How effective is the U.N.? Is the UN System in danger of becoming irrelevant?

Is the United Nations System in danger of becoming irrelevant?

Who doesn’t know the United Nations or at least has heard of them? But do you know what the UN actually does? You may have followed various UN interventions in e.g. Syria, Iraq or recent announcements by WHO related to COVID19; you may have wondered if there’s not a more efficient, faster way; maybe the UN sometimes seems almost paralyzed in their speed of response to you.

Calls to reform the UN

You are not alone, various Governments have shared their concerns over the years, calling for the need for multilateralism more than ever to address increasingly complex challenges around the world and for institutions including the UN to implement reforms to be more effective and relevant.

We couldn’t agree more and believe that there’s always room for improvement but before criticising and finger pointing at an organization that was created after the Second World War by no less than 51 countries dedicated to maintain international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights we should ask what does it do on a daily basis.

No doubt you have asked how does the UN actually work? The UN and its systems are clearly not a one man show where the CEO takes a decision to be implemented by its staff, so how does it make decisions? How many people actually work there? How are they managed and who takes decisions?

UN Facts & Figures

Before answering those questions, let’s have a quick look at some UN facts and figures to help explain what it is the UN actually does and what they have achieved so far!?

Well, according to the 2019 UN Card https://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/un-card-10-facts/ the United Nations system:

• Provides food and assistance to 91.4 million people in 83 countries

• Supplies vaccines to 45% of the world’s children, helps save 3 million lives a year

• Assists and protects 71.4 million people fleeing war, famine and persecution

• Works with 196 nations to keep the global temperature rise well below 2°C/3.6°F

• Keeps peace with 102,482 peacekeepers in 14 operations around the world

• Tackles the global water crisis affecting over 2.1 billion people worldwide

• Protects and promotes human rights globally and through 80 treaties/declarations

• Coordinates US$21.9 billion appeal for the humanitarian needs of 131.7 million people

• Uses diplomacy to prevent conflict: assists some 50 countries a year with their elections

• Helps over 2 million women a month overcome pregnancy and childbirth complications

How does the UN work

So how does the UN actually work? To answer that question one needs to understand what the UN charter is; what Member States are; who are the P5 and whats a veto power?

The Charter was ratified on October 24, 1945 and with this the UN formally came into existence. The Charter has 50 original signatories. Today, there are 193 UN Member States.

What’s the UN Security Council and why is it so powerful?

The UN Security Council which is composed of 15 members is the most powerful arm of the United Nations. It can among others impose sanctions and authorize military intervention. What’s to be noted here is that the size and structure of the Security Council has been contested since its creation. Doesn’t come with a surprise that critics say it is the most outdated and paralyzed part of the organization.

Who are the 5 permanent members P5 of the UN Security Council and what is the Veto power?

To add to that, the veto power is probably the UN Charter’s most significant distinction between permanent and non-permanent members.

Any member of the permanent five, for short the P5, can veto any measure, and each country has regularly used this power either to protect itself or allies. Those permanent five are the victors of World War II: the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. The other 10 members are elected for two-year terms, with seats set aside for different regions of the world.

Though the Charter does allow the General Assembly to act if, because of a veto, international peace and security are threatened. But in reality, it is rarely done. Consequently, the veto remained a substantial difficulty in the functioning of the Security Council and with that the whole organization.