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UN@75, a failed or a Successful Institution

Is UN a Successful or a Failed
Organization:
 The United Nations was
estd. in 1945 as a successor

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to League of Nations.It is the
biggest intergovernmental

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organization in the world,
which was hoped to bea
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beacon of peace and

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stability around the world.
 The objectives of the UN as set forth in the Charter are:
· to maintain international peace and security
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· to develop friendly relations among nations
· to resolve international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems
Failures of UN:
(i) P5 issue:
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 Article 2 of the UN charter stating “the Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign
equality of all its Members.”The concept of veto powers goes against this spirit. So many
countries allege that UN builds in second-class nations.
 Mr. Recep TayyipErdogan, President of Turkey, in the UNGA, highlighting the need for UNSC
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reformation said”the world is much greater than the P5"

 The delayed decision-making process, lack of reform and constant deadlocks on the UNSC
tarnishes the image of the UN.
 The “P5” with their veto power, is paralyzing the effective functioning of UN.
 The P5 nations of the UNSC can block all decisions with their veto power.
 The fact that three continents Latin America, Africa, Asia (except China) and Arab world
are not represented in the UNSC as permanent members.
(ii) Refugee issue:
 The plight of Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who died on their journey in the
Mediterranean Sea until they tried to reach European countries.
 Similarly, the plight, persecution and killing of Rohingya Muslims, which the UNHCR Chief
calls ethnic cleansing is not generating much action from UN bodies.

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(iii) Failure to end Wars:

 UNs Preamble pledges to “save the humanity from the scourge of war” but it has failed to
resolve some of the bloody conflicts in human history.
 The UNs Failure to resolve thePalestinian-Israeli conflict, in the words of UN former Secretary
General Kofi Annan, would “continue to hurt the reputation of the United Nations and raise
questions about its impartiality”.
 So, in addition to structural deficiencies, theorganization has also suffered from a lack of
direction and role orientation.
1. Cambodian Genocide (1975) – The Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia from
1975 to 1979, had killed 2.5 million Cambodians, amounting to 33% of their total population.
2. Sexual abuse allegations against UNPKF Forces in the Republic of Congo, Cambodia,
Haiti and other countries have defamed the UN.
3. Rwandan Genocide (1994)
4. Srebrenica massacre/ Srebrenica genocide (1995)

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5. Nuclear Proliferation (Pakistan, Israel, Iran & North Korea)
6. Spreading Cholera in Haiti

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7. Vietnam War
8. Afghan War
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9. Sri Lankan Civil War
10. Israel-Palestine issue DE
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11. American Hegemony in Global Politics (War on Terror, Iraq Invasion)
12. Russian invasion of Crimea (2014)
13. Syrian Civil War
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Success:
 UN is playing the role of a Welfare State at International level by accumulating the funds from
more developed nations and helping the poor nations in addressing many issues like Education,
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Health, Housing, Poverty, Women Empowerment, Malnutrition etc.

1. Maintenance of Int. peace and Security through UNPKF i.e. ‘Blue Helmets’
2. Authorizing 71 international peacekeeping missions
3. Supporting Disarmament measures like NPT, CTBT
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4. It is successful efforts led to the eradication of smallpox, yaws, polio, and stemmed the
HIV/AIDS epidemic, its efforts in combating Ebola.
5. Its endeavors to improve Global living standards through SDGs
6. Through IMF & World Bank providing Economic aid to poor nations
7. UNICEF - Providing vaccinations for 58 percent of children in the world
8. UN Women - Helping about 30 million women a year with maternal health efforts
9. FAO trying to combat Hunger - Providing food to 90 million people in over 75 countries.
10. UN Habitat – turning Slums into decent human settlements
11. Working with 140 nations to minimize climate change
12. UNEP – and its role in preserving environment
13. Assisting about 50 countries per year with their elections

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14. Assisting more than 34 million refugees
15. Protecting human rights with 80 treaties and declarations
16. It is success because the UN conducts demining in the post-conflict areas getting rid of
landmines that are scattered in 78 countries and kill around 15 thousand people annually.
Current realities:
 Kofi Annan in his Millennium Report stressed that: Based on the distribution of power and
alignments in 1945, the composition of the Council today does not fully represent either the
character or the needs of our globalised world.
 The UN is in need of reform to realign its goals with its activities. The world of 1945 was very
different from the world in the 21st century. Many of the structures and processes of the UN
reflect a bygone era – changes that have happened in the last 75 years must be taken into
consideration.
 The archaic institute does not reflect even the most basic realities of a world in which the

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population has grown from 2.3 billion, when the UN was established, to over 7 billion now.
 Not the member states quadrupled from 51 to 193 in 2020, but also, new global issues have

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arisen since 1945, such as the lack of natural resources, the rapid population increase,
environmental issues, climate change, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and new internal

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conflicts representing a threat to peace.
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 UN has outdated structure as same five countries — the victors of World War II — have been
the power players since 1945: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. UNSC
does not reflect today’s distribution of military and economic power, nor a geographical. They
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are the only permanent members of the powerful, 15-seat Security Council. Each has veto
power, which has led to near-paralysis at the council on some major crises like Syria and
Ukraine.
 The global economy has experienced tectonic shifts, especially in the past 30 years. When the
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Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the seven largest Western economies—three of which have permanent
seats on the council—accounted for 51 percent of global economic output. Today they account
for only 30 percent.
Conclusion:
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 While every organization has its flaws and shortcomings, the majority of international leaders
and experts agree that the U.N. continues to play a critical role in securing peace, stability
and prosperity throughout the world.The question at this point is how to make the
organizationmore relevant and effective. Many expertspropose suggest the resolution of
structural problemssuch as the UN Security Council, which has beencriticized for years.
 To conclude, the UN is not a magic wand and miracle cure. It is a perfectly imperfect instrument,
but the humanity has yet to come up with a better one. Despite not having either standing
military or policeof its own or many shortcomings like Financial crunches, the UN is trying to
stabilize and bring peace.

“There is only one path to peace and security: the path of supranational organization.”
– Albert Einstein, 1948

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