- What are the key challenges facing the UN, and which is the most important? Explain your answer?
The United Nations (UN) has always been known to play the role of maintaining world peace and sustainability. It is based upon this ideological perspective that it becomes evident that in a period of international tension, the United Nations’ ability to resolve the global crisis is shrinking. In September 2019, the UN general assembly had a meeting regarding conflict from Asia to Latin America. In a review of the efforts of the UN in the meeting, it becomes clear that the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough in the meeting were low. Despite this factor, in recent years, the UN has taken part in processes that aim to strengthen its capability to perform its core functions. In consideration of this factor, one realizes that some key challenges face the United Nations. The UN peace efforts face five challenges; these challenges are: relabeling of conflict as counter-terrorism struggles, geopolitical intransigence and aggression, changes in regime and legacies of military intervention, the existence of panic because of forced displacement, and the struggling humanitarianism (Crisis-group, 2019).
In consideration of the challenges that the UN faces, it is clear that rivalries between regional and global powers are protracting conflict. Wars in Yemen and Syria are perfect examples of wars that have been supported by regional and global powers. In such situations, the UN often finds its self in a struggle to maintain peace in these areas of conflict because of the dynamic nature of the War due to the involvement of the world’s superpowers. Quite often, world superpowers have been involved in a battle with other countries overseas, which have been labeled as peacekeeping missions. The labeling of conflict as peacekeeping missions often results in the neglect of actors and factors that cause conflict. From this point of view, it is clear that such cases of overseas involvement of global superpowers in War tend to result in violent conflicts rather than reducing it (Saferworld, 2018).
In addition to the issues pointed out in this case, it is clear that the UN is facing a humanitarian struggle. The core issue facilitating the UN’s humanitarian effort is its inadequate resources to help victims of conflict. It is clear that the UN is not good enough to defend humanitarian values and empower those affected by the humanitarian crisis. In a nutshell, there will be no change in the UN humanitarian actions’ failure if there is continued direct or indirect support of the UN Security Council’s allies. With more people being affected by conflicts or War across the world, it is clear that people become desperate during War and flee the conflict zone. Neighbouring countries to those that are in conflict are often affected most because of trying to cope with increasing number of refugees in their countries. With western governments facilitating the closure of borders to shut the problem out, it is clear that panic often arises among those fleeing from War because of forced displacement. In situations where military interventions and regime change have failed in defeating fundamentalist groups or facilitate lasting stability, distrust often arises when it comes to interventionism. Despite this factor, it is argued that there is a considerable risk of giving up on supporting peaceful and constructive change amid repression (Saferworld, 2018).
The main challenges that face the UN are quite clear. The critical issue affecting the UN is the existence of competition for influence over the organization among the P5, particularly Russia, the U.S, and China. World superpowers are continuously influencing and ignoring the UN Security Council. Because of this, the U.S managed to block the British’s ability to call for a cease-fire in Libya. At the time, Trump’s administration saw General Haftar as the best ally against jihadist groups in the region. From this ideological perspective, it is clear that the P5’s power over the UN Security Council has kept it away from situations where the P5 members have freedom of action. In this case, the UN is facing the challenge of becoming an international body that big powers ignore and use based on their interests. With this in mind, there is significant concern regarding the UN’s ability to maintain global peace and security without having external influences.
The fight against terrorism has often been identified as the key message that has been used by world superpowers to validate their political agenda in countries such as Libya and Syria. Despite this factor, the UN is far from being paralyzed, putting in mind that the organization has managed to oversee approximately 100,000 peacekeepers globally. All in all, it is argued that it is vital to ensure that the UN is free from any external influences, especially when it comes to its initiatives in enforcing global peace and security. The independence of the UN is vital because it enables the organization to perform its functions from a neutral point of view. By remaining neutral, the UN tends to be in a better position in resolving the conflict between countries that are in War and help them come to an agreeable solution. Quite often, significant conflicts have consistently affected people living in Syria and Libya due to the politicization of conflict. To ensure that the UN can effectively address its challenges in maintaining world peace. The organization ought to be provided with adequate resources to perform its functions to avoid any external influences when resolving conflict (Crisis-group, 2019).
- The failure of the UN Security Council to contribute to the Syrian conflict’s political solution showcases its growing irrelevance. Discuss
In consideration of the conflict in Syria for some years, it is argued that there is still no sign of the conflict reducing. The conflict in Syria has become widespread and extreme, as a result, it threatened the peace and stability of the Middle East. The UN Security Council is identified as the upholders and gatekeepers of international law. There is a significant need for the Security Council to rectify its failure to prohibit the use of force and maintain global peace. With this in mind, a review of the UN Security Council’s efforts towards identifying an effective solution to the Syrian conflict is considered to be of great concern.
The lack of consideration for international laws that have been set by the UN is as among the core attributing factors toward the existence of the conflict in Syria. It is arguable that the UN has the responsibility of ensuring that international law is adhered to. Still, the Syrian War’s prevalence indicates that the UN Security Council fails to enforce these laws. It is based upon this ideological perspective that one realizes that the UN Security Council has not effectively managed to perform its duties. From this ideological perspective, it is considered necessary to evaluate some of the ways in which the UN council has failed in resolving international conflicts such as the Syrian War. By understanding some of the things that have made the UN unsuccessful in resolving the Syrian War, it becomes possible to know whether the UN Security Council is becoming irrelevant or not (Crisis-group, 2019).
There are growing concerns regarding the UN Security Council’s inability to respond to some of the pressing global crises. The UN Security Council should focus on prioritizing on retaining its credibility and overcome dysfunction by focusing on situations where international cooperation is possible. Poor diplomacy in the UN Security Council is one of the factors that have attributed to its failure in resolving the Syrian conflict. It is argued that the UN Security Council has often found itself in trouble in the last decade because of its division over the Syrian War. The debate over the control over the UN Security Council by either U.S Russia and China, has often left the council in a dilemma. It is arguable that the fight for control over the UN Security Council is one of the significant issues affecting the organization’s ability to perform its duties. The worsening relations between the U.S Russia and China is one of the attributing factors that has made a significant number of commentators and diplomats think that the UN security council is collapsing (Crisis-group, 2019).
Despite the arguments towards the UN Security Council’s inability to perform its functions, it is argued that the council managed to step up to tackle the Korean Crisis in the year 2017. During the Korean crisis, the organization was able to put in place powerful sanctions that were able to back the fragile process of making peace in Yemen. It is based upon this ideological perspective hat one realizes that the UN security council’s inability to resolve the Syrian conflict was actually not an indication that the organization was becoming an irrelevance. In a nutshell, it is clear that the UN security council was not in a position to resolve the Syrian conflict because of the influence of countries like the U.S towards the conflict (Crisis-group, 2019).
All in all, it is arguable to say that the UN Security Council’s ability to maintain its relevance is determined by its overall ability to maintain independence in enforcing law and policy. External influence from the P5 is one of the attributing factors towards its failure to achieve high levels of relevance with regards to the mandate of the organization’s functions. In addition to all this, it is clear that there are three damaging trends in the UN council. The growing division between President Donald Trump’s administration and the traditional U.S allies is a significant issue that is affecting the UN council. It is also argued that the worsening distrusts of Russia, China, and the Western powers are one of the factors that facilitated the weakening of the UN Security Council. All in all, the tension that has often developed between permanent and elected council members of the UN security council regarding its functions is one of the main issues that have affected how the organization performs its duties in ending wars such as the Syrian conflict (Crisis-group, 2019).
References
Crisis-group. (2019). Seven Opportunities for the UN in 2019-2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020, from https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/002-seven-opportunities-un-2019-2020
Crisis-group. (2019). Council of Despair? The Fragmentation of UN Diplomacy. Retrieved 20 May 2020, from https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/b001-council-despair-fragmentation-un-diplomacy
Saferworld. (2018). Five challenges the UN’s ‘sustaining peace’ agenda needs to address. Retrieved 20 May 2020, from https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/news-and-analysis/post/755-five-challenges-the-unas-asustaining-peacea-agenda-needs-to-address