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Amid the continuing debate on the relevance of the United Nations to the 21st century world, suggestions from different quarters on the subject keep pouring in. A group moots the idea of a wholesale overhaul of the world body. It should begin with the expansion of the permanent 5-member UN Security Council, dominated by five great military powers of the post-World War-II period. They have been calling shots in the world body and in all the large international crises since the UN's founding on 24 October, 1945. Many others go further. Their suggestions include giving direct intervening power to the UN in global flashpoints, as well as full and functional autonomy of the organisation. Of the majority of its present 193 members, many feel being sidelined, with many regions feeling being given short shrift when it comes to issues involving them. Against this backdrop, the word spread about some global blocs mulling a parallel UN, or ones of their own. It is especially the fast-developing Third World countries who are found vocal on this issue.
To speak briefly, in the eyes of many the UN is fast becoming veritably anachronistic in the neo-bipolar world. Be that as it may, the world body cannot become oblivious to its commitment to promoting international peace and security. It has proved this resolve in its very early days with the new world body founded on the failures of the earlier League of Nations. It was the fulfilling of this commitment to peace that took the second UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold to the vortex of a civil war in Central Africa in 1961. Destined to be a martyr on the altar of the great UN mission of ensuring global harmony, the economist-turned UN Secretary General emerged as a leader making the supreme sacrifice. A plane carrying Dag Hammarskjold and his team to the then Northern Rhodesia was shot down on the Democratic Republic of Congo- Zambia border in that year by a suspected group fighting with its rivals in the civil war-torn Congo. The Secretary General was on a ceasefire-negotiation trip to the region.
The colonised nations in the 1950s-1960s looked to the UN as a source of moral support to their dreams of self-rule and independence. The world body did not fail to reciprocate. Amid the post-independence political and economic crisis of many of these territories, the UN General Assembly later played an active role in helping them weather their bad times. A couple of decades later, the creation of independent Bangladesh in 1971 could have become complicated and a long-drawn-out process had not the former Soviet Union's veto on the resolution for a ceasefire in the raging Indo-Pak War, in effect the Bangladesh Liberation War, in the UN Security Council changed the whole scenario. The vote also took place in the General Assembly, with the similar result. Notwithstanding the UN backing of the self-ruling and new nations till the 1970s, the creation of a few free territories at the expense of the self-rule of others touched off a series of crises later. The creation of Israel (1948) and the eviction of Palestinians from their ancient land is a case in point. Upon an in-depth look at the circumstance of Israel's creation, a maze of complicated events comes to the fore. The inoperability of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, a resolution adopted by the General Assembly in 1947, was blamed on regional 'opposition' aggravated by the tacit US-British policy skewed towards Israel's creation.
In the 21st century, the United Nations is largely viewed as a lame duck in consideration of exerting its influence on international crises. To cite recent instances, the UN could do little to restrain the US-allied forces from overrunning and vanquishing Saddam Hossain's Iraq. Nor could it save Gaddafi's Libya from being drawn into a terrible civil war. It has later virtually turned the oil-rich nation into a dysfunctional state. The UN sent its humanitarian assistance to Somalia months after the north-eastern African state began being torn apart by dozens of rival clan-based adversarial armies. In terms of governance, the condition of Somalia is now worse than that in Libya and some Sub-Saharan African countries. The UN humanitarian agencies are virtually engaged in an uphill task in taking succour to the suffering Syrians. The civilian people are caught between a multi-pronged and protracted civil war. The confrontations have of late been termed a proxy war between Donald Trump's USA and Vladimir Putin's Russia.
In the present-day world the UN appears to be more engaged in humanitarian operations than in its bid to stop a war from breaking out. Its role in preventing hostile armed parties from engaging in further confrontations is becoming more vital by the day. Over the last couple of decades, the UN peacekeeping forces have been increasingly highlighting the world body's relevance to a world condition not thought of before. They now operate everywhere, from DR Congo, South Sudan to Liberia. At present their presence in the African continent is the most strikingly noticeable.
Nowadays the UN survives only as a world forum with ceremonial supervisory power. The Cold War-era world was dictated by the two superpowers --- the US and the erstwhile USSR. International developments occurred as they were supported or opposed by either the US or the USSR. In some cases, the superpower rivalry would serve as a great catalyst in sparking regional wars. The only role the UN played in those international whirlpools was one of offering the space for discussions. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) served as the forum.
The Cold War (1947-1991) has long been over. In its place the UN member-nations continue to witness regional wars and conflicts. These apart, flare-up of domestic violence like genocidal ethnic feuds as seen in Rwanda, many forms of civil unrest and forcible migration of peoples from their homelands keep plaguing some regions. In the context of these hotbeds of destabilisation, the UN has been found redefining its role, this time as a global mediator. These flashpoints see the UN-operated peacekeeping, currently a major task being undertaken by the world body. Besides peacekeeping, the UN organisations like UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNHCR, UN Human Rights Council and a few others are found relentlessly engaged in myriad humanitarian services. Those include poverty alleviation, child welfare, health and disease-related statistics, human rights protection etc.
However, the world body has yet to make any big strides in sending back Myanmar's Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh one year after their influx into that country. That its power to intervene in the crisis has considerably been weakened by a few big and regional powers is now common knowledge. Yet despite being in dire straits like this, the UN has done its best to attract international focus to the Rohingya crisis. It began with the unsparingly assertive statement of Secretary General Antonio Guterres as the horrifying nature of the crisis began unfolding after August 25, 2017. The roots of the stalemate --- the ruthless crackdown by the Myamar military, and the local xenophobic thugs, on the ethnic Rohingya minority were first laid bare by the UN Human Rights Council. On different occasions, the UN high officials repeatedly stressed the urgency of safe and dignified return of Rohingya Muslim refugees to their homeland. The prerequisite of granting them due Myanmar citizenship had also been attached equal importance. The publication of the Annan Commission report, prepared by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in 2017, and the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the persecution of Rohingyas and other minority ethnic groups, published on September 18 this year, was also part of these mediatory initiatives.
The United Nations, especially its annual General Assembly sessions, in the last stage of the 21st century's second decade, is mainly focused on humanitarian crises. With the launch of the two ambitious programmes on all-round human development, i.e. MDGs and SDGs, the leitmotif revolves round the uplift of living standards inclusive of the basic aspects of decent survival. In accordance with this, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presented three proposals on the Rohingya crisis in a General Assembly session on September 24. They include abolishment of discriminatory laws, policies and practices by Myanmar against the Rohingyas with a view to solving the festering crisis from its roots. She was speaking at the high-level event titled 'Global Compact on Refugees: A Model for Greater Solidarity and Cooperation', with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the chair.
Shortly after his swearing-in, President Donald Trump in a diatribe against the UN said his country would no longer remain generous in funding the organisation. He blamed the UN for being a tool of benefit for those whose financial contribution to it is paltry. But the world, the persecuted and the poorer peoples, cannot survive without its protective shield.