THIS is with reference to the report “UN’s founding principles under attack, says Guterres” (June 27), which quoted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as having said that the world body was facing unprecedented attacks as it marked 80 years since the organisation’s charter was created.

The fact is that the UN has failed the world’s poorer nations. Today, the UN has become a toothless body, with United States President Donald Trump having contributed significantly to the decline by cutting funds to the organisation, weakening its influence and global reach. Besides, the US has greatly damaged the credibility of the UN as a neutral body.

Over the last two decades, the US, often with support from its allies, has led or supported military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Gaza, Palestine, Iran and Ukraine. The UN has simply acted as a mere bystander.

Guterres rightly pointed out that powerful countries tend to “follow the charter when it suits them, and ignore it when it does not”. The actions of the permanent members of the UN Security Council have proved this, especially through their repeated use of veto power to block resolutions against war and human rights violations.

For the UN to fulfil its founding pur-pose, structural reforms are urgently needed. The veto power of the five permanent members must be curtailed. It should not be possible for a single nation to block important resolutions in the interest of its own geopolitical agenda. Unlike the General Assembly, the Security Council lacks broad international re-presentation, and this has led to wide-spread accusations that it serves the strategic and political interests of only its permanent members.

As such, the UN has not suspended the membership of Israel despite the consistent and blatant breach of all humanitarian laws and the UN charter. If the member- ship of South Africa could be suspended in 1974 due to apartheid — and rightly so — what, then, is the issue with Israel’s suspension?

As the UN marks its 80th year, it is time to reflect on what it has been able to achieve, and, more critically, what it has failed to do and why. In the light of such introspection, a new charter must be drafted to clearly address today’s global realities.

The UN, for one thing, should move its headquarters out of the US and relocate to a neutral country. The current location in New York gives the US undue political influence, which it abuses without thinking twice. Also, the UN could consider decentralising operations by establishing regional offices in each continent to ensure a more balanced and democratic structure.

Finally, all member countries should contribute more funding to the the world body to reduce the influence of any single donor. This will ensure independence in decision-making.

The UN must evolve if it is to remain a relevant and effective body ensuring peace and justice on a global scale. The world needs a strong UN that works for all its member nations, not a puppet of some ‘superpowers’ that are showing their fascist tendencies with an alarming frequency.

Aijaz Ali Khuwaja
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2025