council orders the
operations of the Collective Security, and these orders are recommended and agreed upon by the
permanent countries, so this somewhat paved the way to achieve their political interests. To illustrate,
in the case of Libya, the Security Council ordered NATO to defend the civilians and to maintain
ceasefire in Benghazi only, but the countries that were members in the NATO troops worked beyond
the Security Council orders. NATO was blamed for destroying Libya as a result of their actions there.
It was reported that the NATO troops killed thousands of civilians, built up and trained militias there
and with the end of OUP, they left Libya destructed and destabilized. Despite the efforts exerted by the
United States’ Department of State and the Security Council to promote a democratic transition
through elections, these militias were having the dominant power in the concurrent conflict there until
they became out of control. There were strong intensions from the Big Five to destroy Libya politically
and militarily through the intervention of NATO, and there were suggestions that if any military
intervention authorized by the African Union or United Nations shall be made, none of the members of
194
IBID.
195
“Resolution 678 (1990).” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, Nov. 1990,
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Chap%20VII%20SRES%20678.pdf. Accessed Jan. 2020.
196
NATO. “NATO and Libya : Operation Unified Protector.” Nato.Int, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 27
Mar. 2012, www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/71679.htm. Accessed Jan. 2020.
49

the Security Council who participated in NATO’s operations shall be participating in these
interventions197.
United Nations’ Institutional and Financial Problems:

United Nations suffers from many administrative and financial problems. To begin with, it has an
excessive employment problem. It suffers from a large number of employees in many organs,
especially in the organ of the Secretariat. Some organs and councils became overcrowded with
employees. The board of Trustees which the UN inherited from the League of Nations consists of 39
member countries and they no longer perform their jobs and it has no mentioned influence, and this
costs UN a lot of money and financial burdens198. In addition, some agencies became costly and they
need to be merged, especially those with similar specifications. For instance, both the United Nations
Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organization (WTO) have many
similarities and convergent goals199, and their merger will save significant amount of costs to the UN.
The financial burdens that UN suffers from come basically from two reasons; firstly because of the
wages paid to those excessive employees, and secondly because some member countries don’t pay
their annual quota from the UN regular budget, so this poses the UN to financial crises and this
happened actually in 1995 when only 78 countries from 185 member countries paid their quotas200.
The expected debts that these countries owe to UN reached about three billion dollars. It is surprising
that the United States of America was the largest debtor country to United Nations with more than 1.6
billion dollars. These financial burdens forced the UN to reduce the expenditure on the peacekeeping
operations, in which many countries don’t agree to participate or spend money on, or they agree on a
condition that these operations will be under the control of these countries, not under the control of UN
or its organs, like USA and Russia. It is worthy to pay attention that there is a sanction in article 19201
for the countries that don’t pay their quota and reached the way that its accumulated financial arrears
197
Campbell, Horace. “US, NATO and the Destruction of Libya: The Western Front of a Widening War |
Pambazuka News.” Pambazuka.Org, Pambazuka news: Voices for Freedom and Justice, 13 Aug. 2014,
www.pambazuka.org/human-security/us-nato-and-destruction-libya-western-front-widening-war . Accessed Feb.
2020
198
“‫ وكيف ؟‬... ‫ ومتى‬... ‫ لماذا‬... ‫إصالح األمم المتحدة‬.” Siironline.Org, Peace Centre for Diplomatic Culture,
www.siironline.org/alabwab/diplomacy-center/010.html. Accessed Dec. 2019.
199
“Unctad.Org | UNCTAD AND WTO: A COMMON GOAL IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY.” Unctad.Org,
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 6 Oct. 1996,
unctad.org/en/pages/PressReleaseArchive.aspx?ReferenceDocId=3607. Accessed Feb. 2020.
200
IBID
201
Chapter IV Article 19 in UN’s Charter, IBID.
50

are greater than or equal to its annual contributions in the last two years, by preventing those countries
from voting, and the only organ that has the complete power to implement this punishment is the
General Assembly202. It is implemented on six member countries that satisfied the previous condition
which were Papua New Guinea, Libya, Sudan, Venezuela (two times), Republic of Cape Verde and
Republic of Vanuatu203.However, there was a gap in this article which is that the threshold amount
required with which the sanction could be approved and implemented is too high and this prevents the
member countries from taking the defaulting problem seriously 204. The inaction of some member
countries to pay their quotas lead to the accumulated financial burdens on the behalf of organization
for many years, as well as the inability of UN to pay the financial dues for the countries participating in
peacekeeping operations, which drove these countries to threaten to withdraw from these operations.
The fiscal crisis began to escalate in the last two years. To illustrate, in 2018 the Secretary General
Antonio Guterres admitted that only 67% of the member countries paid their quotas to the UN,
declaring that United Nations faces now the most difficult financial crisis in its history. He revealed
that the United Nations debt reached about 139 million dollars, and he urged the countries to help the
organization, as such an international organization mustn't face the repercussions of bankruptcy205. In
September 2019, he complained that the member countries only paid 70% of their quotas and there will
be bad repercussions if the United Nations did not receive 1.3 billion dollars immediately, given that
United States is responsible for one billion dollars out of this amount. These repercussions shall
include the cancellation of some trips except for the most essential issues, cancellation of many
202 There is an exception in this article which is when the member country is passing through a severe economic
crisis, or conditions beyond the country’s capabilities to pay exist.
203
“‫دولة سادسة تفقد حق التصويت في الجمعية العامة لألمم المتحدة‬.” Arabic.Rt.Com, Arabic Reuters, 25 Feb. 2017,
arabic.rt.com/world/865151-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A9-
%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%AA-
%D8%AD%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AA-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%85-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9/. Accessed Dec. 2019.
204
Rawat, Mukesh. “Worst Crisis Hits UN: Why It Is Forced to Freeze Hiring, Stop Using Escalators & ACs at
Offices.” Indiatoday.In, 16 Oct. 2019, www.indiatoday.in/world/story/united-nations-facing-worst-financial-
crisis-cash-crunch-1609728-2019-10-16 . Accessed Feb. 2020.
205
“‫ أموال األمم المتحدة آخذة في النفاد | أخبار سكاي نيوز عربية‬:‫غوتيريس‬.” Skynewsarabia.Com, skynewsarabia, 27 July 2018,
www.skynewsarabia.com/amp/world/1168001-
%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B3-
%D8%A7%D9%94%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%94%D9%85%D9%85-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9-
%D8%A7%D9%93%D8%AE%D8%B0%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%AF .
Accessed 31 Dec. 2019.
51

conferences, sessions and programs, inability to pay overtime jobs for its employees, and struggling
just to pay its employees206. In October 2019, it is announced that only 131 countries had paid their
quotas, and the United States of America wasn’t among these states, thus worsening the financial
situation of the international organization. Ironically speaking, throughout the past twenty years, there
was no single year in which all the member countries paid their annual quotas regularly by the end of
the year without any delays 207.
The Committee on Contributions is the responsible body for deciding the annual quotas that the
member countries are supposed to pay. It takes into account many economic indicators like the
percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP208) of the member from the global one, the external
debt, the economic growth and other indicators in deciding the annual quota designed to each member
state. The General Assembly stated that the members whose contributions are ranging from 0.001% to
0.01% of the total UN’s budget will be classified as Least Developing Countries (LDCs) 209.
Table (5) represents some examples of the member states’ quotas and contributions to the UN regular
budget for the current year 2020, according to General Assembly’s resolution 74/266 in December
2019210.
Table (5): Quotas of some member states in UN’s regular budget in 2020:
Member Country UN’s Quota Contribution to the overall

Budget
United States of America $ 678.9 million 22%
People’s Republic of China $ 336.7 million 12%
Republic of Japan $ 240.2 million 8.56%
Republic of Germany $ 170.8 million 6.09%
206
Wamsley, Laurel. “U.N. Warns Of Budget Crisis If Nations Don’t Pay $1.3 Billion In Dues They
Owe.” NPR.Org, 10 Oct. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/10/10/769095931/u-n-warns-of-budget-crisis-if-nations-
dont-pay-1-3-billion-in-dues-they-owe . Accessed Feb. 2020.
207
IBID
208
GNP: Total value of final goods and services produced by the nationals of the country, whether they are
located inside or outside the country, for a period of a year. Retrieved from: “GNP | Meaning in the Cambridge
English Dictionary.” Dictionary.Cambridge.Org, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gnp. Accessed
Feb. 2020.
209
Rakesh Dubbudu. “How Much Do Various Countries Contribute to the UN Budget?” Factly.In, FACTLY,
13 Dec. 2016, factly.in/united-nations-budget-contributions-by-member-countries/. Accessed Feb. 2020.
210
“A/RES/74/266 - E - A/RES/74/266.” Undocs.Org, United Nations General Assembly, 14 Jan. 2020,
undocs.org/A/RES/74/266. Accessed Feb. 2020.
52

United Kingdom of Great Britain and $ 128.1 million 4.56%
Northern Ireland
Republic of France $124.1 million 4.47%
The Russian Federation $67.5 million 2.405%
Republic of Spain 60.2 million 2.146%
Egypt $ 5.21 million 0.186 % 211

Source: UNGA Resolution 74/266
Furthermore, one of the problems facing UN is the weakness of the administrative efficiency due to the
lack of training and development programs for UN diplomats and employees, or the control of their
organization by the five permanent members of the Security Council which organize those programs
according to their interests. Another problem is that the representatives and the diplomatic cadres of
the UN lack the practise of Preventive Diplomacy212 to settle the political or military disputes in the
conflict zones, which weakened the UN’s ability to negotiate and handle these situations and put
solutions to the conflicts. This was admitted by Boutros Ghaly when he was Secretary General from
1992 to 1996. Nowadays, we found that the efforts or negotiations made by some countries who work
by themselves independently from the UN framework could solve these problems much better than the
UN itself.
In addition to that, Ghaly criticized the process of imposition of economic sanctions on some countries
by the Security Council, saying that the sanctions are a “blunt instrument”. He mentioned that the
sanctions raised an ethical question of whether the suffering that is inflicted upon vulnerable groups is
legitimate when it carried out to pressure the political leaders. Some scholars and former foreign
secretaries recommended that whenever the decision to sanction a state is to be taken, it is necessary to
put into consideration the poor, sick, and innocent people as those are the ones who are brutally
harmed, and this should be applied to other types of punishments that the security council impose like
military interventions and embargoes. Ghaly was one of the most active secretary generals who really
wanted the reform of the organization and enhancing its capabilities. He proposed a vision which was
211
“Assessment of Member States’ Advances to the Working Capital Fund for 2020 and Contributions to the
United Nations Regular Budget for 2020.” Undocs.Org, United Nations Secretariat, 30 Dec. 2019,
undocs.org/en/ST/ADM/SER.B/1008. Accessed Feb. 2020.
212
Preventive Diplomacy: the efficient employment of diplomatic tools to settle the international disputes and
preventing them from being transformed and escalated into armed conflicts. Retrieved from: “EIP Explainer:
What Is ‘Preventive Diplomacy’? | European Institute of Peace.” Eip.Org, European Institute of Peace, 2011,
www.eip.org/en/news-events/eip-explainer-what-%E2%80%98preventive-diplomacy%E2%80%99Accessed
Feb. 2020.
53

approved by the presidents of the world countries in order to renew the international organization. This
vision included a plan called “Plan for Peace” which focused on reinforcing four main issues:
Preventive Diplomacy, Peacekeeping213, Peace building214, and Peacemaking215.
United Nations’ Political Problems:

In addition to the aforementioned institutional and financial problems that overburdened the United
Nations, it suffers also from political problems. Among these political problems is the practise of
double standards in its decisions and actions towards a lot of political conflicts and humanitarian crisis
happening mostly in the Middle East region, in addition to the transgressions committed to many
minorities across different regions in the world. Furthermore, there are a lot of difficulties and
challenges facing the peacekeeping operations as well as allegations directed against them while
performing their functions. All of these problems will be tackled in details in the upcoming two sub-
sections.
A) UN’s “Double Standards” in dealing with Humanitarian Crises and Political

Conflicts:
To illustrate, there are many regions where human and minorities’ rights are violated while the United
Nations failed to lessen these violations and had a weak response to these humanitarian crises. To
213
Peacekeeping is used to encompass a wide range of missions that often include Peace building and diplomatic
peacemaking components. But in essence, the main function of peacekeeping is to facilitate the transition from a
state of conflict to a state of peace; this has earned it the appellation. Retrieved from: Grant Dawson,
“Peacekeeping, peace building, and peacemaking: concepts, complications, and Canada’s role”, Political and
Social Affairs Division, May 2004.
http://www.res.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublicationsArchive/inbrief1000/prb0406-e.asp
214
In contrast with peacekeeping, “post-conflict peace building” (as it was originally known) is a new concept of
which the UN first took note in 1992. It is now a widely accepted part of most UN missions. There are two basic
types of peace building: it aims either to reinforce preventive diplomacy (remedying the root causes of conflict,
such as environmental degradation, underdevelopment, and threats to the human security of individuals), or to
buttress diplomatic peacemaking (by institutionalizing peace after a conflict). Retrieved from: Kayode
Soremekun, Sheriff Folarin, Daniel Gberevbie, and Duruji Moses, ed. Readings in peace and conflict studies,
Nigeria: Department of Political Science & International Relations. Hakolad Prints /Prokonnect Ltd. 2013.
http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/8254/1/Lady.pdf
215
With respect to the two types of peacemaking, the principles are much more important to the first, diplomatic
peacemaking, which refers to political mediation, than the second, peace enforcement, which is the use of military
muscle to compel disputants to stop fighting. This is because diplomatic peacemaking often precedes or occurs in
parallel with peacekeeping, and, like peacekeeping, requires the consent of disputants. It involves negotiations
that aim to avoid conflict or to bring combatants to the peace table.”Peacekeeping / Peace Enforcement |
Encyclopaedia Princetoniensis.” Princeton University. Accessed March 10, 2018.
https://pesd.princeton.edu/?q=node%2F259
54

begin with the legal basis, it didn’t pay much attention to the minorities’ protection and its charter
didn’t tackle their rights in a specific way, but it incorporated that issue into a greater one which is
human rights protection in general by justifying that if the human rights are protected and respected in
the world then there will be no problems concerning the minorities. Some lawyers and international
law experts found that not tackling the rights of minorities in UN’s charter represents a step back,
unlike the covenant of the League of Nations which tackled them more detailed 216. Despite that, we
see that many minorities in different regions in the world don’t enjoy their rights and they are exposed
to terrible violations and ethical cleansings. For example, UN didn’t take effective measures to protect
the religious minorities in Iraq and Syria from ISIS’s terrorism and kidnappings. Another concurrent
example is the minorities of Islamic Rohingya in Myanmar. Myanmar seemed to have been failed in
its transition to democracy after the independence from the military control in 2010, as its recent
actions and policies against the Rohingya hadn’t been showing any signs of democracy or respecting
others.
Myanmar has begun a process of ethical cleansing with an ethnic religious minority called the
Rohingya since 2013. The Muslims’ minority of Rohingya were killed and slaughtered every day
without mercy by the army and other religious majorities there like the Buddhist population. In 2018,
the crisis had escalated and resulted in half a million of refugees whom the camps in Bangladesh were
overcrowded with217. The only reaction UN did was the withdrawal of Nobel peace prize from the
prime minister of Myanmar. Many international reports and journalists from international news
agencies admitted that there was a weird and deliberate ignorance from the United Nations regarding
the massacres committed against the Rohingya, and UN deliberately closed and impeded any
investigations by any committees in Myanmar concerning the genocide occurring there. Many UN
employees and representatives, including the president of UNOCHA, were excluded from UN
meetings that were discussing the massacres in Myanmar. Moreover, a UN employee was working in
Myanmar at the beginning of the genocide and expressed her fears that signs of an ethical cleansing
there are terribly and overwhelmingly similar to that happened in Rwanda in 1990s, and later this
employee in addition to others were excluded from their mission in Myanmar 218.
216
Shawky AbdelAal, Mohamad. Introduction to Public International Law. 2010
217
Selby, Daniele. “Timeline: How the Rohingya Refugee Crisis Unfolded in Myanmar.” Global Citizen, 9 Nov.
2017, www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/myanmar-rohingya-refugee-crisis-burma-timeline/ . Accessed Feb.
2020.
218
Fisher, Johna. “‫کيف خذلت األمم المتحدة مسلمي الروهينجا في ميانمار؟‬.” Mojahedin.Org, People’s Mojaheden
Organization of Iran, (in an investigation with BBC), 30 Sept. 2017, arabic.mojahedin.org/i/newsar/84406.
Accessed Feb. 2020.
55

Moving to the recent humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the civil war resulted in a miserable life for the
civilians and children. There were grave actions that were committed against them like destruction of
hospitals and using schools as military arenas, in addition to about 11779 violations which were
reported by the United Nations against children. All of these violations were mentioned in a report
made by the Security Council called “Children and Civil war in Yemen” in 2019219.Nevertheless, the
United Nations exerted weak efforts in order to mitigate this political and humanitarian crisis. The
Security Council released a resolution urging for an arms embargoes on Houthi and the former
president, Saleh’s insurgents. However, the efforts of UN were influenced by the political interests of
Saudi Arabia and its two powerful allies in the Security Council which are United States and United
Kingdom.
Many efforts, investigations and resolutions were impeded by the American and the British
representatives in order to defend their interests and their Arabian ally Saudi Arabia for being the most
important partner in combating extreme terrorism in the Middle East and being the customer number
one in purchasing military weapons from them. To illustrate, in 2016 United Kingdom blocked a call
to establish an independent international investigation inquiry to monitor and investigate the
humanitarian crisis in Yemen, despite the reluctant approval of UN for an investigation mechanism
directed by Saudi Arabia and Riyadh’s based government in Yemen under Saudi, UK and US pressure
but unfortunately this mechanism hadn’t produced contributable solutions or significant accurate
reports of the case.
In addition to that, there was a sort of double standards in UN’s dealing with Yemen’s crisis, and most
importantly the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR). Although Saudi Arabia is a member
country in this council, it violates the human rights and its poor performance in the field of human
rights and freedom is overwhelmingly contradicting with what the Human Right Council members are
legally supposed to do. Many international reports revealed that the bad experience of Saudi Arabia in
the human rights resulted in having a poor rank in the international correspondent indices. For instance,
“Children and Armed Conflict in Yemen: Report of the Secretary-General.” Un.Org, United Nations Security
219
Council, 3 June 2019, www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2019/453&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC .

Accessed Feb. 2020.
56

it was ranked as *not free* in the annual report of freedom house220, and also it was ranked the 149th in
the Human Freedom Index (HFI) in 2019221.
Moreover, it was internationally blamed and attacked after it declared the torture and death of the
famous journalist Gamal Khashogii in the Saudi-Arabian consulate in Turkey by Saudi-Arabian
intelligence persons ordered by the Muhammad Ebn Salman himself in October 2018222, in an action
which breached the international law and the principles of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
1963223. So, it was unjustifiable that UN, represented by Security Council or General Assembly or
UNHRC, did not take a decent and professional action to punish Saudi Arabia for its illegal military
interventions and air strikes in Yemen under the allegations of fighting the Houthi, while it is
continuously destroying hospitals, schools and isn’t complying with the basic rules of the International
Humanitarian Law (IHL). Instead, UN surrendered to the political pressure of United States and United
Kingdom, and to the threats of Saudi Arabia to cut its financial assistance and funds to UN and its
programs, and consequently UN stood with hands folded in solving the biggest and most dangerous
humanitarian crisis after the Second World War 224.
Last but not least, United Nations committed a dangerous mistake during the events of the civil war.
When the Security Council released the resolution 2216 225 to authorize the military interventions of
Saudi – Arab alliance in Yemen to combat the Houthi extremism and terrorism there, it contained two
dangerous political faults. Firstly, it authorized it without ensuring an effective mechanism to protect
the human and civil rights there. Secondly, it addressed only the Houthi insurgents regarding the
enforcement of the resolution and the imposition of sanctions, but it did not address the former
president who was allying with them. As a consequence, this helped in escalating the conflict,
220
Nasser, Afrah. “The Unfolding UN Failure in the Yemen War.” Atlanticcouncil.Org, Atlantic Council
Organization, 21 Sept. 2017, www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-unfolding-un-failure-in-the-
yemen-war/ . Accessed Feb. 2020.
221
“Human Freedom Index.” Cato.Org, Cato Institute, 19 Dec. 2018, www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new
. Accessed Feb. 2020.
222
Smith, Saphora. “Saudis Change Khashogii Story Again, Admit Killing Was ‘Premeditated.’” Nbcnews.Com,
NBC News, 25 Oct. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/saudi-arabia-now-admits-khashoggi-killing-was-
premeditated-n924286 . Accessed Feb. 2020.
223
IBID
224
IBID
225
“Security Council Demands End to Yemen Violence, Adopting Resolution 2216 (2015), with Russian
Federation Abstaining | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org, United Nations: Meetings Coverage
and Press Releases, 2015, www.un.org/press/en/2015/sc11859.doc.htm . Accessed Feb. 2020.
57

worsening the human rights’ violation and deteriorating the infrastructure and the economy there as
well226.
Furthermore, Double standards practised by United Nations and pressured mostly from the United
States can be noticed in many other political and nuclear crises in other countries and in the imposition
of sanctions by the Security Council. To begin with, both United Nations and United States imposed
economic sanctions of about more than 120 billion dollars on Iran for its nuclear program that it always
insisted on developing it. These sanctions were definitely harming Iran’s economy, population, and
promoting the international isolation of Iran. Moreover, these harsh sanctions adversely affected the
ability of Iranian authorities to flourish the Iranian economy or take the necessary measures to contain
the new disease known as COVID-19 resulting from the widespread of the Corona virus nowadays and
resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries. On the other hand, United Nations didn’t condemn
anything concerning the nuclear weapons of Israel. Both the United Nations and the International
Atomic Energy Agency didn't want to investigate the acquisition of nuclear bombs and missiles by
Israel and they didn't inform the world about the Israeli real nuclear power or the location of its nuclear
reactors. This badly proved the duality of standards that UN did, as if the powerful countries only have
the right to acquire nuclear weapons or nuclear power, while the Arab or Islamic countries are not
allowed from this right to defend themselves or their populations or to improve their productivity and
flourish their economies227.
Moreover, it is worthy to keep in mind that aforementioned Iraqi case represents the most observable
example revealing the practised double standards. When the Security Council allowed for the Oil for
Food Program (OFFP) which is imposed on Iraq in 1996 after the Gulf war, it completely deteriorated
the economic and social affairs in Iraq till the American invasion in September 2003, despite the
silence and ignorance of UN and the Big Five towards other countries which also committed illegal
military interventions and invasions in other countries in the past228.
Last but not least, the aforementioned Palestinian case remains the most difficult contemporary case in
the world. The Palestinian case is the richest case in many examples in which resolutions blocked by
Veto power of the Big Five 229 and double standards practised by the United Nations and particularly
the United States are very obvious and frustrating. Beginning from the declaration of Jerusalem as the
226
IBID
227
Umaya Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, www.umayya.org
228
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229
They were mentioned in the aforementioned chapter of Veto Power and particularly the sub-section of Veto
power in the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian crises.
58

permanent capital of Israel in December 2017, to the inauguration of the American embassy in
Jerusalem as the first diplomatic mission to be relocated and established there in May 2018, and finally
to Trump’s declaration of the Peace Plan between the Israelis and the Palestinians in January 2020. All
of these steps were followed by sessions in Security Council and emergent sessions in the General
Assembly, as well as draft resolutions proposed by non-permanent members in the Security Council to
urge Israel to stop its aggressions and protect the Palestinians. Unfortunately, all of these resolutions
were blocked by vetoes and all of these sessions ended with indecisive actions and continuous
arrogance from both the United States and Israel, in a complete silence and double standards from the
United Nations. All of these actions committed by United States and Israel in the Palestinian case
recently strongly contradict with the rules of international law and the international conventions, but
United Nations in general and Security Council in particular did not perform their jobs in preserving
international peace and security and ensuring the compliance of the member countries with the
international law and conventions, as a result of being vulnerable and influenced by the political and
financial pressure from the United States and other permanent members.
The illegal decisions and declarations of Trump were crowned with the recent Peace Plan that Trump
proposed. This plan230 clearly gave Israel the complete sovereignty and control of many regions in
Palestine and Jerusalem, with total breach to international law and conventions. It reaffirmed the Israeli
control on Jerusalem, which was supposed to be the capital of Palestine not Israel, as well as the West
Bank and the Jordon Valley, with pertaining all the illegal settlements that Israel kept on building
throughout the past decades. This plan was rejected by the Palestinian Liberty Organization and the
Palestinian President. In spite of that, United Nations did not even condemn this defacto plan or
condemn the American and Israeli breaching to the international laws. All of the actions and peace
plans proposed by the United States are totally illegal and threaten international peace and security in
the Middle East and may ignite the flames of a religious war there, while these lands should only be
under the control of the national leadership, not under the control of a foreign western country or
military conquer of a terrorist country.
An important piece of information that should be beared in mind is that the main reasons behind the
US’s control of UN are that the land on which the UN building was built is owned to one of the most
important Millionaire families in America, and that USA is the largest spender on its programs and
agencies. USA is the main reason behind the biasedeness and duality of standards of the UN. USA has
230
Zanotti, Jim. “Israel and the Palestinians: U.S. Peace Plan and Possible Israeli Annexation.” Fas.Org,
Congressional Research Service, 30 Jan. 2020, fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/IN11214.pdf. Accessed Feb. 2020.
59

the power of money and the symbolic place that makes it able to force the UN to behave the way that
USA wants231.
B) Problems of Peacekeeping Operations and Budget:

Another dangerous issue which must be incorporated into the criticism regarding the UN work is the
current functioning of the peacekeeping operations. The peacekeeping operations are organised by the
Security Council. They have primary missions to achieve which are to maintain peace and security in
the conflict zones and war areas that the troops are sent to, and to monitor peace and ceasefire.
According to implementation of the resolutions 55/235 and 55/236 released by the General Assembly
regarding the contributions of countries to financing the peacekeeping operations (PKO), table (6)
represents the contributions of the most important member countries in addition to Egypt in funding
the PKO in the year 2020/2021232.
Table (6): Financial contributions to the Peacekeeping Operations in 2020/2021:
Member Country Contribution to the Overall PKO’s Budget
United States of America 27.89%
People’s Republic of China 15.29%
Republic of Japan 8.56%
Federal Republic of Germany 6.09%
United Kingdom of Great Britain and 5.79%

Northern Ireland
Republic of France 5.6%
The Russian Federation 3.04%
Republic of Canada 2.73%
Republic of Egypt 0.037%

Source: UNGA Resolutions 55/235 & 55/236
The responsibility of peacekeepers lies in disarmament, enhancing justice and protection of the harmed
civilians, reinforcing the respect of human rights, and settling the immigrants that lived in refugee
camps on the borders. Moreover, they must be aware of the fundamental basic principles of the
231
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“Implementation of General Assembly Resolutions 55/235 and 55/236 Report of the Secret.” Undocs.Org,
232
United Nations General Assembly, 24 Dec. 2018, undocs.org/en/A/73/350/Add.1. Accessed Feb. 2020.
60

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) which constitutes both the four Geneva Conventions 1949 and
two additional protocols in 1977 regarding the protection of human rights, civilians and environmental
and cultural properties. These principles should be applicable to all the operations which will be
conducted under the control of the United Nations; meaning the Peacekeeping Operations, according to
the Secretary General Bulletin on the observance by the United Nations Forces of the International
Humanitarian Law which was issued in August 1999233.
Furthermore, despite the arbitrage of classifying the peacekeeping operations and the incomplete
consensus among the scientists on these classifications, the peacekeeping operations are basically
divided into four categories according to the degree of their tasks’ complexity. They are ranging from
monitoring and observing missions, to traditional peacekeeping, to peace building and then to peace
enforcement. Generally, monitoring and observing missions and traditional peacekeeping missions
involve reporting any cease-fire violations, disarmament, ending disputes between the warring parties
and the reintegration of the rebellious forces. Peace building represents a deeper and more complicated
task as it involves building institutions, ensuring free and democratic elections and respecting the rule
of law, rebuilding the legislative and judicial branches, and providing humanitarian aid. Last but not
least, peace enforcing is more logistically complex and risky as it involves using military forces to end
the disputes between conflicting parties then post-conflict efforts in rebuilding the national
institutions234.
The troops participating in peacekeeping operations consist of international soldiers and employees
from more than 120 countries. Concurrently, there are thirteen peacekeeping operations working under
the supervision of the United Nations and distributed on different regions in the different world
continents, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Area, Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.
These peacekeeping operations are being monitored and supervised by the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPO) which is monitored by the Secretariat235. Table (7) shows these
concurrent thirteen PKOs, their locations, their starting dates of operations, the total number of
personnel participating in them and their nationalities.
233
“Secretary-General’s Bulletin. Observance by United Nations Forces of International Humanitarian
Law.” Conduct.Unmissions.Org, CONDUCT IN UN FIELD MISSIONS, 6 Aug. 1999,
conduct.unmissions.org/secretary-general%E2%80%99s-bulletin-observance-united-nations-forces-
international-humanitarian-law. Accessed Feb. 2020.
234
Sandler, Todd. “International Peacekeeping Operations.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 61, no. 9, 16
May 2017, pp. 1875–1897, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5603976/ , 10.1177/0022002717708601.
Accessed Feb. 2020.
235
“Where We Operate.” Peacekeeping.Un.Org, United Nations Peacekeeping, 2013,
peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate. Accessed Feb. 2020.
61

Table (7): The Current Peacekeeping Operations in the World:
UN’s Mission Region / Starting Personnel Top Two

Country Date of Total Troop
Operation Number contributors
United Nations Interim Force on Lebanon Lebanon, March 1978 11090 Indonesia &
(UNIFIL) Middle East Italy
United Nations African Union Hybrid Darfur, Sudan, July 2011 9170 Pakistan &
Conflict in Darfur (UNAMID) Africa Rwanda
United Nations Military Observer in India India and January 1949 116 Croatia &
and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) Pakistan, Philippines
Eastern Asia
United Nations Mission for the Western April 1999 431 Bangladesh &
Referendum in Western Sahara Sahara Russian
(MINURSO) Federation
United Nations Mission in the Republic South Sudan, July 2011 19180 Rwanda &
of South Sudan (UNMISS) Africa India
United Nations Interim Security Force for Abbey, South June 2011 4021 Ethiopia
Abbey (UNISFA) Sudan, Africa
United Nations Interim Administration Kosovo, June 1999 348 Czech

Mission in Kosovo (UNIMAK) Europe Republic &
Ukraine
United Nations Organization Stabilization Democratic July 2010 18399 Pakistan &
Mission in the Democratic Republic of Republic of India
Congo (MONUSCO) Congo (DRC),
Africa
United Nations Multidimensional Central African 2014 14708 Rwanda &

Integrated Stabilization Mission in Republic, Pakistan
Central African Republic (MINUSCA) Africa
United Nations Multidimensional Mali, Africa April 2013 15441 Chad &
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali Bangladesh
(MINUSMA)
United Nations Disengagement Observer Golan, Syria, May 1974 1139 Nepal & India
Force (UNDOF) Middle East
United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, March 1964 1009 United

Cyprus (UNFICYP) Mediterranean Kingdom &
Sea Region Argentina
62

United Nations Truce Supervision Middle East May 1948 371 Finland &
Organization (UNTSO) Australia
Source: United Nations Peacekeeping’s Website
Nowadays, these troops suffer from many difficulties and face many challenges. They lack the good
trainings, the effective leadership in the zones to which they are sent, and the military instruments they
need to perform their jobs and carry out their missions efficiently. The safety and security of the
peacekeeping operations remains a sensitive and dangerous issue when the challenges facing the
peacekeepers are brought to discussion. Since one of the most important determinants in the success of
any peacekeeping operation is its military structure and strength, meaning that the mission should have
robust military existence and its participating troops should have the necessary equipment and tools
required to carry out the dangerous and essential tasks to grant peace and security in the conflict zones
they are sent to.
However, this does not go easy in reality due to problems regarding the available equipment and troops
from the concerned member states participating. In addition to the weakness of the United Nations
security system which was badly proved after the terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad
in 2003236. Recommendations were presented in order to strengthen the security system of the
international organizations and these efforts were crystallized with the establishment of the Department
of Safety and Security (DSS) which is governed by the General Assembly in 2004 237.
The current Secretary General admitted that the peacekeepers are not trained to beat terrorism, and
they are not ready for the counterterrorism operations in the areas they are sent to. They are exposed to
a lot of traps, assassinations, and treacherous killings and they became a target for the active terrorists
and insurgents there. Besides the violent threats they face, there are other non- violent threats like
health epidemics and natural disasters which take place mostly in African Countries and the Pacific
area238.
The number of victims subjected to malicious attacks is increasing throughout the years; from 37
murdered in 2012 to 58 murdered in 2013 to 61 in 2014. Although the number of murdered soldiers
decreased after 2015, there are still various security concerns and there are still peacekeepers who got
236
“The Challenges of Peacekeeping in the 21st Century.” Archive.Ipu.Org, Inter-Parliamentary Union, 20 Oct.
2004, archive.ipu.org/splz-e/unga04/peacekeeping.pdf. Accessed Feb. 2020
237
Willmot, Haidi, et al. “Safety and Security Challenges in UN Peace Operations PROVIDING FOR
PEACEKEEPING NO. 10.” Ipinst.Org, International Peace Institute, July 2015, www.ipinst.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/IPI-E-pub-Safety-and-Security-in-Peace-Ops.pdf . Accessed Feb. 2020.
238
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assassinated till January 2020. To illustrate, Antonio Guterres admitted that there were 59 soldiers who
were killed in 2017, which is much bigger than the number of murdered soldiers in 2016 which was
34. There were 130 soldiers who were killed in Mali only in 2013239. Moreover, in December 2017
there were at least fifteen of UN peacekeepers from Tanzania and five soldiers who were killed in
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in addition to injury of 47 persons by an Islamic extremist
group, which Guterres considered a war crime240. It was the worst attack on the peacekeeping
operations ever happened in the modern history of the United Nations in general and in the
peacekeeping operations in particular.
Moreover, in 2018 there were three main peacekeeping missions which witnessed the largest number
of killed peacekeepers from deliberate attacks, out of the total 34 murdered soldiers in the whole year.
The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) had lost
eleven peacekeepers, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (MUNSCO) had lost eight peacekeepers, and the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) had lost seven
peacekeepers241. To summarize, 76% of the total murdered soldiers in 2018 were only in Africa and in
three missions only out of the current thirteen ones located elsewhere. This shows the rising
instabilities, the severity of political conflicts and the major security concerns in the African continent
which threaten and endanger the associated peacekeeping missions there. Recently, twenty soldiers
were wounded in a terrorist rocket attack on their camp in Mali in January 2020242. Guterres confirmed
that other ten soldiers from Chad were killed and this attack was made by the Qaeda insurgents 243.
239
“‫ هناك زيادة ملحوظة في عدد قتلى قوات حفظ السالم‬:‫األمين العام لألمم المتحدة‬.” Sputniknews.Com, Arabic Sputnik, 28 Mar.
2018, arabic.sputniknews.com/world/201803281031145382-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%85-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85-
%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AD%D9%81%D8%B8-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85/. Accessed Feb. 2020.
240
“At Least 71 United Nations, Associated Personnel Killed in Malicious Attacks against Peacekeeping
Operations during 2017 | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org, United Nations: Meetings Coverage
and Press Releases, 26 Jan. 2018, www.un.org/press/en/2018/org1663.doc.htm . Accessed Feb. 2020.
241
“At Least 34 United Nations, Associated Personnel Killed in Malicious Attacks against Peacekeeping
and Press Releases, 1 Feb. 2019, www.un.org/press/en/2019/org1684.doc.htm . Accessed Feb. 2020.
242
“20 People, Including UN Peacekeepers, Injured in Rocket Attack on Mali.” Nation.Com.Pk, THE NATION,
9 Jan. 2020, nation.com.pk/09-Jan-2020/20-people-including-un-peacekeepers-injured-in-rocket-attack-on-mali.
Accessed Feb. 2020.
243
“Peacekeepers Killed in Attack on UN Northern Mali Base.” France24.Com, France24, 20 Jan. 2019,
www.france24.com/en/20190120-un-peacekeepers-killed-attack-northern-mali-base-islamist-militants-united-
nations . Accessed Feb. 2020.
64

These numbers are added to the total number of victims, either wounded or dead, that the MINUSMA
witnessed since its establishment in 2013.
Besides the safety and security problems, there is another dangerous and crucial problem which is
funding the peacekeeping operations. These operations were subjected to a lot of disputes between the
member states regarding their financial contributions to them. There is a strong link between the
aforementioned financial crisis that United Nations faces nowadays and the financial crisis that
peacekeeping operations face. If United Nations did not get the necessary funds from all the member
states on their due date by the end of the year, without any delays from any member country other than
reasons related to economic problems or wars, it will not obtain the necessary funds to finance the
peacekeeping operations so that they can be performed in an appropriate way and maintain
international peace and security as supposed to be achieved. In this situation, the organization will be
forced to reduce spending on these troops which will dramatically affect the sustainability,
effectiveness and success of the current peacekeeping missions. Figure (1) shows the debts that UN
owes to the top ten troop contributors from the member countries.
Figure (1): Debts owed by UN to the Top Ten Troop Contributors:
Source: UN Secretariat
In addition, when a country deploys peacekeepers in a specific mission, it signs an agreement with the
UN which encompasses the number of personnel and contingent equipments that will be devoted to
such a mission and in return UN pays a rate of reimbursement to each participating soldier in a
mission. This reimbursement rate is estimated to be $1428 for each peacekeeper monthly, which
constitutes about $ 17136 for each personnel annually. Therefore, when the United Nations has cash
flow problems and financial crisis in its regular budget or in its peacekeeping budget, it will not be able
65

to pay the reimbursement rates to the peacekeepers in their due dates, but instead pay it lately or
accumulate them on different periods, which may lead to the abundance and withdrawal of these
personnel from participating in these missions as well as the withdrawal of their member countries. To
illustrate, Rwanda withdrew one of its troop contingents participating in the United Nations
Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA)
because it did not receive the reimbursement rates from the UN. By the end of 2018, United Nations
did not pay an amount of reimbursements that reached 255 million dollars to missions in different
countries244.
Besides that, the American arrogance plays an important role in the escalation of the financial crisis, as
Trump administration decided to cut spending on the United Nations in general and the peacekeeping
operations and UNRWA in particular. He decided to cut 787 million dollars from the budget of
peacekeeping operations, 522 million dollars from the regular budget of the United Nations, and 364
million dollars from the humanitarian activities of the UN and human rights programs 245. Since the
United States is the largest financial contributor to the peacekeeping operations, so the withdrawal of
such a significant amount (787 million dollars) will create a catastrophic effect on the financial
situation and effectiveness of these operations. It has been agreed on by many international experts and
research institutes that United States turned its financial contribution into a political tool rather than a
budgetary tool. It turned it into a weapon that threatens the United Nations if its decisions did not
comply with the American will or did not please the Israeli ally 246. Eventually, the annual budget of
PKOs is decreasing year over year. In 2018, it was about $7.07 billion, while it has been set to be only
$6.05 billion for the year 2019/2020247, thus recording a decline of a whole $billion.
Furthermore, despite the complicated, risky and curious tasks that the peacekeepers carry out in the
conflict zones in order to enforce the mandates of the Security Council and enhance the international
peace and security, there were some allegations of committing immoral crimes while performing their
jobs in their missions. A lot of international reports from international organizations, including the
244
“Financing UN Peacekeeping: Avoiding Another Crisis.” Ipinst.Org, International Peace Institute, Apr. 2019,
www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/1904_Financing-UN-Peacekeeping.pdf . Accessed Feb. 2020.
245
EMMA, CAITLIN. “Trump Administration Mulls $4.3B in Foreign Aid Cuts.” Politico.Com, POLITICO, 15
Aug. 2019, www.politico.com/story/2019/08/15/trump-administration-43-billion-foreign-aid-cuts-1666066 .
Accessed Feb. 2020.
246
IBID
“Fifth Committee Approves $6.51 Billion for 13 Peacekeeping Operations in 2019/20, Joint Management of
247
Active Missions’ Cash Balances, as Resumed Session Ends | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org,
United Nations: Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, 3 July 2019,
www.un.org/press/en/2019/gaab4328.doc.htm . Accessed Feb. 2020.
66

Amnesty International, revealed a lot of crimes and non-humanitarian actions committed by the
participating soldiers there. In addition, United Nations itself reported dozens of allegations committed
by the peacekeepers in the last two years. For instance, the Associated Press agency revealed more
than 2000 allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation that were done by the peacekeepers during
the last twelve years, and only a small portion of these allegations had been met with imprisonment of
the charged soldiers248. In September 2017, there were 90 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse,
mostly took place in the United Nations Multidimensional Stabilizations missions in Central African
Republic, Sudan (DARFUR) and Mali, and fact finders mentioned that policemen made interviews
with the victims while United Nations didn’t even do this or investigate the committed violations 249.
Moreover, there were a lot of sexual misconducts and sex trafficking that happened in which the
peacekeepers forced women and young girls to do sexual favours for them and sexually harass them in
exchange for money, soap and food. These mass human rights’ violations took place by the
peacekeepers and aid workers in a lot of African countries like DRC, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Liberia,
Guinea, and Burundi as well as others like Haiti, Bosnia, Cambodia and Kosovo 250.
The General Assembly issued a resolution in March 2017 regarding the Zero-Tolerance policy on
sexual abuse and exploitation. This resolution clearly urged the countries to take the sexual
exploitation actions more seriously by investigating them and punishing the convicted peacekeepers as
well as taking effective measures in combating these immoral actions and ensuring the accountability
and credibility of the peacekeeping operations in particular and the United Nations in general251.
Nevertheless, the number of allegations continued to increase since that time till the end of 2019 and
only small portion of the convicted persons were punished, after three whole years of the
implementation of the Zero-Tolerance Resolution. Furthermore, the sexual exploitations were not only
248
UN Peacekeepers Timeline.” Crin.Org, Child Rights International Network, home.crin.org/un-peacekeepers-
timeline. Accessed Feb. 2020
249
“CONFIDENTIAL: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Case Files, MINUSCA.” Codebluecampaign.Com,
CodeBlue, 13 Sept. 2017, www.codebluecampaign.com/press-releases/2017/9/13-
2?utm_source=Code+Blue+Campaign&utm_campaign=ae483ec112-Code+Blue+Case+Files+-
+CB&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_16d281eeb1-ae483ec112-
%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&ct=t%28Code+Blue+Case+Files+-+CB%29&goal=0_16d281eeb1-ae483ec112-
%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D . Accessed Feb. 2020.
250
Uddin, Md. Kamal. “Human Rights Violations by Un Peacekeepers.” Security and Human Rights, vol. 25,
no. 1, 14 Jan. 2014, pp. 130–144,
www.researchgate.net/publication/276238199_Human_Rights_Violations_by_un_Peacekeepers ,
10.1163/18750230-02501006. Accessed 15 Feb. 2020
“United Nations Action on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.” Undocs.Org, United Nations General Assembly, 8
251
Mar. 2017, undocs.org/A/71/L.59. Accessed Feb. 2020.
67

reported in the peacekeeping operations only, but they did also exist in other agencies, funds and
programmes. The United Nations deputy spokesperson declared that 70 allegations were reported
across all the entities of the organization, of which 18 were in PKOs and 25 in other agencies and
programmes252.
This contributed to the destruction of the international reputation of the United Nations in the
developing and third world countries, as the peacekeeping operations who were supposed to protect the
human rights and the civilians from the terrorist attacks of third parties and help to end the political or
military conflicts and assist the national authorities in rebuilding the institutions are actually harming
these civilians and increase their suffering. This smashed the positive image that peacekeeping
operations in particular and United Nations in general is supposed to have with the world populations.
Proposals for Reform of the United Nations:

From the aforementioned political, structural and institutional problems and imbalances existing in
UN, the United Nations had become very weak and overburdened with problems. This drew the
attention of the presidents of powerful countries and international experts in many global meetings and
international conferences. There were many suggestions and proposals recommended and presented by
some member countries, some former secretary generals, some presidents and prime ministers, and
were called for by some steam judges of international law and experts in international organizations, in
order to begin a structural reform for the international organization. Most of these suggestions called
for some modifications and changes that ought to be done in the charter in order to improve the
performance and enhance the integrity, objectivity, effectiveness and unbiasedness of the United
Nations while carrying out its missions. These proposals and recommendations were submitted
regarding the membership and the reform of the Security Council, the usage of veto power, the
regional representation of countries, and making some amendments in the charter, but basically, most
of the proposals focused on reforming the Security Council and its internal politics.
A) Proposals submitted since 1979 till the Arab Spring 2011:

Firstly, the proposals submitted regarding the reform of the Security Council began since the end of the
20th century. To exemplify, in 1979, the question of equitable representation in the Security Council
was listed on the agenda of the General Assembly on a request of a group of member developing
252
“UN Receives 70 New Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Three
Months.” Peacekeeping.Un.Org, United Nations Peacekeeping, 30 July 2018, peacekeeping.un.org/en/un-
news/un-receives-70-new-allegations-of-sexual-exploitation-and-abuse-three-months. Accessed Feb. 2020.
68

countries including Algeria, Argentina, India, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Guyana
and Sri Lanka. Consequently, the General Assembly issued the resolution (48/26)253 which aimed to
establish (Open-Ending Working Group, OEWG) regarding the fair representation as well as other
issues related to the Security Council in December 1993, from which the formal and informal debates
began to discuss that topic254. Its first meeting was held on January 1994, and later in September 2008
the General Assembly issued the resolution (62/557) which allowed for the establishment of
Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on the reform of the Security Council in the informal plenary.
These negotiations shall focus on five main areas which are categories of membership, question of the
veto, the regional representation, size of the Security Council, and the relation between Security
Council and the General Assembly255.
In addition, when reforming the Security Council is mentioned, the efforts of the former Secretary
General Kofi Anan cannot be ignored. In 2003, Kofi Anan created the High Level Panel on the
Threats, Challenges, and Change (HLP) to look into the expansion of the Security Council with or
without the acquiring of veto. In December 2003, the panel which was composed of 16 members
issued a report called “A More Secured World; Our Shared Responsibility” in which they introduced a
two-model solution for the membership problem of the Security Council. The report classified these
two models into model A and model B. Model A includes creating six new permanent seats without
acquiring veto power, along with other three additional non- permanent seats. This will make the new
total number of the member countries in the Security Council, in addition to the existing ones, rises to
twenty four seats. Model B will create eight seats which will be renewed each four years, in addition to
one non-permanent seat. Thus the two models will eventually result in the same new total number of
seats but with different initial structures. Finally, Anan wrote a comprehensive report called “A Larger
Freedom” depending on the recommendations mentioned by HLP concerning the reform of the
.“Question
253
on Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security
Council.” Worldlii.Org, United Nations General Assembly, 29 Nov. 1993,
www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGA/1993/48.pdf . Accessed Feb. 2020.
254
“Monthly Forecast.” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, 29 Aug. 2019,
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2019_09_forecast.pdf . Accessed Mar. 2020.
255
“REVISED ELEMENTS OF COMMONALITY AND ISSUES FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION on the
Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Related
Matters.” Un.Org, United Nations General Assembly, 14 June 2018, www.un.org/pga/72/wp-
content/uploads/sites/51/2018/06/pga-letter-ign.pdf . Accessed Mar. 2020.
69

Security Council. Unfortunately, this proposal did not find wide support among the member countries
of the Council256.
The year 2005 witnessed a lot of significant steps that were taken by a lot of countries to suggest
effective reforms to the United Nations. To begin with, Germany co-founded a draft resolution with
other three countries; Japan, Brazil and India (G4); to reform the Security Council. The draft resolution
of the G4 demanded adding six permanent seats for Africa, Asia, Western Europe and the Caribbean
Group, and adding other four non- permanent seats for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific,
and the eastern European countries. The resolution was a vital step towards the inclusion of more
developing countries into the framework of the Council and adapting it to the concurrent geopolitical
situation257. However, this resolution wasn’t discussed by the Council and in 2019 the German
representative criticized the procrastination of the Council in discussing these reform resolutions and
its failure in encouraging the multilateralism in decision making while its only achievements recently
appeared in blocking crucial and promising draft resolutions 258.
Whenever the G4 resolution is mentioned, it is essential to mention the successful steps and efforts that
those four countries exerted in their relation with United Nations. Firstly, Brazil was participating in
more than 30 peacekeeping operations and it was one of the top financial contributors to them, besides
being the leader of military component of UN stabilization mission in Haiti which was created in 2004
and also the mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Also it was assessed as the sixth contributor to UN regular
budget from 2016 to 2018. Secondly, Japan had had a prominent role in the field of nuclear
disarmament and non proliferation of nuclear weapons as it submitted a lot of draft resolutions
regarding this issue to the General Assembly since 1994 and they had been passed with great support.
In addition, its financial contributions cannot be forgotten as they actually exceed those of the four
permanent members of the Security Council excluding the United States. Besides that, it was a major
caller for human development, assisting refugees, contributing to ending conflicts and peace building.
Thirdly, Germany had been the third contributor to UN’s regular budget and it was also a significant
proponent for human rights protection and eliminating poverty and it has been a party in each UN
convention or treaty tackling the human rights. Germany was also a major contributor to the
256
Benoit, Christopher. “Reform of Security Council Membership, Voting and Procedures.” Odu.Edu, Old
Dominion University Model United Nations Society, 2018,
www.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/offices/mun/2018/ib-security-council-reform.pdf . Accessed Mar. 2020.
257
Amt, Auswärtiges. “Reform of the United Nations Security Council – Questions and Answers.” Auswaertiges-
Amt.De, German Federal Foreign Office, www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/internationale-
organisationen/vereintenationen/reformsr-fragen/231618 . Accessed Mar. 2020.
258
IBID
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establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and was a strong supporter to the idea of
Responsibility to Protect (R2P). it enjoys a moral economic and political power in Europe and the
areas of UN peacekeeping, delivering humanitarian aid, supporting sustainable development and
protection of human rights were highly regarded in the German politics. Finally, India had been a
major supplier of humanitarian aid to a lot of developing and poor countries in Asia and Latin America
and it has contributed by 12% of the world development and humanitarian assistance. In addition, its
strong humanitarian role and influence in the fields of peace, security and aid delivery make it strongly
eligible to be a potential player in promoting the effectiveness of the Security Council259.
On the contrary, a group of countries called Uniting for Consensus (UfC) objected the proposals made
by G4 in the same year. These countries were basically Argentina, Mexico, Kenya, Italy, Spain,
Pakistan, Colombia and South Korea. These countries were joined later by other countries in addition
to the representative of the Arab League, and in other words this group was named the ‘Coffee Club’.
Their resolution contained two models, Model Green and Model Blue. Model Green simply requested
increasing the members of the Security Council to twenty five members without adding any permanent
members, so this is quite different from that proposed by G4. They suggested doubling the non-
permanent seats to be twenty instead of ten with leaving the five permanent members as they are
without any additions, as they were totally against widening the permanent membership in the Council.
Whilst Model Blue suggested adding a new group of non- permanent members who shall be elected
each 3 to 4 years, instead of two as mentioned in the charter260.
In April 2009, Italy and Colombia being the representatives of the UfC presented a new version of the
reform which called for allocating specific number of seats for regional groups on a particular basis, in
an attempt to create a more democratic, accountable and effective Security Council 261. Last but not
least, the ministers of foreign affairs of the countries participating in UfC held a meeting in September
2019 in which they reiterated the need for a general structural reform in the organization in general and
259
“The UN Security Council; Time to Reform.” Academia.Edu, European Foundation for South Asian Studies,
Feb. 2018, www.academia.edu/37303270/The_UN_Security_Council_Time_to_Reform?email_work_card=title
. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.
260
“The ‘Coffee Club’ Proposal.” Electthecouncil.Org, Elect The Council, electthecouncil.org/timeline-
post/the-coffee-club-proposal/. Accessed Mar. 2020.
261
Lee, Seryon. “The Feasibility of Reforming the UN Security Council: Too Much Talk, Too Little
Action?” Journal of East Asia and International Law, vol. 4, no. 2, 30 Nov. 2011, pp. 405–418,
www.journal.yiil.org/home/pdf/publications/2011_4_2_pdf/jeail_v4n2_07.pdf,10.14330/jeail.2011.4.2.07.
71

the Security Council in particular by expanding its membership to enhance its integrity, effectiveness,
democracy, transparency and accountability262.
In addition, the “Common African Position on the Proposed Reform of the United Nations” was
adopted by the African Union in March 2005 in stress on the recommendations presented in the High
Level Panel (HLP), in which the Union reached out a consensus called the “Ezulwini Consensus”. The
African consensus figured out some structural changes that ought to be done in the United Nations and
more particularly in the Security Council. The consensus pointed out the importance of having not less
than two permanent seats for the African countries with acquiring all the privileges of veto and others
that the permanent members enjoy, in addition to having other five non- permanent seats.
The consensus agreed that the African Union should be responsible for the African representatives in
the Security Council and also responsible for determining the criteria on which those African
representatives will be chosen, taking into account the representative nature and capacity of the chosen
African countries263. Furthermore, the consensus came out with recommendations regarding structural
changes in other organs of the organization like General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Secretariat 264.
Regarding the General Assembly, the African Union ensured the necessity of enhancing the
effectiveness of the Assembly through preserving its intergovernmental structure to ensure its being a
forum for intergovernmental dialogue. The Union insisted also on creating a more efficient and
accountable secretariat and cancelling the position of a second deputy secretary general to save costs
and prevent the occurrence of more bureaucracy. It also reiterated having more expanded and
universalized Human Rights Council and widening its jurisdictions to monitor also economic, social
and cultural issues in addition to humanitarian and political crises. Last but not least, it suggested
expanding the ECOSOC duties and strengthening its rule in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals and economic development.
Continuing the intentions and efforts of countries for a better future for the international organization,
Italy proposed a resolution called the Italian Regional Model. The model simply requests the same as
the previous aforementioned draft resolutions submitted by other countries and Secretary Generals
262
“Press Release - ‘Uniting for Consensus.’” Italyun.Esteri.It, Rappresentanza Permanente Onu - New York,
26 Sept. 2019, italyun.esteri.it/rappresentanza_onu/en/comunicazione/archivio-news/2019/09/comunicato-
stampa-uniting-for-consensus.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.
263
“Common African Position on Security Council Reform.” Globalpolicy.Org, Global Policy Forum, 9 Mar.
2005, www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/security-council-reform/41201.html . Accessed 11 Mar. 2020.
264
“THE COMMON AFRICAN POSITION ON THE PROPOSED REFORM OF THE UNITED
NATIONS: !THE EZULWINI CONSENSUS/.” Un.Org, African Union, 8 Mar. 2005,
www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/au/cap_screform_2005.pdf . Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.
72

regarding increasing the number of permanent and non-permanent seats of the Security Council. The
significant difference is that the new additional seats shall be devoted to regions instead of specific
countries. The permanent and non- permanent seats will be representing the African, Asian, Latin
American, Eastern Europe and Western European regions, rather than specific African, Asian, Latin
American or European countries. Moreover, each region shall have sort of operational management on
these new assigned seats.
Last but not least, in 2007 a group named (L.69 Group) encompassed 25 member countries proposed a
draft resolution to the General Assembly in which they suggested widening the permanent and non-
permanent membership in the Security Council by adding six permanent seats for the different
continents and one non-permanent seat representing the Small Island Developing Countries (SIDCs).
However, this draft resolution wasn’t brought to a session for discussion and voting since then 265.
In addition to proposals suggested from a single country or a group of countries on reforming the
Security Council, a lot of prominent academics and professors participated in formatting restructural
plans for UNSC. Among them were Professor Louis Sohn266 in 1992, Joseph E. Schwartzberg in 2004,
Professor Walter Hoffman in 2005 and 2006, and Professor Richard Hartwig in 2008. The most
significant of them is the Regional/ Economic Proposal (REP) which was suggested by Hartwig267.
This pragmatic model classified the Security Council into ten basic geographical regions and each will
be supervised by an anchor country or a group of co-anchor countries. Only one country representing a
region is allowed to vote if it is supported by other countries which represent 60% of its the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) measured in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), and their populations represent
60% of its population, in a famous rule known as the *60/60 rule*. In addition, the region whose GDP
exceeds 18% of the combined GDPs of the ten regions will be granted two seats268.
Secondly regarding the veto power, this issue has been debatable and discussed by many countries and
presidents since the beginning of the 20th century. To exemplify, in 2000 the Canadian government
released the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) which aimed to
urge the permanent countries to refrain from using veto power in situations where their national
265
IBID
266
Professor Louis Sohn: The previous president of the American Society of International Law.
267
Richard Hartwig: The previous chair of the Political Science Department in Texas University in Kingsville.
He was a visiting fellow in the School of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts of the Australian National
University in Canberra. Retrieved from: Hartwig, Richard, et al. “The Quest for Regional Representation
Reforming the United Nations Security Council Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Occasional Paper Series
No.4.” Daghammarskjold.Se, May 2008, www.daghammarskjold.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cc4_web.pdf .
268
IBID
73

political interests are not involved and in the cases tackling mass atrocities, genocides, and large-scale
ethical cleansings269. In its released report in December 2001, it established a very important concept
called the Responsibility to Protect (RTP)270 of the permanent member countries, and this concept had
been stressed by the World leaders in the World Summit in 2005.
Moreover, in 2005 a group called the small five (S5) which encompassed Jordon, Costa Rica,
Singapore, Switzerland and Liechtenstein was established. They suggested that any permanent country
which would use veto has to justify why it used it and to what extent this veto will comply with the
international interests, international law and UN’s charter, and these justifications shall be represented
in a document and handed to the United Nations. S5 had the same target as ICISS which was
demanding the permanent countries not to use veto in mass atrocities’ situations. However, when the
proposals of S5 were presented in the General Assembly resolution (A/66/L.42) in May 2012271, they
were withdrawn and blocked by the permanent countries. Despite their withdrawal, their suggestions
were taken into consideration a year later by the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group
(ACT)272.
Apart from reforming Security Council and veto power, recommendations in the World Summit 2005
suggested updating the UN’s charter by removing the Trusteeship Council and the Military Staff
269
“The Veto.” Securitycouncilreport.Org, United Nations Security Council, 19 Oct. 2015,
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/research_report_3_the_veto_2015.pdf . Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.
270
Responsibility to Protect (RTP):if a national government failed to protect its civilians from mass atrocities,
and basically genocides, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethical cleansings, the international community
is required to intervene in order to defend those civilians. It was passed unanimously by the United Nations when
it was discussed in the High- Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly in the World Summit Outcome in
2005. Retrieved from: “The UN and RtoP.” Responsibilitytoprotect.Org, International Coalition for the
Responsibility to Protect, 2017, www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/about-rtop/the-un-and-rtop .
271
“Enhancing the Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness of the Security Council.” Undocs.Org,
United Nations General Assembly, 15 May 2012, undocs.org/en/a/66/l.42/rev.2. Accessed Mar. 2020.
272
Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group (ACT): it comprises 23 countries representing
different continents in the world. They are Austria, Chile, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Sweden, Jordan, Ireland,
Hungary, Ghana, Maldives, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Uruguay,
Slovenia, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Estonia, Gabon and Liechtenstein. Switzerland is the coordination of the group.
Retrieved from: “The Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group - Better Working Methods for Today’s
UN Security Council.” Eda.Admin.Ch, Oct. 2014, www.eda.admin.ch/dam/mission-new-york/en/speeches-to-the-
un/20141001-new-york-factsheet-accountability-coherence-transparency_EN.pdf . Accessed Mar. 2020.
74

Committee from the jurisdictions of the charter as they are considered obsolete and out of action
recently273.
B) Proposals submitted after the Arab Spring’s Revolutions in 2011:

The number of proposals submitted regarding the structural reform of the Council increased since the
beginning of the events of the Arab Spring and demonstrations began by the Arab populations against
tyranny and corruption of the ruling political regimes.
In 2012, the former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, was actively asking for a structural and
immediate reform in the Security Council’s membership. He was supporting the African proposals to
include two representative permanent African seats in the Council. Moreover, he criticized the
structure of the Council in General Assembly annual meeting in September 2012 saying that the
international community ignored the aspirations of the fifty-four African countries for a very long time,
describing the non- permanent representation of African countries in the Council as a sort of bad
governance, dictatorship and historical injustice 274. In 2013 the French president, Francois Holland,
suggested eliminating using veto power by the permanent countries in the cases of human rights’
violations or mass atrocities or genocides happening in some countries. He pointed out that the
permanent members shall be voluntarily refraining from overusing this power in the cases presented in
the Security Council275. Moreover, this suggestion represented the first to be discussed by a permanent
member voluntarily, in a purpose to ensure international peace and security and not to block it by
abuse of veto power. This proposal was supported by 104 countries and was presented in the Council
to be voted on but it was vetoed by the Russian delegation. Moreover, both France and Mexico went
through negotiations to prepare a political declaration which calls for abandoning veto in cases
regarding mass atrocities and it was open to added recommendations from the member states. Both
declared that 80 member countries supported it 276.
273
“IN LARGER FREEDOM: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All Executive Summary
Introduction: A Historic Opportunity in 2005.” Un.Org, United Nations General Assembly, 2005,
www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/larger_freedom_exec_summary.pdf . Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
274
“President Robert Mugabe Remembered as an Advocate for UN Security Council Reform | Africa Faith and
Justice Network.” Afjn.Org, African Faith & Justice Network, 6 Sept. 2019, afjn.org/president-robert-mugabe-
remembered-as-an-advocate-for-un-security-council-reform/. Accessed Mar. 2020
275
“5 Things to Know about France and the Veto Power.” Delegfrance.Org, Permanent Mission of France to the
United Nations in New York, 12 Spring 2019, onu.delegfrance.org/5-things-to-know-about-France-and-the-veto-
power. Accessed Mar. 2020.
276
IBID
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In addition, the ACT group created a code of conduct in May 2015 which called the permanent
members of the Security Council for not blocking credible resolutions regarding the genocides and war
crimes. In October 2015, ACT announced that the code of conduct was backed by 56 countries in a
presentation made at the ministerial level in UN headquarters in New York and later on this number
increased to 78 states277. Meanwhile in the same year, a proposal was made by a group of world
leaders called the “Elders”. They consist of former presidents and Nobel Laureates of Federative
Republic of Brazil, Liberia, Chile, Norway, Colombia, Mexico, Finland, and United States278, as well
as former effective secretary generals like Kofi Anan and Ban Ki-Moon. The Elders urged the Council
to not to use Veto in cases related to mass atrocities, as supposed above279.
Although there are slight differences between the ACT, French initiative and the Elders’ proposal, the
main similarity among them is that they emerged at nearly the same time after the shameful and
significant failure of the Security Council in addressing the Syrian civil war and failing to put decisive
and credible resolutions to solve the humanitarian and political crisis there because of the abuse of the
permanent countries to the Veto power they acquire. In conclusion, all of them have the same objective
which is creating a more credible Security Council by refraining from using veto in mass atrocities,
war crimes, genocides, ethical cleansings and crimes against humanity situations.
Furthermore, Turkey was one of the prominent countries which called for an urgent reform in the
membership of the Security Council. The Turkish President Receb Tayeb Erdogan in 2018 called for
increasing the number of members in Security Council to twenty and launched a campaign called “the
World is greater than five” as a sort of criticizing the Security Council structure and framework280.
Moreover, he urged to reform the United Nations organization and not to give a chance to the United
States to undermine the liberal international system.
In 2019, the voices for reforming the Security Council have been raised mostly by the Arab and
African countries. For instance, the representative of Sierra Leone called for creating two permanent
seats and five non-permanent seats for the African Countries, justifying that the African Continent is
the only continent in the world which is non-represented by permanent seats and also much
277
IBID
278
Ellen Johnson, the former president of Liberia, Juan Manuel; the former minister of Colombia, Marti Ahtissari;
the former president of Finland, and Kofi Anan; the former secretary general of the United Nations were Nobel
Laureates. Retrieved from: “Who We Are.” Theelders.Org, The Elders, 8 Mar. 2019, theelders.org/who-we-are.
Accessed Mar. 2020.
279
IBID
280
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “How to Fix the U.N.—and Why We Should.” Foreignpolicy.Com, Foreign Policy,
26 Sept. 2018, foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/26/how-to-fix-the-u-n-and-why-we-should/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2020.
76

underrepresented by the non- permanent seats. He declared that this reform shall be a sort of redressing
the historical injustice that Africa suffered from since the establishment of the Security Council in
1945. These demands had been reinforced by the Libyan representative who revealed that most of the
current work of the United Nations tackles the African Continent, like the political conflict in Libya,
the Sudanese crisis, the Somali crisis, and the peacekeeping multidimensional integrated stabilization
missions in Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, South Sudan and the Central African
Republic. It seems illogical to have all these operations which matter for the African Continent
controlled by the United Nations while not having a single representative African country in the
Council, either in the permanent or the non- permanent category. In a previous support to these calls, in
November 2018 the Egyptian representative also reassured the importance of having two
representative permanent seats for the African Countries as well as other five representative non-
permanent seats. He called for abolishing the African historical injustice in the Security Council and
ensuring an equitable representation to the world countries 281.
Moreover, the representative of Kuwait suggested having a permanent seat for the Arab world, as most
of the political conflicts in the world are happening currently in the Arab region, like the Syrian civil
war, the Iraqi crisis, the Sudanese crisis, the instability in Lebanon, the civil war and the humanitarian
crisis in Yemen, and the Iranian intervention in the affairs of the Gulf states like Bahrain and Kuwait,
as well as the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Yemen. In addition, the delegate of Grenada
urged for having a seat which represents the small island developing countries, seeing that they are the
most vulnerable and sensitive to such an attention and representation from the Security Council 282.
Other proposals called for the essentiality of implement-ability of the general assembly decisions or
recommendations, since they are approved by substantive majority and they represent an international
democracy that should be respected and considered and not to fall because of veto or objection of some
permanent countries. Last but not least, some called for strengthening the media role of United Nations
and others called for the essential ICJ legitimate and judiciary supervision of Security Council.
281
“Egypt Calls for Allocating 2 African Seats in UN Security Council.” Egyptindependent.Com, Egypt
Independent, 22 Nov. 2018, egyptindependent.com/egypt-calls-for-allocating-2-african-seats-in-un-security-
council/. Accessed Mar. 2020.
282
“Security Council Must Expand, Adapt to Current Realities or Risk Losing Legitimacy, Delegates Tell General
Assembly amid Proposals for Reform | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” Un.Org, United Nations:
Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, 25 Nov. 2019, www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12217.doc.htm . Accessed
13 Mar. 2020.
77

C) Feasibility of Implementation of UN/SC Reform’s Draft Resolutions:
All these proposals and draft resolutions were submitted and suggested by a lot of countries and
scholars, in an attempt to modify the organization and make it more consistent with the political
realities of the twenty first century. Nevertheless, there was a considerable debate about the feasibility
of implementing those proposals and resolutions. There are many factors that generated the difficulty
of taking these proposals into action. Some of these factors are attributed to historical disputes between
the member countries which may lead to non-consensus status on selection of some countries to
acquire permanent seats. Others were attributed to the degree of legitimacy of implementing these
resolutions as a result of presence of holes in the charter. Others related to division among the member
states about whether to expand the Council or remain its seats as they are. Besides that, there are
constitutional challenges regarding the implementation of any reform process in the organization.
These factors will be tackled in the following paragraphs.
Firstly, there shall be problems when it comes to voting of countries on the selection of new permanent
or non-permanent members in the Security Council. There were historical and past or maybe current
political disputes between some countries and these shall be reflected on their interaction in the
Council. For instance, China and South Korea will not be pleasant to see the rising power of Japan and
they wouldn’t support it to acquire a permanent seat in the Security Council. It will be confronted by a
Chinese veto possibly. It is important to know that historical disputed between them existed since the
events of the World War Two in which the Japanese troops invaded China and abused human rights
and used the South Korean Ladies as Comfort Women.
In addition, some Latin American countries and specially Argentina and Mexico would not accept the
presence of a permanent Brazilian seat in the Council. There is a sort of rivalry between Mexico and
Brazil regarding the international relations and that rise of the Brazilian power created worry for the
Mexican authorities. Mexico wanted to maintain the balance of powers between it and Brazil. They
were known for rivalry regarding choosing their representatives in some regional and international
organizations. For example, the Mexican representative in International Monetary Fund didn’t get
support from Brazil in 2005 and consequently the Brazilian candidate for the position of the General
Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) didn’t get support
from Mexico in 2011. These disputes, existing rivalry, and the continuous reapproachment and
distancing between them would be reflected in selecting Brazil to be a permanent representative for the
Latin American region in the Security Council, as Mexico may lobby other Latin American countries
78

to not to support Brazil in the voting process 283. Similarly, countries like Pakistan will never accept
India to be a permanent part in the Council as they are regional rivals and recently there have been
some military clashes at Kashmir which is the main source of their border conflicts for decades. All of
these historical disputes were reflected in UfC’s proposal which seemed to encounter or to some extent
contain the G4’s proposal and also appeared in their calls for not increasing the permanent
membership284.
Secondly, the issue of enlarging the Security Council has been debatable recently. There had been a
division among the member countries about whether to enlarge the Council and increase its
membership, or whether to remain as it is or at least not increasing the permanent members. While
many proposals and draft resolutions were requesting increasing the permanent and non-permanent
seats in the Security Council, however implementing such step will be regarded as a double-edged
weapon. If a hypothetical example was set in the case of enlargement of the Security Council, the
results will be conflicting. From the points of views of the Council enlargement’s proponents,
enlarging the Council would solve to a great extent the problem of historical injustice that the Arab,
Latin American and African countries suffered from since the establishment of the Security Council in
1945. The Council will be more inclusive and reflecting the current geopolitical situations, the newly
added member states to the organization after the last constitutional amendment in 1963, and the new
emergent political, economic and demographical realities in the concurrent international system. It
shall represent the world countries geographically in a more efficient way than it was designed in 1945
and as it is supposed to perform according the charter.
On the other side, the Council’s chamber would be crowded and this shall increase the difficulty of
taking decisions and decrease the probability of reaching out consensus among the Council’s members
regarding the sensitive, crucial issues and high profile cases. Therefore, this would result in nothing
except increasing the ineffectiveness, failure, inaction and consequently the paralysis of the Security
Council. As a consequence, this problem will offset the benefits that would have been created in case
of enlargement of the Council. In other words, in the eyes of countries which oppose the expansion of
the Council, and particularly the permanent expansion, increasing the members of the Council will
283
COVARRUBIAS, ANA. “Containing Brazil: Mexico’s Response to the Rise of Brazil.” Bulletin of Latin
American Research, vol. 35, no. 1, 27 Nov. 2015, pp. 49–63,
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/blar.12412, 10.1111/blar.12412. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020 .
284
Soksamnang, Nov. “The Feasibility of Reforming the United Nation Security Council.” Academia.Edu,
Academia, 2017,
www.academia.edu/38928752/The_Feasibility_of_reforming_the_United_Nation_Security_Council?auto=downl
oad . Accessed 14 Mar. 2020.
79

worsen the decision making process and will widen the disputes among the countries, which will
definitely result in the continuity of the paralysis status and the effectiveness of the international
organization. In addition, the majority of proposals presented by some countries since 2000 were
confined in either adding permanent seats or to prevent other rival countries from reaching the Council
285
like what was obvious in the conflict between the draft resolutions of G4 versus UfC.
Thirdly, the issue of selecting a country to be a permanent member in the Council does not have a legal
basis in the charter. There are no provisions in the constitution of the United Nations that regulate the
process of selection of permanent seats. Moreover, there are no conditions or prerequisites that were
specified in the charter that any single country should satisfy in order to become a permanent member
in the Council. When P-5 were creating the international organization after the end of the World War 2
in 1945, they didn’t specify these conditions as they restricted the permanent membership of the
Council in those five countries only in an attempt to pursue the oligarchic structure of the Council.
Consequently the draft resolutions which proposed adding new permanent seats to the Council would
face difficulty if they were implemented in a hypocrite scenario. This issue raised wonders about
whether countries shall be appointed to be permanent countries according to their economic or
diplomatic powers, or the size of its population, or its natural resources and wealth, or its financial
contribution to the UN regular budget, or its troops of financial contribution to the peacekeeping
operations (PKOs).286
Fourthly, the biggest problem regarding the reconstructing the organization and reforming the Security
Council is that the Charter didn’t guarantee the feasibility or the means by which any reform in the
organization or the charter could be facilitated in the future. The reform of the Security Council seems
to be impossible not only because of the divergent preferences of countries and conflict of interests
among the P5, but significantly because the charter imposed a significant constitutional challenge in
tackling the case of modifications in the charter. If the proposals were supposedly taken into account
285
Paul, James. “UN Security Council Reform: Unrealistic Proposals and Viable Reform
Options.” Globalpolicy.Org, Global Policy Forum, 2019, www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/security-
council-reform/transparency-including-working-methods-and-decisionmaking-process/41138.html . Accessed 13
Mar. 2019.
286
Olumide, Adeleke. “REFORMING THE UNITED NATIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A DISCOURSE
ON THE ENLARGEMENT, DEMOCRATISATION AND THE WORKING METHODS OF THE SECURITY
COUNCIL.” International Journal of Advanced Academic Research |Social & Management Sciences, vol. 4, no.
6, June 2018, pp. 40–70,
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E_ENLARGEMENT_DEMOCRATISATION_AND_THE_WORKING_METHODS_OF_THE_SECURITY_C
OUNCIL. Accessed 14 Mar. 2020.
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and the resolutions calling for increasing the permanent and non- permanent members were brought to
voting, this will be the case of modification in the UN’s charter. Accordingly, article 108287 declared
that in order to pass any amendments for the present articles, they shall come into force after their
approval by two thirds of the member states of the General Assembly, including the five permanent
members in the Security Council. This article imposed two challenging conditions which should be
satisfied in order to pass any amendments to the charter. Firstly they should pass by substantive
majority of two thirds the members, in other words with the approval of minimum 129 countries. This
majority is much difficult to be obtained compared to a simple majority of (50%+1) or 97 countries.
Furthermore, the legal implications of the necessity of the approval of the P5 among the two thirds of
member countries on the charter amendments are pessimistic. By this condition, the permanent
countries have stronger power in the General Assembly than the veto prerogative they enjoy in the
Security Council. It means that the Big Five control the Council and have higher authority not just on
the other ten non-permanent members in the Council, but also on the other 129 members in the
Assembly. Eventually, a reform in any of the charter’s articles requires to be integrated into one
package solution that has to be approved by at least 128 countries and supported by the Big Five 288.
287
Article 108 Chapter XVIII in UN’s Charter, IBID.
288
Hosli, Madeleine O., and Thomas Dörfler. “Why Is Change so Slow? Assessing Prospects for United Nations
Security Council Reform.” Journal of Economic Policy Reform, vol. 22, no. 1, 18 Apr. 2017, pp. 35–50,
www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17487870.2017.1305903?needAccess=true ,
10.1080/17487870.2017.1305903. Accessed 17 Mar. 2019.
81

Recommendations and Conclusion:
United Nations was created to be an international beacon of peace and security to the whole world.
However, the internal politics, some articles of the charter, and the entire structure of some councils
existing in it had drastically ruined its ability to achieve this objective. As years pass, the failure of the
organization increases and its ineffectiveness and freezing status towards most of the world’s political
and humanitarian crises has been escalating. This comes in the first place due to the structural and
political problems in its decision making body which is the Security Council. The outdated structure of
the Council, which reflects the geopolitical and demographic conditions of a world that was exhausted
after a six-year-destructive world war won by five countries seven decades ago, had a detrimental
impact on its objectivity, credibility and effectiveness.
Both the prerogative veto powers enjoyed by the five permanent members, and the permanent
membership itself are the most significant reasons behind the recent deadlocks happened in the
Council and its semi-paralysis in encountering many contemporary conflicts and humanitarian
sufferings in many unstable areas. They are also the main causes behind the block of any attempt
through calls or submitted draft resolutions to solve a conflict, lessen a country’s population suffering,
or even to reform the Council and the organization in general. In addition, permanent membership and
veto power had been practically reinforced through an outdated charter which was put in a dictator and
selfish way and lead to significantly inadequate representation of about two thirds of the world
countries including the newly emerging economic and political powers, while giving
overrepresentation to just five countries or a single continent out of the existing six. Consequently, the
current disappointing status of the United Nations and the shameful appearance of the Security Council
through its continuous freezing status and actions dominated by political conflict among the Big Five
aren’t pleasing any country anymore, and they are actually doing nothing except escalating the crises,
worsening the humanitarian sufferings, and failing to achieve the international peace and security as
intended.
The United Nations now is in a mass need to be structurally reformed. The draft resolutions and efforts
made by the member countries in an attempt to reform the organization and provide hope for a better
and safer world must be taken into account and discussed by the General Assembly and the Security
Council. The efforts of these countries to draft these resolutions with good intentions must be
respected, regarded and welcomed, or at least the most feasible ones. The organization must take
affirmative steps towards the dissolution of the outdated and obsolete councils like the Trusteeship
Council and the Board of Trustees. The merger of many alike councils and agencies and the
82

cancellation of unneeded councils and positions in the hierarchical structure of the Secretariat are badly
needed to save costs and mitigate the overemployement problems. Moreover, the United Nations
should strengthen the sanctions on the countries that do not pay their quotas regularly so that this issue
will be taken seriously by them. This action shall be taken on the basis that such an international and
prestigious organization should not face the repercussions of possible bankruptcy or any financial
crises as this is considered to be catastrophic.
When recommendations are put regarding the reform of UN, the Security Council cannot be ignored,
even though other councils and organs have their own weights and respect. The Council is in bad need
to be released from the super dominance of the Big Five. The power of the Big Five should be digested
to be among the all fifteen members. The non-permanent members should enjoy more representation
and respect and they should be compensated for always being historically marginalized and not
included either in a fair representation or in the closed door decision making meetings among the Big
Five. In addition, the resolutions regarding banning veto in the cases of humanitarian crises and mass
atrocities must be considered and implemented. In fact, all political crises involve humanitarian crises,
like the Syrian crisis, Libyan crisis, Iraqi crisis and others, and if the Council began to lessen and
mitigate these humanitarian crises, this will be a great step towards granting political solutions to
lessen and mitigate the political crises as such. It is completely unacceptable that a world now includes
41 million internally displaced, 26 million refugees, and hundreds of thousands of victims of civil
wars and armed conflicts, while the permanent countries ignore all of this and block any resolution
only to defend their national interests!
The abuse of veto power should be stopped. The non-permanent members’ votes on any draft
resolution should be regarded and taken into consideration in a way to confront the tyranny of veto.
The paper suggests that if a certain number of votes from non-permanent members is met, this number
shall block any veto that may be raised by any permanent member. For instance, if one or two
permanent members vetoed a good resolution, while at least 70% or 80% (which means 7 or 8
members) of non-permanent members voted by yes, these votes shall confront and cancel the one or
two raised vetoes and the resolution passes, while if this 70% or 80% wasn’t met, the resolution is
cancelled by the vetoes. This shall be a way to balance the power between the permanent and non-
permanent members in the Council and give the non-permanent ones more opportunities to be
represented and their voices to be heard and considered in this decision making body.
Moreover, the situation of peacekeeping operations must be re-assessed by the Security Council. It
must tackle the challenges confronting the troops, and strengthen the sanctions applied on them if they
83

breached the IHL and human rights during their missions simultaneously. Reforming the safety and
security system of PKOs and enhancing the efficiency and credibility of their missions will have a lot
of mutual benefits. These benefits will involve better protection of the personnel, ability to deploy
mission in high-risk areas and ensuring the effectiveness of mandates implementation.
Furthermore, the power of the United Nations must be decentralized among the other organs,
especially the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council, not just centralized in the Security
Council only. The General Assembly should enjoy more power and independence regarding a lot of its
jurisdictions. Being a large body composed of considerable membership of about 193 members states,
such an organ should enjoy power which simulates the power of the Security Council, or even stronger
than that. The existing imbalances in the organization, either intra-imbalances in the case of power and
representation of the world countries at the Security Council or inter-imbalances concerning the
distribution of power among the different organs and councils of the United Nations, shall be smoothed
Finally, the key solution to all of these problems and to clean the smashed international image of the
United Nations is in the hands of the five permanent countries. The golden key for reforming the
Security Council and the implementation of other reform draft resolutions is with the Big Five since
their approval is a must for passing those resolutions and for making amendments to the charter if
needed. The United Nations has become an ill body that never dies but will never be cured, thanks to
the actions of the permanent members particularly throughout the last decade. Currently, there are only
two possible ways that the Permanent members can take, each has its repercussions. One way is to
have political will to put aside their conflict of interests, intend that they really care for the world and
the suffering populations in the unstable areas and civil wars, and start putting hands with hands of
other countries and UN to provide a better future and put an end to most of the concurrent escalating
crises. The other pessimistic way is continuing their arrogance, demolishing the already smashed view
of UN and worsening the conflicts and sufferings. But they should know that if they took the later way,
they will pay for it and they will be hit with the unpromising and bad ramifications of their actions
sooner or later, even though they enjoyed short-term benefits!
Nowadays the countries should the request of the Secretary General to put aside the conflicts and
ceasefire so that they can concentrate on the real challenge that faces the world currently. Corona virus,
known as COVID-19, is attacking all the world countries, the advanced and developing countries
simultaneously and resulted in more than 16000 deaths and 350000 injuries. We hope that
collaboration between the UN and especially WHO, the countries and populations shall bring this
pandemic to an end and save lives of our families and beloved ones, before it’s too late!
84

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Cairo University

A Critical Analysis to the United Nations’

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Date Place/ Conference Actions

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The Structure of the United Nations:

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Funds & Programmes Research Institutions Offices & Entities

1. UNDP: United Nations 1. UNIDIR: United Nations 1. ITC: International Trade

Source: United Nations Website

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1. IAEA66: International Atomic Energy Agency.

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The Secretary Generals of the United Nations from 1945 to 2020:

Secretary General Period Number of Terms Nationality

Trygve Lie February 1946 - One Norway

Dag Hummerskjold April 1953 - September Two (1953-1957)&(1958- Sweden

U Thant November 1961 - Two (1962-1966)& (1967- Myanmar

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Kurt Waldheim January 1972 - Two (1972-1976) & (1977- Austria

Javier Perez de Cuellar January 1982 - Two (1982-1986) &(1987- Peru

Boutros Boutros Ghali January 1992 - One Egypt

Kofi Annan January 1997 - Two (1997-2001) &(2002- Ghana

Ban Ki Moon January 2007 - Two (2007-2011) &(2012- South Korea

Antonio Guterres January 2017 - One Portugal

UN’s successes and failures since 1945 till now:

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Deficiencies in Some Articles in UN Charter:

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General Assembly: (GA)

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International Court of Justice112: (ICJ)

1955.” State.Gov, Office of the Historian Department of State, 2019, history.state.gov/milestones/1953-

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Security Council: (SC)

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Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564486