{"id":4063,"date":"2026-09-14T05:10:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T05:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2026-09-15T05:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:16:16","slug":"united-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/united-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"United Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"<table style=\"font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<blockquote><p><b>SYLLABUS: International Relations<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>General Studies \u2013 : II Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.\u00a0<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>IN NEWS: Distorted power relations in the world make Security Council non-operational\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>QUESTION: <\/b><b>\u201cThe United Nations Security Council is paralysed but the UN is not broken\u201d. Comment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>ANSWER: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres remarked that the Security Council is &#8220;paralysed,&#8221; but the United Nations itself is &#8220;not broken.&#8221; He attributed this paralysis to major powers failing to recognise the limits of their own power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Security Council Being Paralysed :<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b> Veto Power and P5 Rivalry<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The veto, held by the five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia, China), was designed to ensure great-power consensus but has instead become a tool for protecting national or allied interests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Russia&#8217;s vetoes on resolutions concerning Ukraine<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">US vetoes shielding actions related to Israel-Gaza<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China-Russia alignment blocking action on Syria and Myanmar<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b> Structural Anachronism<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The UNSC&#8217;s permanent membership reflects the post-WWII power structure of 1945, not contemporary geopolitical realities &#8211; Africa, Latin America, and large democracies like India, Brazil, and Germany have no permanent seat despite their global weight.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b> Great-Power Competition Returning<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> With US-China rivalry and the Russia-West confrontation intensifying, the Council increasingly mirrors broader geopolitical fault lines rather than functioning as a neutral arbiter.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>UN retaining relevance through its other organs, agencies, and normative functions :<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b> General Assembly as a Democratic Counterweight<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the Council is deadlocked, the UNGA&#8217;s &#8220;Uniting for Peace&#8221; mechanism allows the wider membership to step in. Its resolutions on Ukraine, though non-binding, carried significant diplomatic and normative weight, signalling broad international opinion even without enforcement power.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b> Specialised Agencies Operate Independently of Council Gridlock<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WHO, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, and UNDP continue humanitarian, developmental, and health functions regardless of Council paralysis &#8211; their mandates don&#8217;t require Security Council authorization to function day-to-day.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b> Continuity of Peacekeeping<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Existing missions (DRC, South Sudan, Lebanon) continue operating even when the Council cannot agree on new mandates or interventions &#8211; demonstrating institutional inertia that isn&#8217;t wholly dependent on unanimous P5 consent.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><b> Normative and Legal Architecture<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UN&#8217;s enduring strength lies not just in crisis response but in its capacity to shape the rules, norms, and legal frameworks that govern international conduct over the long term<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>a) International Court of Justice (ICJ)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continues adjudicating inter-state disputes and issuing advisory opinions independent of Council paralysis (e.g., advisory opinions on climate obligations, and rulings related to the Israel-Palestine conflict)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><b>b) Human Rights Architecture<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UN Human Rights Council, OHCHR, and treaty-monitoring bodies continue investigating violations, issuing reports, and applying diplomatic pressure (e.g., fact-finding missions on Ukraine, Myanmar, Gaza)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Universal Periodic Review mechanism keeps all member states under continuous human rights scrutiny, regardless of Council activity<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><b>c) Global Agreements and Normative Frameworks<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paris Climate Accord (2015) &#8211; negotiated and adopted under UN auspices, continues to structure global climate commitments and periodic review (COP process) despite Council-level disputes elsewhere<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) &#8211; provide a globally accepted development framework guiding national policy, investment, and multilateral cooperation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><b>d) Emerging Governance: Artificial Intelligence<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNSG Guterres has highlighted the UN&#8217;s role in convening the first-ever global dialogue on AI governance, noting that prior to this initiative, over a hundred countries had never participated in any global forum addressing artificial intelligence<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Suggests a proactive, agenda-setting role for the UN distinct from its reactive crisis-response function<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><b> Platform for Diplomacy<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even when action is blocked, the UN remains the principal forum where adversarial states continue to engage, negotiate, and communicate &#8211; arguably preventing worse escalation. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Child welfare in the digital age cannot rest solely on legacy protections against physical harm; it must evolve to address online exploitation and close regulatory gaps around technology in schools. A proactive, well-coordinated welfare architecture is essential to secure India&#8217;s children as much online as offline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Way Forward<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>UNSC Reform<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Expansion of permanent\/non-permanent membership (G4 proposals &#8211; India, Brazil, Germany, Japan); calls for a &#8220;veto restraint&#8221; code in mass atrocity situations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Strengthening UNGA&#8217;s role<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Greater reliance on Uniting for Peace-type mechanisms during deadlock<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reinforcing agency-level multilateralism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Continued investment in WHO, UNHCR, UNDP, etc., as functioning pillars of global governance even amid Council dysfunction.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Security Council&#8217;s paralysis reflects a crisis of great-power consensus, not a collapse of multilateralism itself. The United Nations, through its broader organs and agencies, continues to deliver humanitarian relief, uphold international law, and provide a platform for dialogue, proving that while one organ may be gridlocked, the institution as a whole retains functional relevance and legitimacy in global governance.<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<blockquote><p><b>PYQ REFERENCE UPSC 2025<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe reform process in the United Nations remains unresolved, because of the delicate imbalance of East and West and entanglement of the USA vs. Russo-Chinese alliance.\u201d Examine and critically evaluate the East-West policy confrontations in this regard. [250 Words] [15 Marks]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>SOURCE: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_international\/issues\/204267\/OPS\/G4BGHFTIG.1.png?cropFromPage=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu e-paper &#8211; Distorted Power Relations in the World make Security Council non-operational<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYLLABUS: International Relations General Studies \u2013 : II Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.\u00a0 &nbsp; IN NEWS: 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