UN Faces Crisis of Relevance at 79th anniversary

A leading international relations expert has warned that the United Nations is at risk of becoming obsolete as it marks its 79th anniversary, citing the organisation’s failure to adapt to the post-Cold War global order and its inability to prevent or resolve major conflicts.

In a critical analysis published on Middle East Online, Dr. Alon Ben-Meir argues that the UN’s primary mission of promoting peace and stability has fallen short, pointing to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and Palestine as stark examples of the organization’s ineffectiveness.

“The UN’s structure, particularly the Security Council’s veto power held by its five permanent members, often leads to diplomatic paralysis,” Ben-Meir writes, noting that only a quarter of the world’s population is represented by the Security Council’s current composition.

The article identifies several critical weaknesses in the UN system, including ineffective peacekeeping missions, lack of enforcement mechanisms for resolutions, and bureaucratic inefficiencies that hamper humanitarian aid delivery.

Ben-Meir cites Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pointed 2022 question to the Security Council: “Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee?”

To address these challenges, Ben-Meir proposes several practical reforms that could be implemented without fundamental structural changes.

These include modifying veto power usage, improving regional representation, strengthening the General Assembly’s role, and expanding Security Council membership to include nations from underrepresented regions.

The expert warns that without adopting such reforms, particularly in the Security Council, the UN risks becoming increasingly irrelevant in addressing global conflicts and maintaining international peace and security.