Dr. Raed Abu Badawiyya: Changing the balance of global power is the only way to reactivate the role of the United Nations
Dr. Hussein Al-Deek: The global system is no longer able to meet the interests of new countries and is in urgent need of reform
Nour Odeh: Double standards, impunity and selectivity in applying the law threaten the collapse of the international system
Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad: The necessary reforms in the United Nations will not be achieved except through a radical change in its structure
Firas Yaghi: The formula of the "veto" law, which is limited to five permanent member states, obstructs the role of the United Nations
The United Nations is facing sharp criticism for its absence from the 79th session of its General Assembly, which reflects the conflict between the major powers that control the UN decision, which has contributed to weakening the UN organization’s ability to make decisive decisions on many international issues.
In separate interviews with “I”, writers, political analysts, experts and specialists believe that this decline in international performance is due to internal divisions between the permanent member states, each of which seeks to impose its own agendas.
It has become unable to keep up with rapid international changes, as major powers, especially the United States, continue to use their influence to obstruct any decisions that are not in line with their interests, which has made the United Nations a weak tool in the hands of some countries, which has sparked widespread criticism of the United Nations’ ability to achieve international justice and apply the law to all countries without discrimination.
Writers, analysts, experts and specialists called for a comprehensive reform of the structure of the Security Council and the United Nations in general, and the need to change voting mechanisms and grant member states equal rights instead of allowing major powers to impose a “veto,” which obstructs any serious action.
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded after World War II in 1945 with the aim of promoting international peace and security, enhancing cooperation among nations, and supporting human rights.
The UN Security Council is paralyzed in the face of conflicts between major powers and their allies.
Dr. Raed Abu Badawi, Professor of International Law and International Relations at the Arab American University, explained that the United Nations has shown effectiveness in intervening through the Security Council in conflicts that are not related to major powers or the allies of those countries, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, but the situation changes completely when the conflict is related to these powers or their allies, which makes the intervention of the United Nations in those cases less effective.
Abu Badawiya pointed out that this matter has become particularly clear in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, where the United Nations has witnessed since before 1948 an inability to implement resolutions related to Israel, due to the intersection of the interests of Western powers with Israel, as the West provided an international umbrella to protect Israel over the past decades, which led to undermining the effectiveness of the United Nations and its institutions in resolving the conflict.
Abu Badawiya pointed out that this deficit appeared more clearly after October 7, when the United Nations’ deficit became noticeable.
Abu Badawiya believes that the United Nations is a tool of the great powers, but it has become powerless due to the bias of these countries.
“Changing the balance of global power is the only way to reactivate the role of the United Nations, with the emergence of multipolar powers such as Russia and China, along with other countries,” Abu Badawiya said.
According to Abu Badawiya, the current world order, which was established in 1945, no longer meets the aspirations of various countries, which prompted Russia and China to demand the establishment of a new international organization that would be far from Western bias. However, the form of this new organization or the nature of the alliances that may arise in the future have not yet crystallized.
The conflict of the major poles controlling the international institution
For his part, the American affairs expert Dr. Hussein Al-Deek said that the absence of the United Nations’ role in the 79th session does not come out of nowhere, but rather is the result of the conflict between the major poles controlling the international institution, headed by the permanent superpowers in the UN Security Council.
According to Al-Deek, these countries have historically been represented by two main axes: the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. However, today, the international scene has changed with the Western Bloc remaining in the orbit of the American-British-French alliance, while the Eastern Bloc is trying to change. Russia is trying to break free from this orbit and take a position of equality towards the Western Bloc, relying on its strength and political weight, while China constitutes the third pole in this conflict, as it is engaged in a “soft” competition with the United States, especially with regard to economic, political and military expansion in Africa. China is also seeking to strengthen its position in the Middle East through soft diplomacy supported by increasing economic and industrial achievements.
Al-Deek believes that these rivalries between the three poles - the West, Russia and China - have negatively affected the performance of the United Nations in the current session, and led to what Al-Deek described as a "major failure" in dealing with many international issues.
Time of giant monsters
“We live in the ‘time of giant monsters’, as one Italian thinker described it, where the old world order is dying, while new powers struggle to be born,” Al-Deek said. “The monsters here represent the powers of the old world order that seek to maintain their dominance, at a time when threats from emerging powers are escalating.”
Al-Deek pointed out that this global system, which was formed after World War II by the victors - the Russians, Americans, British, and French - is no longer able to meet the interests of the new countries, which makes the need to reform the international system, headed by the United Nations and the Security Council, an urgent necessity.
Al-Deek stressed that as a result of this hegemony, the United Nations has become more like a tool in the hands of the United States, which has disrupted its effectiveness and paralyzed its prestige by controlling the Security Council and the United Nations institutions to serve its own interests, and the United Nations has come to be viewed as one of the tools of the US State Department.
International balance to activate the values of the United Nations
Al-Deek believes that international balance is the main factor that can reactivate the values of the United Nations, but in the absence of this balance between countries, the United Nations will remain hostage to the interests of the major powers, led by the United States.
Al-Deek pointed out that international law is now only applied to weak states, while major powers are excluded from it, referring to what is currently happening in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, and how the decisions of international institutions, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, are being dealt with by Israel and the United States as if those decisions were merely “ink on paper.”
Al-Deek stressed the need to reform the international system and form international pressure forces to implement UN resolutions and impose peace and a ceasefire in conflict and war zones. Without this reform, the United Nations will remain an ineffective structure and a tool in the hands of major countries to implement their foreign policies.
Absence of the role of the United Nations due to member states
In turn, writer and political analyst Nour Odeh said that the absence of the role of the United Nations is not due to the failure of the organization itself, but rather is a result of the will of its member states, especially the major influential countries that exploit their power to pass their agendas and preserve their interests.
Awda explained that the problem lies in the structure of the United Nations, which is disrupted when faced with events that require its intervention, such as what is happening in the Palestinian file, the position on the war of extermination in Gaza, and the war on Lebanon and Ukraine.
This obstruction, according to Awda, is due to the permanent member states of the Security Council, which prevent the organization from performing its duties as it should.
Awda cited the experience of the Palestinian file over decades, where the United Nations remained unable to take real steps, as well as the case in Syria, where the world witnessed a conflict of wills between the major powers within the Security Council, which led to the disruption of any serious international effort to resolve these crises. Therefore, the problem does not lie with the United Nations as an organization, but rather with the member states, especially those that have the right to veto.
Guardian of the Charter and International Law
In response to criticism that the United Nations has become a department of the US State Department, Awda rejected this argument, stressing that the organization is still the guardian of the Charter and international law.
Awda pointed out that the recent decision issued in favor of Palestine, which called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, based on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, is, in her view, evidence that the United Nations is still capable of performing its role, but it is clashing with American influence despite the challenges.
Awda acknowledged that the United Nations’ ability to take real action is affected by the obstruction of major countries, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, in addition to the impact of funding. Major countries, led by the United States, sometimes threaten to withdraw their contributions to the organization’s budget, which could threaten its administrative existence.
Awda pointed out that the United States' contribution to the UN budget is very large, and that its threat to withdraw those contributions could lead to the collapse of the organization's administrative system.
Activating the role of the United Nations requires a new type of alliances
Awda believes that activating the role of the United Nations requires a new type of international alliances, while Awda cites the experience of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was at one time a cohesive and effective force that achieved a balance with the interests of the major powers.
Awda called for the importance of the countries of the South realizing the extent of their power, thinking differently, and uniting around policies specific to major issues on the international scene.
Awda warned that the world is now at a critical crossroads, where continued double standards, impunity, and selectivity in the application of international law could lead to the collapse of the entire international system.
Awda pointed out that there is another opportunity in reviving the United Nations to serve humanity as it was supposed to do, but to achieve this, the countries of the South must unite and work together to pressure policies that undermine the international system, especially those issued by the United States.
Awda stressed that the loss of confidence in the United Nations as a result of the policies of the United States and its allies may lead to making the organization irrelevant in the future, which may harm international peace and stability in the long term.
The influence of major powers in the United Nations
For his part, writer and political analyst Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad said: The structure of the United Nations General Assembly gives the major powers a wide scope of influence and power, which creates an imbalance in achieving international justice.
He added: "This unequal distribution of power makes some countries more powerful than others within the United Nations, and leads to the decline or absence of the organization's role in global issues when its decisions are subject to force rather than justice."
Awad pointed out that the absence or weakness of the role of the United Nations is mainly due to the control of the great powers over global decision-making. International decisions are mostly governed by the will of these major countries, and if these powers want to activate the role of the United Nations, then that is possible, and if they do not want to, then its role remains weak.
Despite these challenges, Awad believes that American influence has begun to decline over the past few years, as a result of the emergence of new poles on the international scene with different visions.
Awad explained that this decline does not mean the end of American influence, but rather only indicates that the United States, despite being a huge global empire with security, political, economic and military extensions, faces resistance from countries and peoples seeking to break its hegemony.
Reforming the composition of the Security Council
To enhance the role of the United Nations and preserve its values, Awad suggested the need to reform the composition of the Security Council, calling for increasing the number of member states in the Council, and changing the voting method so that each state has an equal vote, instead of granting some states the right to veto, which obstructs any important decisions.
Awad called for a change in the structure of the United Nations as a whole, and an improvement in the voting method and working mechanism, with the aim of activating international law so that it is respected and applied.
Awad expressed his belief that the world is not heading towards strengthening a large international body, but rather the trend seems to be moving towards dismantling existing states and alliances, and seeking to establish new alliances based on economic, political and security interests. These new alliances may constitute an alternative to the current international system, which Awad believes no longer serves the purpose required in dealing with the rapid global changes.
Awad stressed that the necessary reforms in the United Nations will not be achieved except through a radical change in its structure, including the distribution of power and influence within the Security Council, noting that the future of the global system will depend largely on these fundamental transformations.
The results of the global power struggle will determine the fate of the United Nations.
As for the writer and political analyst, Firas Yaghi, he believes that the absence of the role of the United Nations stems from the United States’ monopoly over the international system, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This absence is usually linked to the nature of the international political position of the major powers regarding international conflicts.
Yaghi pointed out that if there is agreement among the permanent member states on a certain issue, the role of the United Nations is activated, and if there is disagreement, its role is suspended, but in all cases, due to American hegemony and control in the world, this role is absent.
Yaghi pointed out that the United States is trying to make the United Nations one of its circles, and it was so until there began a conflict between China and Russia on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other hand, especially after the foreign interventions in what was falsely called the Syrian revolution.
Yaghi said: “The first signs of division appeared during what was called the Syrian revolution, and before that the United Nations was implementing and aligning with American foreign policy. Later, after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the dispute deepened, and after that, the complete absence of the United Nations’ role in the war of extermination on Gaza was confirmed due to the American position.”
Commitment to international law without favoritism or duplicity
To activate the role of the United Nations, Yaghi stressed that international law must be adhered to without favoritism or duplicity, and that dealings must be done in accordance with the principle on which it was founded, which is to maintain global security and peace.
Yaghi said: "In order to activate the role of the United Nations, the nature of the system on which this institution was founded must be changed, especially the Security Council, because the formula of the veto law, which is limited to five permanent member states, disrupts the role of the United Nations if there is no agreement between them on any issue or dispute."
Yaghi explained that this is done by changing the method of decision-making, so that countries are equal, and no specific countries are distinguished, so that they are the only ones capable of activating or disabling the United Nations and its institutions.
Yaghi said: “We are facing a global labor that has not given birth to anything new yet. It began with the Syrian crisis, deepened further in the Russian-Ukrainian (NATO) conflict, reached a major level in the war of extermination in Gaza, and is currently moving to Lebanon.”
No foreseeable alternatives to new institutions
Yaghi continued: "This labor is linked to the global power struggle, and what will result from the nature of this struggle is what will determine the fate of the United Nations, although everyone still emphasizes the role of the United Nations and international law."
Yaghi stressed that what is required is to activate the role of the United Nations and the role of its institutions, including international courts and humanitarian organizations, away from the conflict between the great powers that bear responsibility for disrupting it.
Yaghi explained that there are no foreseeable alternatives to new institutions that might replace the United Nations, but everything is linked to the end of American intransigence, which has worked and continues to work on hegemony and exclusivity, and willingly or unwillingly agrees to pluralism and polarity, which establishes the preservation of the interests of states, according to international law. Perhaps the Palestinian issue is the best example of the obstruction that any decision issued by the United Nations is exposed to due to the American position that dominates the world until now.
United Nations
The United Nations consists of several main bodies, including: The United Nations General Assembly, which represents all 194 UN member states and is considered a "world parliament", with each member having one vote. The Assembly issues non-binding resolutions on a variety of global issues, such as development, human rights, security, and international law. The General Assembly holds an annual session, but can hold emergency meetings in times of need.
The other body of the United Nations is the Security Council, which has 15 members, including 5 permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom, who have the right to veto. It is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, and has the authority to make binding decisions on member states, including imposing sanctions or using military force. The ten non-permanent members are elected for a period of two years.
