Russia’s ongoing illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine represents a massive crisis for the United Nations, a crisis of credibility and relevance from which it may never recover.
Repeated pleas by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an immediate end to hostilities have been ignored by Moscow. Two UN General Assembly resolutions, adopted by overwhelming majorities, calling on Russia to immediately end all military operations in Ukraine – the second resolution additionally calling for the protection of civilians – have also been snubbed by the Kremlin.
Worse still, the 15-member UN Security Council, the body that has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, has proved impotent in the face of Russia’s aggression.
Following the start of the war, a resolution condemning the invasion failed after it was vetoed by Russia – one of the five permanent members of the Council – thus making a complete mockery of the UN framework.
Many observers have understandably questioned the relevance of the UN if it is unable to not only stop such a blatant act of war by Russia but also be impotent to take action in the face of horrendous war crimes committed by Moscow in Ukraine. Executions, rapes and the deliberate targetting of civilians, hospitals and food storage facilities have all been recorded.
It is true that Russia was suspended from the UN Human Rights Council after more than two thirds of member states in the UN General Assembly – the required threshold – voted in favour of the diplomatic rebuke. But such a symbolic act can hardly be expected to alter Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine.
It is clear, therefore, that the UN needs to be made more effective in protecting the international rules-based order and is in dire need of reform.
This state of affairs simply cannot continue and the war in Ukraine should be the catalyst to restructure the UN
Talk about reforming the UN is nothing new. Numerous proposals have been floated over the years, including enlarging the UN Security Council’s permanent membership to include countries such as Japan, Brazil, India, South Africa and Germany, and abolishing the veto on the council. However, no concrete reform has taken place to date.
This state of affairs simply cannot continue and the war in Ukraine should be the catalyst to restructure the UN.
Guterres should now ask all member states to support a new conference to relaunch the UN, similar to the one held in San Francisco in 1945, in order to reshape the organisation in a manner that reflects the priorities of the 21st century.
Besides increasing the number of permanent members of the UN Security Council, the aim of this conference should be to abolish the veto and introduce majority voting in the council.
This will not be easy and will undoubtedly face opposition from the present permanent members of the Security Council.
But the current situation is untenable. Russia/USSR has used its veto 120 times – they peaked with the Syrian civil war in 2011 where many resolutions where thrown out, including one on the use of chemical weapons.
How can this be justified? The US has used its veto 82 times, most of them of resolutions against Israel, which has often flouted international law.
This is also unjustifiable.
The UN General Assembly did take a step in the right direction in April when it adopted a resolution requiring it “to hold a debate on the situation” when a veto is used in the Security Council within 10 working days.
But this is obviously not enough.
For real progress to be made, the veto needs to be done away with, even if this takes place in a gradual manner where the veto is initially allowed to be used under certain circumstances.