Reforming the United Nations: Toward Transparency and Equity
- UN Achievements and Critiques: The UN has made significant contributions to global peacekeeping, education, and poverty alleviation but faces criticism for inefficiency and bias, especially in addressing actions by powerful nations.
- Reform Needs: Key reforms, such as limiting veto power, improving representation in the Security Council, and ensuring transparency, are essential for the UN to function equitably and effectively.
- Accountability and Protection: Strengthening protective measures for staff and enforcing accountability for all member states, regardless of power dynamics, is crucial for maintaining the UN’s credibility and fulfilling its charter.
The world is an unpredictable globe of events and incidents that requires supervision to keep populations hustling and bustling in a safe environment. Countries employ regulations to maintain peace within their territory, and to broaden this principle, the United Nations (UN) came to fruition. The United Nations endeavors to preserve peace and diplomacy beyond borders, ensure the fulfillment of human rights within nations, and support and rescue oppressed groups of people. Then again what has the United Nations achieved since its inception in 1945 to foster global peace and development?
Since its birth in 1945, the UN has achieved many feats, from saving countless lives by deploying peacekeeping forces in high-conflict areas like Sierra Leone, Kosovo, and Cambodia to leading poverty-aid missions and promoting educational access programs by launching programs like Education for All (EFA), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Global Education First Initiative (GEFI).
Although the ideals of the UN paint a lovely picture describing world peace, there are some critiques associated with it regarding its inefficiency in certain conflicts, wars, and genocides. For example, people scrutinized the UN for allowing China to be a part of the Human Rights Council, considering China’s involvement with the Uyghur Genocide. The UN has trouble confronting China on its misdeeds because it is a part of the P-5 block in the Security Council and a rising power. Similarly, the UN is not exceptional at holding big powers accountable for their deeds, and if they do consider an act of transgression, they are inept at carrying out mandates.
The Palestinian genocide has been occurring longer since October 7th, and the UN Peacekeeping forces and aid have been attacked on several occasions in Gaza and Southern Lebanon unabashedly by the IDF, which is an international crime, according to human rights activist groups like Amnesty International. The greatest number of UN forces killed occurred during the Israeli siege on Lebanon in 1982, and even though the UN has acknowledged such heinous acts of violence against their personnel and instructed the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the verdict was largely ignored by the West, which, in turn, enabled the Israelis to misuse Lebanese airspace and carry out other war crimes.
It is ironic considering the UN gathered 27% of its funding from the United States in 2023, so it sets up a power hierarchy of whom they can criticize and who cannot, a sense of power imbalance.
Many people are of the opinion that the UN does not perform well in providing its services to the people because, like other institutions, it looks away from issues pertaining outside the West or does not pull in the same effort required in non-Western countries.
If the UN would turn towards rectifying its faults and creating a better, reliable environment for its beneficiaries, it would be preferable for it to reform certain aspects of itself and uphold its charter word for word.
The P-5 veto power is immense, considering each member can single-handedly veto a resolution, and issues relating to their respective countries have been vetoed. It is difficult to limit the veto power as it requires the permission of the P-5 block; however, its reform would prove beneficial to the bigger picture as it can allow the UN to unbiasedly tackle matters pertaining to all.
The UN is an international peacekeeping organization; it holds no room for bias or special treatment. How can the UN claim to uphold peace when it fails to act against human rights violations by powerful nations? It is such an attitude that holds weaker powers responsible for their actions but not higher powers, which strikes as unfair. The veto power allows countries like China to veto the investigation of its own human rights abuses, which is damaging enough.
The UN lacks proper representation; it has an outdated board of members and needs to make space for emerging nations like Korea, Japan, and other countries from the Association of South Eastern Asian Countries (ASEAN) in the Security Council to make it a more inclusive environment.
The UN should learn from its previous mistakes and should adopt more transparency within its workings to better achieve its purpose. Corruption and kicking members out solely for reporting incidents of mishandling money, performing insufficiently, or abusing UN powers is not appropriate, nor does it stand according to the UN’s principles.
The UN fears retaliation in case they report an influential country for abusing conventions. In this case, the UN requires greater protective measures for its staff to serve justice without fear of losing funding, performance power, or risks to their own lives.
An international association bolsters its employees and fellow peacekeepers with immense support and protection to ensure fairness. Even if the UN has been unable to fulfill its role in these and some circumstances, it has the potential to improve as its Security General, Antonio Guterres, has advocated for reforming the UN since 2017.
The author is a freelance writer with a strong passion for social justice, politics, and research.
