United Nations (UN) at a Standstill?

The United Nations (UN), an intergovernmental organization, brought into being in 1945, with a vision - "One place where the world's nations can gather together, discuss common problems and find shared solutions", is now being observed as a forum that only engages in verbal dialogues. Back in 1945, when the charter was signed, it was perceived as 51 nations pledging together to uphold the spirit of peace and avoid any kind of destruction or threat to human security. However, in the current global scenario where the Russia-Ukraine war is still altering lives as well as diplomatic international relations, the Israel-Gaza incident has turned into a genocide, wrecking lives across borders, the people of Afghanistan wake up every morning only to endure an unscrupulous regime of Taliban and the Red Sea is becoming a war zone, to list a few, the relevance and accountability of UN gets wrapped around a huge question mark.

Ever since its inception, the UN has spent trillions of dollars on humanitarian assistance to different countries engaged in war or struck down by a natural calamity, yet it could not make any momentous impact on the unceasing destruction of lives, properties, environment, heritage, and bilateral/multilateral peace treaties.

At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century.

The number of countries involved in some kind of conflict outside of their borders had risen from 58 in 2008 to 91 in 2022.

The UN, hailed as the guardian of global order, is being criticized for narrowing down its functioning based on the geopolitical rivalry of its member states, inefficient bureaucratic structure, a numbing institutional setup, and lack of accountability. Even though the forum quite consistently issues well-crafted statements and social media-friendly documentation of its work, it is being claimed by several intellectuals that the organization acts as a spectator on the ground, accompanied by its peace keeping force.

There's an urgent need for the UN to acknowledge its shortcomings and stand its ground against every minor or major act of destruction and terrorism so that terms like peace and prosperity, not only prevail as a laid down text in the UN Charter but also contribute to the molding of the global sphere.

"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell."

- Dag Hammarskjöld (second UN Secretary-General)