Without It The World A Jungle ... We Need The UN - Georges Emile Irani (Arab Times)

On Sept 16 the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly opened in New York. This year’s agenda was busy with various issues ranging from ongoing conflicts (Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and South Sudan). In addition to these issues of high politics we have other issues of low politics including global warming, refugees, and the spread of Ebola in some African countries.

When the UN was created in 1945 its purpose was to 1) maintain international peace and security, 2) develop friendly relations among states based on equal rights and self- determination, 3)promoting respect for human rights and resolving economic, social and humanitarian crises, and, finally, 4) be a forum to harmonize relations between its member states.

Did the UN succeed? It did and it did not. One has to keep in mind that the UN is an international organization reflecting the will of its member states. It also mirrors the power relationship existing between the five permanent members of the Security Council (US, Russia, China, France and the UK).

During the Cold War the UN, especially its Security Council, became a hostage to the power play existing between the United States of America and the former Soviet Union. Each “superpower” used the universal body to advance its goals and its sphere of influence leading to a paralysis of UN actions.

Since the collapse of the former USSR in 1989 the UN’s role was energized despite the prevalence of realpolitik among the major powers (China, USA and Russia). Major tensions between these still creep in to affect the UN’s work. These tensions were reflected during the genocide in Rwanda and the current crises in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and the ongoing war on terrorism.

In Syria, for instance, divisions within the members of the Security Council have made it impossible to implement the Responsibility to Protect doctrine unanimously adopted by UN members in 2005. This doctrine calls on the international community to intervene if a state fails to protect its citizens from war crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity. In the case of Syria intervention was thwarted by the joint vetoes of Russia and the People’s Republic of China.

Nevertheless, UN peacekeepers have been more successful. For example, in countries such as Lebanon the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) has been acting as a buffer between Israel and its northern neighbor since 1978 despite the various Israeli military interventions, the latest being in 2006.

Yes the UN was wracked with all kind of scandals of bloated bureaucracy, corruption, peacekeepers accused of rape. However, today UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon is tackling and neutralizing these issues.

We need the UN because without it our world would resemble the Hobbesian jungle where anarchy and violence reign.

Few years ago, Kofi-Annan, former UN Secretary-General was quoted as saying: “Only a global organization is capable of meeting global challenges. When we act together, we are stronger and less vulnerable to individual calamity.” How true these words sound today? The UN has proven to be an interesting compromise between a Machiavellian view of the world and the peaceful ideals advocated by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Dr George Emile Irani is Associate Professor of International Relations at the American University of Kuwait.