United Nations and its failures – Part One

United Nations and its failures – Part One

As the United Nations General Assembly sessions continue in New York, it is time to say loud and clear that the world body stands exposed as an instrument of imperial powers.

Its track record speaks for itself. Its mechanism has been used more for prosecuting imperialist wars than for bringing about world peace. The number of people killed in wars approved by the UN or subsequently legitimized by it
must be more than the number of lives it may have saved by its war-preventive measures. Perhaps, the world would be a better place without the United Nations, however much its defenders argue to the contrary and point to all the good work being done by the
UN in peacekeeping and eliminating disease, poverty and illiteracy.

Well, even a monster has a human face. This institutional monster has soaked its hands in human blood though it was formed in 1945 to usher in world peace.

How can a fair system and world peace emerge through the United Nations system when the core of its charter was the handiwork of World War II war-minded allies? At the discussions that preceded the formation of the UN, they made
sure that their powers were not undermined and their ability to dominate the world was not diminished by the UN charter.

Although subsequently, fifty countries laboured for two months (April-May, 1945) in San Francisco to prepare the charter and the statute of the International Court of Justice, there was little opposition to the inclusion of the
provisions that gave the power of veto to the big powers.

Though the objectives of the United Nations are noble on paper, its journey began on an insolent note — denying the Palestinians their right to a homeland. Nowhere is the UN failure or impotency more evident than in the Palestinian
question. The lack of force in many UN Resolutions, including 242 and 338, or the will to enforce them has only encouraged Israel to continue its illegal activities in occupied Palestine. Besides, the use of the veto by the US 39 times in defence of Israel
has rendered the world body powerless. The 40th veto — a death knell to Palestine statehood and global justice — may come this week, if the Palestinians’ UN membership bid comes before the Security Council.

Stay put for the next issue in which we shall discuss the wanton use of the veto.

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Posted by Momina Khan on Nov 23 2011. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry