SHABIR AHMAD
The United Nations (UN) was set up, 75 years ago, with the principal aim of maintaining world peace and security. It has been successful in the decolonization process and preventing another World War. However, the 21st-century world is very different from the 20th century and poses many new problems and realities.
The present humanitarian and economic losses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic are comparable to that of major wars and unemployment is worse than at any time since the Great Depression 1929. This has highlighted the challenges of the multilateral UN system.
Furthermore, there has been a general trend of increasing the number of challenges that are Transnational (for example, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, pandemics, climate crisis, cyber-security, and poverty). UN being the epitome of multilateral world order will be much needed in dealing with global issues. Therefore, reforms in the UN are necessary to strengthen the UN’s effectiveness as a multilateral organization, bring more transparency to the institution and enhance its credibility. The Conflict between the US on the one hand and China and Russia on the other has become a new reality in the West-East conflict which has given birth to a new cold war.
Despite the enduring post-War alliances, there is a growing divergence between the US and its European partners on many global issues. Some of the differences between the US and the other powers are very visible in the Iran Nuclear Deal. Further, rejection of post-War multilateralism and post-Cold War globalism was at the heart of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
The UN has been unable to respond effectively to the once-in-a-century global crisis triggered by the coronavirus. At the UN Security Council, China blocked a serious discussion on the origin and sources of the crisis. Consequently, the US walked out of the World Health Organisation, accusing the top health organization of siding with China.
Why reforms are needed?
The Security Council’s membership and working methods reflect a bygone era. Though geopolitics have changed drastically, the UNSC has changed relatively little since 1945, when wartime victors crafted a Charter in their interest and awarded “permanent” veto-wielding Council seats for the Allied victors. The UNSC was expanded only once in 1963 to add 4 non-permanent members to the Council. Although the overall membership of the UN has increased from113 to 193, there has been no change in the composition of the UNSC.
Inequitable economic and geographical representation
While Europe is over-represented, Asia is underrepresented. Africa and South America have no representation at all. Stalled reform agenda and various issues including its interventions in Libya and Syria in the name of responsibility have put questions on the credibility of the institution. The permanent UNSC membership portrays the big North-South divide in the decision making of security measures.
For instance, there is no permanent member from Africa, even though 75% of its work is focused on that continent. Issues such as deepening economic interdependence, worsening environmental degradation, transnational threats also call for effective multilateral negotiations among the countries based on consensus. Yet, all critical decisions of the UNSC are still being taken by the permanent members of the Security Council.
UNSC’s Major Setbacks
Although WW-III has been successfully prevented to date, violence, arms races, nuclear races, and cold war still occur among nations. The world body continues to see a tussle between ‘principle’ and ‘power’. While the hopes of a peaceful and just world are represented by the UN, the most powerful states are privileged by granting them commanding heights over international politics via the undemocratic instruments of veto power and permanent seats in the UN Security Council (UNSC). The UN has been unable to present itself as a multipolar and multilateral organization. At the time of formation, the UN had 5 permanent members with a total of 51 members, presently, it has 193 members but permanent members in the UN General Assembly are still 5. The organization had not been able to cope up with the increasing globalization. The UN has been a laggard in overall development; no institutional arrangement is there to deal in particular with Pandemics or new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
Areas of UN Reform
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the UN’s main executive body with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. However, the veto powers possessed by the UNSC’s five permanent members are used as an instrument to shore up their geopolitical interests, regardless of the disastrous consequences for the victims of armed conflict. As it can be seen in Syria, Iraq, etc. The UNSC is considered the ‘nucleus’ of the UN system, it is the only body that has the real punitive powers, thus the leading powers of the international system try to dictate terms. The fact that the UNSC membership expansion reforms haven’t taken place for decades together signifies how the leading powers want it to remain a ‘closed club’. Further, It does not reflect today’s distribution of military and economic power, nor a geographical balance. Thus, the structure of the 15-member Security Council ought to be more democratic and representative. This has been long overdue on the demand, especially from the so-called Group of 4 (G4) countries — Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan —which advocates a permanent seat for all of them.
History teaches that the fact that crises catalyze states to rise above inertia, myopia, and narrow self-interest. This can be reflected in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, conferences at Bretton Woods and San Francisco in the 1940s. The present pandemic is similar to the crisis that can lead to a tectonic shift in world affairs. Further, given the global issues, today the world needs multilateralism more than ever. Thus, it is necessary to reform the UN. In this context, India must utilize the next two years of its non-permanent member of the UNSC for bringing much-needed reforms in the system. India has harbored ambitions to be on the seat of the high table of global diplomacy goes back to as early as India’s first Prime Minister saying that India should get its rightful place in the comity of nations, a well-deserved place owing to its great civilization.
Several permanent members of the UNSC have backed India’s candidature at the high table of the UN Security Council (UNSC), but it is fairly safe to say it is not going to materialize anytime soon. The UN has survived and thrived and has certainly seen incremental changes over the last 75 years but the time has come for the UN to change and change for the better. UNSC is in desperate need to undergo reforms, the sooner the better, the later the more redundant. In a nutshell, as far as the whole UN is concerned complete reform is needed with principles not to be written by the most powerful anymore.
Shabir Ahmad can be reached at [email protected].