Established after worldwide II, with an aim to prevent future wars and the related death, destruction and wastage of resources, the UN has rarely succeeded in preventing wars, especially if one of the warring parties is a superpowerbecause these superpowers could veto any UN resolution to get through. The same has been the case even if the resolution is passed because it again involves the influence of one or the other power. Yes, some of the wars between relatively poorer nation were stopped and controlled by it. The case has recently turned out to be even worse because none of the aggressive states is willing to implement the resolutions of UNO. Prior to 9/11, some type of moral justice was sought before attacking any part of the world, yet post 9/11 world is a world of power and money and mostly devoid of moral authority. With this backdrop, all wars of the aggressive powers have continued almost endlessly, even if the warring factions are poor. Look at the US War in Afghanistan or the Russian War in Ukraine, which is endlessly continuing. Israeli aggression against the adjacent territories has been unabated, along with scores of conflicts and skirmishes. For example, the Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir could never be resolved through plebiscite ordered by the UN. Pakistan and India are fighting till today over this conflict. Similarly, the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians only caused death and destruction for the Palestinian, Lebanese and to very little extent to the Israelis. Had the UN been powerful enough, these conflicts would not have thrived on the bloodbath of innocent people. Besides, many African states have brought their people hunger and insecurity only because of wars, but the UN has not been able to establish peace in poor African states, and innocent people are still suffering at the hands of war mongering people of these states and the global interests.
Wars in this new-world-order-shift are for the control of resources, and these can be snatched from the poor and the weak, or they would face death and destruction.
More recently, the American, Israeli, and Iranian war has escalated the already existing humanitarian, energy and environmental crises. Although the UN has frequently attempted to intervene but has miserably failed and has not even had any significant role in brokering any peace deal or ceasefire. Now the world has evolved into a new world order which demands that it is only the powerful who have the right to control the people, trade and resources of the globe and that it solely depends on the power to let the people live peacefully. Wars in this new-world-order-shift are for the control of resources, and these can be snatched from the poor and the weak or they would face death and destruction. The UN in this whole scenario is speaking, but no one is willing to listen.
Having said that, the UN has proved its usefulness in multiple other directions, which is very laudable in reaching out to the suffering humanity because of wars, floods, epidemics and natural disasters. Similarly, it’s contributions in education for the poor countries are significant. It has fundedmany educational projects for the uplift of education for the marginalized groups like women and children. Another side of the UN is shining because of its contribution to disease control and prevention all over the world. It has worked wonders in running plans for the eradication of fatal diseases from the world and is still fighting against them in almost the entire world. It also works on reducing the environmental impact, which very badly needs to be taken care of. UNO also runs its peacekeeping projects wherever it can manage to do so. It also holds dialogues and debates on sociopolitical issues to help formulate policies for the benefit of humanity. It also publishes its annual reports based on real time statistics to make the world more understandable.
These days, the UN is involved with universities all over the world, especially in the global south, to initiate policy, dialogue and interaction for the uplift of the destitute and the marginalized, with a special focus on women of the underdeveloped areas to promote their art and craft and to provide them a marketing forum. It would also work on the capacity building of the same group of people. In Pakistan also twoUNESCO chairs are already working and are making more progress.
This and many other activities of the UN prove the validity of its relevance, which no other institution can compete with. Therefore, it is high time that the UN should become a protection, development and capacity building forum for humanity worldwide to make itself more relevant. Wars are initiated, propagated and prolonged by the powerful nations to flex their muscles and so cannot be controlled or ended without a powerful and technically and tactically advanced force. But again, this force can only come from powerful countries, which necessitates that the UN can perform better for human well-being, and we all should join hands to support this role.
The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@ hotmail.com and Tweets @Profzee