Importance of the United Nations in a changed Global Scenario

The United Nations was formed at a time, when the world was still reeling under the impact of the Second World War. People all across the world were slowly picking up pieces of their lives; some were pushing for freedom and liberation, some savouring new found freedom while also learning to shoulder the responsibilities that came along with it. The United Nations pressed forth principles and values that helped inform and instruct the masses in their struggle against colonialism and apartheid.

United Nations has not only found success in terms of creating avenues of ensuring peace and security, from human rights to environmental conservation the United Nations built consensus and created norms, it strengthened international human rights and international humanitarian law. With the passing of time, the existence of traditional threats has been compounded by the identification of non-traditional threats which primarily endanger human security in the form of global poverty, terrorism, malnutrition, epidemics and the like. United Nations agencies continue to make great strides working in countries and with communities all over the world to fight diseases, malnutrition and infant mortality and a whole range of other things.

Keeping in view the achievements of the United Nations organisation, one must also identify the various difficulties that have beleaguered the United Nations. These include the disharmony between the General Assembly and the Security Council, the lack of equitable presentation in the Security Council, the failure to represent contemporary political realities in the Security Council, furthermore, the perception that the most powerful have impunity from rules and norms has weakened the edifice of international law developed under the United Nations. One must also consider the crises such as the Oil for Food scandal, the discovery of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers and years of fiscal inefficiency which threaten the legitimacy of the UN.

However, these failures don’t dissolve the effectiveness of the United Nations in the global arena. International problems can be tackled only on a global level and require global solutions. The proliferation of nuclear weapons, the spread of HIV/AODS, environmental disasters and the scourge of narcotics trafficking are each dangerous threats that know no borders. In these cases, truly multilateral forums like the UN are needed to take stock of the problem and contribute toward a common solution. Organisations such as the UN alone can set international standards which are becoming increasingly more important to ensure security. The best platforms for advancing values of freedom, democracy, and prosperity are usually the broadest and most pervasive ones such as the United Nations, which also keeps in mind that resources must be utilised for the greater good. The ideals of the United Nations are timeless and if implemented in totality in a reformed structure that is equipped to deal with modern day realities and paradoxes, the UN stands in the supreme position to ensure peace and security in the world, primarily because the UN is driven by the will of its member states.

Anandi Bandhopadhyay

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