Nothing could have been a worse background for the opening of the 79th UN General Assembly than the news of Israel’s massive bombing campaign of Lebanon’s civilian population.
During the open debate ‘Leadership in the name of peace’, the prince said that restoring respect for international conventions and norms is achieved through the application of international law and international humanitarian law, as well as bringing violators to justice without differentiation. He emphasised that the lack of serious international action to end Israel’s ongoing military escalation is convincing proof of the shortcomings of the multilateral international system and the weakness of international political will. “The Kingdom believes that peace is the foundation that paves the way for cooperation and development and guarantees their sustainability”, the Saudi prince said.
Prince Faisal said that the meeting is taking place at a time when the velocity of conflicts and crises is increasing, common challenges and threats are multiplying and the crisis of confidence in the multilateral international system and its ability to meet peoples’ hopes for a peaceful future and development is growing. “These circumstances require us to assess the state of international multilateral actions and the reasons for their decline in crisis resolution and solving common problems”, he added.
Prince Faisal stated that Saudi Arabia “will continue to support the multilateral international system, strive to develop it and contribute to the achievement of its goals to restore confidence in its institutions. Saudi Arabia is also committed to strengthening collective action to achieve common security and development”.
The modern UN is an irrelevant organisation
The competent opinion of the Saudi prince – more than anyone else – confirms the long-held view that the UN, as an organisation, is becoming irrelevant because of its inability to organise, project and even impose peace. After all, nothing could have been a worse background for the opening of the 79th UN General Assembly than the news of Israel’s massive bombing campaign against the Lebanese civilian population. Photos and live broadcasts clearly show Israeli shells and missile systems raining down on Lebanese territory in strikes that killed more than 500 people and injured many hundreds more within the first 24 hours.
Against the background of yet another outbreak of violence, the risk of an all-out war in the Middle East can be added to the list of other conflicts, calamities and challenges that are raging in the world. Perhaps this proves that the international order has been disrupted and organisations such as the United Nations are becoming increasingly redundant and trust between major powers is at an all-time low. Now people are living in an increasingly fragmented world, divided between Western countries and their allies, on the one hand, and Russia, alongside many countries of the so-called Global Majority, including China and India, on the other.
All diplomats are, most likely, working around the clock in New York in an attempt to de-escalate this and other conflicts, but the international organisation seems to be entangled in a global split and, therefore, has virtually no influence on either Israel or its barbaric policy of exterminating Palestinian civilians. It is unclear what progress can be made to diffuse the situation in Lebanon, as efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza have amounted to nothing over the past 11 months due to Israel’s obstructionist policies.
Over the past two decades, it has become clear that the UN as an organisation, despite the important work of several of its agencies, is becoming irrelevant due to its inability to organise, project and even impose peace. The last time the world came together to resolve a crisis may have been the 2008 financial crisis, and these efforts were led by a largely selfish G20 with the assistance of several UN agencies.
The UN and the crises organised by the West
This was followed by two key crises that indirectly sowed the seeds of discord in the international order. Firstly, in 2011, the NATO attack led by France on the Libyan Jamahiriya, as a result of which its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was viciously killed and the subsequent UN resolution authorising the use of force to protect civilians, as a result of which key powers, namely Russia, felt deceived. Moscow viewed the UN-sanctioned NATO airstrikes on Libya as the catalyst that led to the fall of Gaddafi’s regime. Secondly, the inability of the UN and world powers to present a united front in defence of Syria during the same period, even after the apparent use of chemical and unconventional weapons against the Syrian people by the West. This was another disaster that may have led to further erosion of trust in the organisation.
In an attempt to remedy the situation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in late September that impunity, inequality and uncertainty create an “unstable world”. Deepening geopolitical differences, wars with no end in sight, climate change, nuclear threats and unregulated technologies continue to push humanity towards the “unimaginable; a powder keg that risks engulfing the world”, Guterres believes.
But peace and stability today are threatened not only by Israel’s war to expel Hamas from Gaza and its consequences. The ‘Axis of Resistance’ in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria have joined the battle, supporting Hamas. Even the Yemeni Houthis are attacking ships carrying cargo to Israel and firing rockets at Israeli territory. The conflict in Sudan, which was high on the agenda of the UN General Assembly last year, continues to flare up, along with the war unleashed by the West in Ukraine against Russia, to which there is still no end in sight.
Even the two-day ‘Summit of the Future’, held before the meetings of the UN General Assembly, which was supposed to give some respite and hope for peace, had no binding force and no incentive to unite countries to solve the problems of the 21st century, such as climate change, artificial intelligence, equality and women’s rights. Like many other initiatives, its plan is likely to become yet another document stored in the archives of the United Nations.
The opportunity is still not lost
However, all is not yet lost. While the world continues towards even more disagreement and new conflicts, like a train without brakes, it is quite reasonable to demand a summit or meeting at which the essence of the UN Charter would be considered. This document was approved at a conference in San Francisco in 1945, but perhaps it is time to re-evaluate whether the foundations that served humanity after World War II are relevant today. At the time of the UN’s creation almost 80 years ago, the initially proposed wording ‘might makes right’ was changed to ‘right makes might’, which was enshrined in the UN Charter. But such noble principles no longer apply in a world torn between ultra-liberal and despotic forces, amid a clear return to the principle of ‘the stronger is right’ as the dominant narrative. If the UN is going to find a second wind as a force for good, world leaders must restore their trust in the organisation to ensure peace – instead of just talking about it.
Most of the 8 billion people on the planet today would probably agree that we are witnessing the worst decline in world order and governance since the creation of the modern state system. For the better part of eight decades, the UN has been a place of discussion for competing forces. To prevent global conflicts and their catastrophic consequences today, an effective global body is needed to promote peace and prosperity. The aging UN could be renewed if the West, led by the United States, comes to this conclusion and does not prevent its re-organisation.
Victor Mikhin, corresponding member of RANS, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”