Let’s recreate the UN: 81 years show why it’s worth the effort

Why in the News

The United Nations (UN) turns 81 with its Security Council (UNSC) deadlocked on the next Secretary-General. The UN has a record worth saving in health, development and peacemaking, but the Council that should keep the peace reflects the world of 1945 and cannot stop wars.

What has the UN delivered?

1. What it is: The UN is the universal body of states and agencies through which they cooperate. It works like a standing meeting room where rivals can talk before they fight.
2. Health and relief: UN children’s fund and World Health Organization campaigns nearly halved child deaths and brought polio close to eradication. The UN refugee agency aids over 35 million displaced people yearly.
3. Development and environment: The Millennium Development Goals halved extreme poverty, and the Montreal Protocol phased out 99% of ozone-depleting chemicals. The Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement set climate duties.
4. Rights and migration: The Beijing Conference advanced women’s rights, and the 2018 Global Compact for Migration set the first unified migration framework. Funding cuts and a backlash now strain these gains.
5. The takeaway: The UN built the rules and agencies that deliver health, development and rights, which is why the case is to recreate it rather than replace it.

Where does the UN fail on peace and security?

1. Peacemaking record: The UN brokered roughly 170 peace settlements, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Iran-Iraq War, and steadied Namibia, East Timor and Mozambique.
2. Recent failures: Wars in Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, Libya and Yemen ran unchecked by UN action, and critics cite chronic Council paralysis.
3. Outdated membership: Permanent seats reflect 1945, leaving billions without permanent representation and breeding cynicism towards Council resolutions.
4. Veto as obstruction: Permanent members use even the threat of a veto, the power to block a resolution, to shield themselves or allies from accountability, which subverts the Charter’s purpose.

Why can other forums not replace the UN?

1. Drift to coalitions: When the Council is gridlocked, countries turn to self-selected coalitions, ad hoc regional alliances and the Group of Twenty (G20).
2. What they lack: The G20 cannot send peacekeepers and lacks the moral authority of universal membership. Regional blocs and small groupings of chosen states lack global inclusiveness.
3. Without the Council: Stronger states would face no check, and smaller developing nations would have no recourse or voice. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) and the binding force of Council decisions are irreplaceable.

What does reform mean, and how far can it go?

1. Western meaning: The developed West wants budget cuts, merged UN departments and leaner mandates, staff and costs.
2. Developing world’s meaning: Developing countries want greater inclusion, better representation and a say in setting UN priorities.
3. The limit: Reform must stop short of the point where the most powerful members might walk away, because that would end the UN.

Challenges

1. Selective responses: The Council’s response to a crisis varies with its permanent members’ interests. Eg. repeated vetoes on Ukraine and Gaza.
2. Enforcement gap: The UN has no standing army, so Council decisions depend on members to supply peacekeepers and enforce sanctions.
3. Stalled expansion talks: The 2026 session of the Intergovernmental Negotiations, the General Assembly’s talks on reform, ended without agreement on how to expand the Council.

Way Forward

1. Wider permanent membership: Add permanent seats for under-represented regions and emerging powers.
2. Veto norms: Set clear norms limiting the veto, starting with voluntary restraint in mass atrocity cases.
3. Council and Assembly accountability: Deepen formal accountability between the two bodies. Eg. resolution A/76/262 already requires a veto to be explained.

Conclusion

The UN’s record justifies renewing it, but the Council’s outdated membership and the veto erode the legitimacy that record earns. Reform that widens representation must still keep the powerful members inside, and no agreed formula yet reconciles the two.

Key numbers

1. Child deaths: From 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million by 2011.
2. Goal periods: Millennium Development Goals 2000 to 2015; Sustainable Development Goals 2015 to 2030.

About the UN Security Council

1. Composition: It has 15 members: five permanent (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China), each able to block a substantive resolution, and ten elected by the General Assembly for two year terms.
2. Powers: It holds primary responsibility for international peace and security and can authorise peacekeeping, sanctions and military action.
3. Charter amendment (Article 108): A change needs two-thirds of the Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of members, including all five permanent members.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2009] The Security Council of UN consists of 5 permanent members, and the remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for a term of (a) 1 year (b) 2 years (c) 3 years (d) 5 years ANSWER: (b)”