Powerless in global conflicts, UN marks grim 80th anniversary

Nikkei Asia
Syed Munir Khasru
September 19, 2025

Link: https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3229544/world-cannot-afford-ai-cooperation-falling-prey-us-china-geopolitical-strife?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3229544
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The United Nations today is a much larger and more complex institution than itwas in the time of Trygve Lie, its first secretary-general in 1946. The membershiphas tripled and its budget has grown even more. In theory, its influence should havebecome greater, given its contributions to international order: sendingpeacekeepers to conflict zones, drafting a law of the sea and backing decolonizationefforts that reduced the number of people living under colonial rule from 750million in 1945 to less than 2 million today.

Yet recent developments in Europe and the Middle East cast doubt on the U.N.'scapability and relevance in a world that is becoming increasingly fragmented andpolarized. With the U.N. celebrating its 80th anniversary on Oct. 24, it is time forsomber reflection on the only global entity that is empowered with both thediplomatic clout and enforcement mechanisms to make the world a better place,where all can live in peace and prosperity.

From the war in Ukraine to Gaza, where the U.N. rapporteur accused Israel of using"starvation as a weapon of war," the U.N. has demonstrated very little ability toaffect things on the ground. In Ukraine, the U.N. has failed to prevent or respond toRussia's ongoing assault, with Security Council paralyzed by veto-wieldingmembers like Russia and its ally China.

Russia's deadly attack on Kyiv in mid-June fueled an internal displacement crisis inUkraine, with over 5,000 people fleeing affected areas in one week. Yet the U.N.reduced its humanitarian aid from $ 2.63 billion to $1.75 billion, a budget meant toassist 4.8 million people -- down from the initially targeted 6 million. The mostvulnerable have been left without food, water or evacuation support. Between 2022and 2025, the U.N. General Assembly adopted four major resolutions critical ofRussia, each with more than a two-thirds majority, highlighting both humanitarianconsequences as well as condemning attempted annexations.

These had practicallyno effect on the elite club that is the U.N. Security Council, whose permanentmembers, with veto powers, are meant to enforce the will of U.N. member nations.
Since the Gaza war started, the Security Council has voted on roughly 14 Gaza-related resolutions, of which only four were adopted -- the majority were blocked byU.S. vetoes. More than 500,000 Gazans are trapped in famine, with the U.N.confirming catastrophic hunger and preventable deaths. Children are acutelyaffected: In July 2025 alone, a record 12,000 cases of severe malnutrition werereported, a sixfold increase since January. On top of that, Israel's blocking of theUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA) and ongoing restrictions at border crossings have led to around 1,400people dying while seeking food.

Conditions in Ukraine and Gaza are in breach of the United Nations Charter thatcountries like the U.S. and Russia helped draft in the aftermath of World War II.That charter prohibits the use of force unless authorized by the Security Council orjustified as self-defense. It calls on states to resolve disputes peacefully and worktogether to prevent threats to global peace. On a rare occasion in 1990, the SecurityCouncil voted to support a war against Iraq to liberate Kuwait after PresidentSaddam Hussein invaded the Gulf state. Saddam was defeated by a U.S.-ledinternational military coalition.

Ukraine and Gaza are not the only places facing desperate situations. Others, suchas in Myanmar or Afghanistan, are in similar straits that the U.N. is unable toaddress adequately.

Despite its declining geopolitical clout, many U.N. agencies continue to provideessential assistance. The World Health Organization has, for example, has reducedthe number of polio cases by 99% since 1988. The World Food Programme won aNobel Peace Prize in 2020 for combating hunger, bettering conditions for peace inconflict-affected areas. In 2024 alone, it assisted 124.4 million people, although thisnumber did not include everyone in need of help. U.N. peacekeeping missions canclaim successes in places like Cambodia, El Salvador, Liberia and Namibia. TheOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has continued to leadglobal resettlement efforts, with a 33% increase in submissions in 2023 alone.

Calls for reform will fall short if the organization does not address the outdatedpower structure of the Security Council, which is dominated by the five permanentmembers: China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. The world has changed inthe last 80 years. In the Global North, Germany is the European Union's largesteconomy; in the Global South, Brazil has the largest economy in South America.Both are excluded from the inner circle. India, now the world's most populousnation, is also excluded. The result is gridlock, with countries seeking alternativecoalitions like the G20 and BRICS. These groupings are increasingly vocal,representing a growing share of global opinion and highlighting U.N.'sfragmentation.

There are instances of U.N. mandates being abrogated unilaterally. For example,the U.S. denial of visas to the Palestinian delegation ahead of the 80th GeneralAssembly violates the treaty between the U.N. and the U.S., which hosts the U.N.headquarters in New York. Another example was seen in 2016 when a PermanentCourt of Arbitration tribunal, acting under the United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea, ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, finding China's"nine-dash line" and associated claims on South China Sea to be unlawful. Chinarejected this ruling without facing any consequences.

The U.N. must find the means to neutralize the mechanism that gives the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council the power to defy the entireworld's (193 member states) wishes. Theoretically a vote of 192-1 in the GeneralAssembly could result in no action, if the one vote against was cast by a permanentmember of the Security Council.

Without reform, the U.N. will continue to be a lopsided organization and toothlesstiger. One option would be to empower the General Assembly so that if two-thirdsof the member states (around 129 countries) vote in a particular direction, theGeneral Assembly would be able to override a veto by the Security Councilpermanent members, making the resolution legally binding on all U.N. members.Something similar exists in the U.S., where the Congress can override a presidentialveto if two-thirds of the members vote to do so. In 2016, Congress overwhelminglyoverrode President Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.Even if such binding resolutions are difficult to enforce, such as Israel's flouting ofat least 53 such UNSC resolutions through 2021, the moral weight andenforceability obligations are likely to have a positive effect, as opposed to the totalparalysis that can be caused by any of the five veto-wielding nations.

In the case of Gaza, the General Assembly adopted resolutions on Dec. 12, 2023,and June 12, 2025, with over two-thirds of members calling for a permanentceasefire, release of hostages, and delivery of humanitarian aid. These were notenforced. Likewise, on Feb. 23, 2023, the General Assembly adopted the resolution"Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine," which also wentnowhere.

Future historians, looking back at the U.N. today, might be excused for seeing itscollapse as inevitable, much like that of the League of Nations after its failure tostop invasions in the 1930s, including Japan's attack on Manchuria and Italy's onAbyssinia, which eventually led to the Second World War. Unless the U.N.undertakes serious reforms, which include expanding the Security Council toinclude modern major powers, and creating a mechanism to override vetoes when asignificant majority, say, two-thirds, have voted in the opposite direction, it risksbecoming irrelevant. Many already see the world body as a "global talk shop" thatdelivers little on its founding principles.