In March 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia withdraw its forces from Ukraine. His decisions are actually just manifestations of good intentions. Real authority rests with the United Nations Security Council, whose decisions are legally binding.
Its five permanent members that possess nuclear weapons (the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and China) have veto power.
The great failure of the United Nations as an institution is its inability to act if one of these great powers were involved in a conflict.
Veto on Gaza as well as on Ukraine
Russia's veto gives immunity in Ukraine. The United States does the same to protect itself and its friends. Of the 83 times they used their veto power in the Security Council, they did so 42 times to oppose resolutions condemning Israel.
Regarding Gaza, they vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire last December, and during Biden’s trip to Israel, they actually vetoed a resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce.” The United States representative to the Security Council defended Israel's right to self-defense, saying that diplomacy must be allowed to “play its role.”
On the Palestinian side, Russia and China used their veto power against a US resolution demanding the immediate release of Hamas hostages and calling for allowing “all measures” to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. But not a ceasefire.
The United Nations is a vital institution aimed at promoting peace and security. The current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East show the limits of its influence and the organizational shortcomings that prevent it from being effective.
Will the United Nations end up like the League of Nations?
It was US President Woodrow Wilson who founded the League of Nations after the end of World War I. Through peace, he wanted to make the world safe for democracy. The League was to ensure collective security, settle disputes by arbitration and defend victims of aggression.
This beautiful failed project got off to a very bad start. The US Senate, in an insult to Wilson, refused to ratify the treaty, and the United States never became a member.
A series of international crises in the 1930s demonstrated the organization's impotence in the face of aggression from Italy, Japan, and Nazi Germany. The parallels to be drawn with today's world are troubling… and despairing.
The United Nations continues to play an indispensable role in many other respects. Its conventions and standards and those of its affiliated organizations govern broad fields ranging from health to communications and navigation.
Its humanitarian relief agencies are courageously working on the ground in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and other areas torn by war or stricken by disasters such as famine and epidemics.
