Has the United Nations (UN) been totally undermined, marginalized, and declared redundant by the US and UK? At least in the context of its primary role of maintaining international peace and security. Failure to reform, UN Security Council (UNSC) has become completely hostage to the US veto, particularly on Israel – Palestine conflict. The US and Israel have decided to ignore, defy, and flout the opinion of the international community, and rest of the world.
The existing world order has its roots in creation of League of Nations that had the principal mission to maintain world peace. It was disbanded, after World War II, as it failed to fulfil its mandate of ensuring global peace. Thereafter, the UN was established in 1945. The UN can act on a wide range of issues due to unique powers vested in its Charter. All UN Member States are bound to implement its decisions. The UN Charter codifies the prohibition of the use of force in international relations. The Chater, in its preamble, professes lofty ideal of practicing tolerance and living together in peace with one another as good neighbours. It also requires all members to unite their strength to maintain international peace and security as a collective responsibility.
The concept of ‘Collective Security’ seeks to deter aggression by promising collective retaliation against any community member committing aggression. To implement this concept, the UN conceived ‘peacekeeping operations. ‘UN Collective security’ is based on three preconditions: willingness of the member states for global peace; collective responsibility to stop aggression; and readiness to commit military forces for peacekeeping operations under the UN auspices. Chapter Seven of its Charter authorizes the UN to use coercive measures, such as interruption of economic relations, and taking military action by air, sea, or land forces, as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.
So far, the UN has launched seventy-one peacekeeping operations out which twelve missions are currently operating. Whereas, most peacekeeping operations have been launched in Africa, the first UN peacekeeping mission was established in May 1948, in the Middle East – United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) – to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours. More than one million men and women have served under the UN flag in its peacekeeping operations. More than 100,000 military, police, and civilian personnel, from 120 countries, are currently serving in twelve peacekeeping missions. The UN peacekeeping operations have faced numerous challenges across the world, but the greatest failure of the UN has been its inability to resolve two oldest disputes: the Arab-Israel (Israel – Palestine) conflict; and Jummu and Kashmir dispute. The former pertains to establishment of Palestine State as per UN resolutions and latter to determine the right of self-determination under UN auspices. In both cases, Muslims are facing worst form of atrocities, genocide, and ethnic cleansing in the face of brutal occupation by Israel and India, respectively.
Though, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is equally precarious, yet human catastrophe in Gaza demands immediate attention by the UN and international community. Palestinians, having lost their homeland, through Western sponsored colonization and occupation by Jewish military, have suffered perpetual oppression, tyranny, apartheid, killings, displacement, and loss of liberties in the last eighty years. The current situation in Gaza is most threatening and precarious. In last four months, Israel has forced around two million Palestinians to leave their homes in north and central Gaza, pushing them to flee to southern Gaza. More than 29,000 people have been killed and around 70,000 injured. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have destroyed all living facilities in Gaza, including houses, schools, hospitals, mosques, and UN refugees’ facilities as well.
Most barbaric attacks are directed on hospitals, alleging Hamas fighters taking shelter in these places. This claim has been vehemently refuted by Hamas. IDF has paid no heed to relentless appeals, made by the UN and other humanitarian agencies, to stop destroying the hospital facilities at least. Israeli acts were so cruel, brutal, and barbaric that even patients in intensive care, including children, newborn babies, women, and elderly people, were not spared. Undoubtedly, these savage acts constitute genocide, ethnic cleaning, and crimes against humanity. The ICJ has already directed Israel to prevent (stop) its forces to commit such crimes. UN Secretary-General has asked the international community to take ‘responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis,’ as ‘hostilities in Gaza have created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across the Occupied Palestinian Territory’. World Health Organization (WHO) has also called for (immediate) ceasefire to save lives and speed up the delivery of much needed aid, saying that “nowhere and no one is safe” in Gaza. Earlier WHO had asked for ‘immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief’. The request was shamelessly ignored by Israel. China’s Ambassador at the UN also said: “the world must speak out together, enough is enough.”
The entire world is crying that Israel must stop its brutal war against unarmed and innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The matter has been discussed repeatedly and protractedly by the UNSC, but the US arrogance and callousness has prevented and hindered all such efforts by using consecutive vetoes. It has, rather, added insult to the injuries of carnage by providing, diplomatic, military, and financial aid to Israel. Despite the support of thirteen members of the UNSC, including China, France, and Russia, the UNSC resolution for immediate cease-fire was blocked by the US. Though, the discussion on the UNSC reforms, including abolishing the right of veto by its permanent members, has been going on for last many decades, the recent situation of the US holding the UNSC hostage, through its veto in support of Israel’s blatant war crimes and genocide, has made the UNSC totally irrelevant and redundant, as far as its primary role of maintain international peace and security is concerned. It must be kept in mind that the US has, earlier, used its right of veto more than eighty times and mostly in support of Israel. There is no doubt that victors of World War II created the UN, and it has served well to protect and promote their geopolitical, geostrategic, and economic interests. Western powers continue to dominate global politics and economy through the world order established by them. However, the catastrophic human disaster taking place in Gaza and the US insistence to allow Israel to commit war crimes, without any remorse and hindrance, has compromised the concept of ‘collective security’ that was the basis of UN (humanitarian) intervention in last seven decades. The new world order is surely emerging, though slowly and gradually, amid West’s stiff resistance. The international community, especially developing world, has been forced to look for alternative means to break the deadlock caused by the US and UK to stop war crimes, perpetual apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleaning, and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians. Similarly, other oppressor occupying countries, such as India in Kashmir, or potential aggressors in the future need to be deterred to commit such heinous crimes. Otherwise, the concept of ‘collective security’ stands collapsed and confidence in ability of the UN to prevent threat to / breach of international peace stands eroded.
