UN vis-à-vis Conflicts
By the Editor

OF-LATE, a UN conference has underlined the need for settling disputes peacefully and promoting preventive action in response to threats to international peace and security.

As is indexed in the history, the UN was founded at the end of World War-II by the victorious allied powers with the hope that it would act to prevent and intervene in conflicts between nations and make future wars are made impossible or limited.

The fixed aim of the world body was to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development and social equity.

No doubt, the UN succeeding in preventing or containing a number of conflicts and its peacekeeping operations has contributed a lot in stabilising the situation in diverse countries and regions of the world.

Yet, it is also a fact that the UN has miserably failed in asserting itself vis-à-vis some of the major and most crucial disputes that have direct or indirect bearing on the world or regional peace and security.

The UN passed hundreds of resolutions over the years that call for a just solution of the Middle East problem but Israel has defied all of them with active support and patronage of the United States.

Likewise, the UN could not enforce its resolution – passed several times with one voice – on Kashmir as a result of which 13 million people are still struggling for their birth right to decide their destiny by exercising the acknowledged right of self-determination.
In several cases – instead of pursuing its objective of promoting peace and security – the UN has become a tool in the hands of the United States and its coteries in advancing their agenda.

A case in point is Afghanistan, where UN-mandated American and NATO troops are – in a way – directly responsible for prolonging the conflict and killing people and destroying properties.

Seemingly – all this is because the structure of the organization which still reflects in some ways the circumstances of its founding, which has led to calls for reforms but genuine reforms are being prima facie – obstructed by powerful players of the world today.

If truth be told – the UN shall continue to remain powerless, feeble – rather impotent until 1.3 billion Muslims as well as the Third World States – which are at the receiving end – have an effective say into the affairs of the world body – of-course in a pragmatic and meaningful way.●