Repair and Maintenance or Replace: Ramesh Shrestha

'We can't build a future for our grandchildren with a system built for our grandparents.'
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General

History repeating?

We are all used to repairing, maintaining or replacing our personal items, including our residence once these commodities and amenities reach beyond the point of repair and maintenance. The United Nations in its current form was a replacement for the League of Nations (LoN), which was established on 25 January 1919 with the closure of WW-I with an aspiration that the LoN would be able to prevent the repetition of WW-I. All decisions taken in the assembly and council of the LoN had to be unanimous, which was impossible as all the big powers wanted their way or the highway, which eventually led to LoN's collapse. The powerful countries undermined and ignored the authority of the LoN on every occasion making the LoN totally dysfunctional. The deadlocks in the present-day United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are a mirror image of what the LoN had experienced. The rising nationalism in the contemporary world also seems like a mirror image of the pre-WW-II era which made it impossible for the LoN to function.

The powerful countries continue to sideline the international law by ignoring the UN Charter in order to protect their interest. As a result, the credibility of the UN is faltering, similar to the LoN. The vetoes casted by the permanent members of the UNSC against the will of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) further diminished the role of the UN in international affairs. In recent times several binding UN resolutions have been blatantly ignored by member states with full backing of the UNSC member state(s). The UN has no mechanisms to enforce binding resolutions as the permanent members of the UNSC continue to act in violation of the UN charter. The UN is sedated if not completely paralysed. The UNSC itself has become an obstacle to peace which was meant to promote peace. It has become the greatest failure of the entire UN system. Considering recent global events and lethargy in the UNSC, we may be witnessing in slow motion the repeat of the history of the LoN and its collapse. How long can the UN survive like this?

It is easy to blame the UN

Many writers and journalists claim that the UN is incapable of organising an appropriate multilateral response. These are verbatim quotes from writers coming from the member states of the Security Council; 'the world needs a stronger global governance which UN is not able to provide'; 'UN's relevance is waning'; 'the UN appears incompetent in achieving its primary mandate in securing international peace'; 'the UN has failed to prevent and meaningfully respond to conflicts'; 'is the UN still fit for the purpose', and so on. It is hard to imagine that these writers are unaware of why the UN is dysfunctional but these writers never analyse and write about the reasons for the UN's dysfunctional situation. They should be speaking to their governments to work for peace rather than publishing their article for an international audience accusing the UN for inaction and its inefficiencies. The UN as a multilateral institution consisting of its 193 member states can function only as much as the member states, especially the powerful members would allow it to function. Blaming the UN - a totally futile practice - has become a favourite hobby of many. It does not serve anyone's purpose other than glorifying the image of the authors of those articles, claiming to be expert on UN affairs!

There are other forums such as the G7 (which invites leaders from some mid-income countries as a showcase), G20 and the EU which influences global policies which overlap, compete and sometimes undermine the role of the UN. There are unelected tycoons such as the members of World Economic Forum and other technocrats who also influence bilateral and international policies away from the UN that affect geopolitical balance cornering the UN system. And when problems arise, they look up to the UN to solve them with meager resources!

Reforming the UN

There have been several attempts to reform the UN system including some radical ones such as forming 'A concert of Democracies' or 'League of Democracies' where some 60 countries were identified as potential members. In 2005 there was a proposal to form the 'Federation of Democracies'. In 2006 Princeton Project proposed a 'Concert of Democracies' supported by John McCain. Still another proposal from Hudson Institute was to form 'United Democratic Nation' as the replacement of the UN, which they view as 'illegitimate and ineffective'. In 2018 there was a reinvigorated proposal for 'League of Democracies' proposed by a team of eight US politicians. One another critique said the United Nations cannot be sufficiently reformed to do the job because of its universal inclusion idea, and lack of sufficient coordinative power in making and enforcing decisions'. Is not universal inclusion being the whole idea behind the United Nations? But fortunately, none of these proposals took off seriously.

In 2005 the former UNSG Kofi Annan proposed to expand the Security Council with six new permanent members and three non-permanent members to make a total of 24 UNSC members. Will it solve the problem? Definitely not, as long as the veto system exists where any one permanent member can veto the resolution passed by the majority, nothing will change.

During 78th UN General Assembly, the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres said 'It is reform or rupture. The world has changed. Our institutions have not'. The permanent members of the UNSC do not want to be constrained by any decisions that may be taken by the UN is becoming the biggest obstacle in reforming the UN system. The need to reform the United Nations has been realised by everyone, but equally important is the reforms required in the behaviours of the global leaders, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, so that the UN can really function like the way its Charter demands. Reforming the UN will remain a distant dream for as long as the powerful member states continue to use the UN for its short-term benefits.

It is clear from many international news and peace initiatives that countries which hesitate to accept any form of governance not based on neoliberal economy are considered as authoritarian and dictatorial. With such rationale among the politicians with global influence is there any hope of reforming the UN system? And even if it was reformed or even if a new organisation is created there is little doubt that it will function without changing the behaviour of powerful countries.

It is doable

When we travel to ancient cities anywhere in the world, we come across many heritage sites which include ancient buildings, temples, shrines and even gardens (as in Japan) which are centuries old. These relics managed to survive assaults of wars and extreme weather conditions because they were and still are maintained with love and care. We just need leaders everywhere to think hard about everyone's opinions and learn to compromise so that the UN can deliver what is promised in the UN Charter.

 
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