The United Nations (UN) turned 80 on Friday, but it doesn’t feel like a time for celebration. The organisation, set up on October 24th, 1945, now teeters on the brink of irrelevance given its failure to respond effectively to recent crises in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. Despite this, the Irish Government has stated its intention to seek election to the organisation’s Human Rights Council in 2027.
What should our priorities be towards an institution that is widely regarded as not fit for purpose? How can we assess the last eight decades of international co-operation through the world’s only global international organisation?
When world leaders gathered in New York last month for the UN General Assembly, there was surprisingly little mention of the 80th anniversary of the UN. In stark contrast to other major anniversaries, which have been marked by fanfare and declarations of support, this time the tone was decidedly muted, not least from European states.
The UN’s failure to prevent the outbreak of violent conflicts which have killed thousands of people around the world in recent years, coupled with the quiet withdrawal of peacekeeping operations from countries marred by war such as Mali and Sudan, points to its desultory record in securing the world. Even where peacekeeping operations have been regarded as more successful or where they remain on the ground, fragile states hold on to a barely tangible peace.
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Peacekeepers often exemplify this classic image of the UN as a marginal force, ineffective to prevent or reduce violent hostilities. That image adds to the UN’s problems, increasing the sense of its weakness and enhancing misconceptions about what the organisation is and what it does.
While much attention is focused on peacekeeping, the dysfunction of the Security Council and the highly problematic veto system, most of the organisation’s work is actually devoted to economic and social development. Since 1945, the UN has codified human rights, assisted 124 million people in 120 countries around the world through the World Food Programme, while Unicef has saved 50 million children since 2000 alone.
The UN also remains the world’s only universally representative organisation where all 193 member states have an equal vote. This means tiny island states can hold their own against superpowers and shape the international agenda towards issues such as climate change and development financing.
The requirement to play by the rules within the UN system also impacts political dynamics around major issues and holds states accountable for their actions.
However, as demonstrated by recent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the last three years have seen a woeful disregard for the norms of international relations by Israel, Russia and the United States. The blatant violation of international law and breaching of sovereignty points to the limitations of the UN in being able to respond when the fundamental principles of the system are violated.
The failure of the UN to ease the suffering of people affected by conflict reveals an organisation that is, at best, not fit for purpose, while at worst, grievously deficient. The impotence of the UN has almost never been more obvious than in the images of the World Food Programme trucks, loaded with aid, being forced to wait along the border crossings to Gaza, while millions face starvation on the other side.
It is in this context that the Irish Government has declared its intention to seek election to the Human Rights Council. The council, which was created in 2006 to monitor and respond to violations of human rights, sits in Geneva, with an uncomfortable record. In recent years, its members have included states that do not respect human rights such as Somalia, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. This has made a mockery of the UN’s human rights institutions, calling into question their worth and purpose.
At the same time, important work has been done by the high commissioner for human rights, not least when the office was held by former Irish president Mary Robinson. The current special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has been an essential spokesperson in leading a chorus of critique of the Israeli military action in Gaza. She has been provocative in whipping up public sentiment on this issue.
The crisis that the UN finds itself in is multidimensional, arising from years of underfunding, structural inequalities that have been allowed to remain since 1945 and a lack of leadership. But letting the organisation languish in irrelevancy will only increase the sense of crisis in multilateralism that is being experienced across Europe.
For smaller powers like Ireland, although we enjoy an outsized reputation, the stripping bare of the UN’s limitations has produced an identity crisis. The basic principles of our internationalism – a commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights – are being violated by powerful states engaged in a scramble to reorder the world. The institutions we built to protect those principles are unable to act to sustain them.
The Government may view election to the Human Rights Council as a way not just to bolster our international role, but also to act in defence of a much-beleaguered human rights regime. But simply sticking our finger in the dam is not going to change much if the institution remains toothless and lacking in leadership.
What might be a better use of resources is a serious engagement with the proposal of reforming the UN Charter, under the provision of Article 109. This calls for a Charter Review Conference to be held between all member states to reform the UN, to make it more resilient and robust.
If Ireland wants to enhance its global role, and preserve and strengthen the UN, we must do more than play a leading role in a broken system. If we really want to protect human rights and promote our values, then we should lead the charge for UN reform as the best route towards creating a more equitable global order.
Alanna O’Malley is associate professor at the Leiden University Institute for History
