Weakening international organizations in spotlight amid 79th session of UN General Assembly

By Can Efesoy

ANKARA (AA) — Since starting earlier this month, one of the main focuses of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly has been the weakening of the international system and the declining ability of international organizations to respond to crises around the world.

While direct and indirect wars are taking place in Europe and the Middle East, the ineffectiveness of international agencies in resolving their underlying disputes has sparked criticism.

Existing institutions are seen as unable to deal with problems, take necessary decisions, or implement them in a meaningful way.

They have also faced criticism that they are unable to adequately enforce sanctions with the compliance of all countries.

Anadolu has compiled a list of global issues that have emerged in recent years and the role of international organizations in resolving them.

- Gaza

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,300 victims, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 95,500 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Humanitarian aid workers trying to deliver aid to Gazans under difficult conditions are targeted by the Israeli army.

Almost a year after the attacks began, international organizations have failed to take steps to prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

- Russia-Ukraine War

The war between Russia and Ukraine has been ongoing since Feb. 24, 2022.

According to data released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Feb. 22, more than 10,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the war. As of September, this number is thought to have surged considerably.

While the parties are escalating their attacks, their supporters are holding back from taking concrete steps toward peace.

- UN fails to step in for Ukraine

Efforts for a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine war, which has changed political trends and even the perception of security in Europe, are not yielding results.

Although the UN General Assembly has demanded that Russia withdraw its military forces from Ukrainian territory, the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member, has failed to approve the draft resolutions on this issue.

The inability to end this war has led to the UN being seen as ineffective in the face of violent tensions around the world.

- Veto spiral at UN Security Council

The UN Security Council, created in 1945 to help resolve global issues, has the power under Article 41 of the UN Charter to impose non-military measures to maintain peace and security. It can also ask UN members to enforce these measures when necessary.

The council has 10 temporary members serving two-year terms and five permanent members. These five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US — have the power to veto resolutions.

Although the UN General Assembly has repeatedly demanded a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, it took the Security Council much longer to reach a decision in this direction.

First, on March 25, the council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The UN Charter stipulates that all Security Council resolutions are legally binding under international law. Despite this, the resolution was described by the US as "non-binding," and Israel did not implement it.

Another resolution was adopted by the council on June 10, supporting a Gaza cease-fire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden.

The proposal involves three phases, the first being an "immediate, full, and complete ceasefire, release of hostages including women, the elderly, and the wounded, the return of the remains of some hostages who have been killed, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the populated areas in Gaza, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north, as well as the safe and effective distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale throughout the Gaza Strip to all Palestinian civilians who need it, including housing units delivered by the international community."

The second phase requires the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, a permanent halt to hostilities and the "full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."

As for the third phase, the proposal involves a long-term reconstruction plan for Gaza, along with the return of the bodies of deceased hostages.

As the cease-fire could not be achieved due to Israel's reluctance and demands, experts say the sanctioning power of international organizations such as the UN has declined.

- International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest judicial body, has also come under criticism for its ineffectiveness in enforcing its rulings.

On Dec. 29, 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit with the ICJ, requesting an interim injunction on the grounds that Israel's actions in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, violated the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Accordingly, on Jan. 26, the ICJ ordered Israel to refrain from all acts of killing, attacks, and destruction against Gaza residents and to take all measures to prevent genocide.

The court's decision, announced on May 24, also ordered Israel to halt its military attacks on Rafah and to keep the Rafah border crossing open to allow the unhindered delivery of urgently needed services and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israel, meanwhile, has continued to violate the court's decisions and attack Palestinians. Tel Aviv's failure to comply with the decisions of the top court of the world's largest international organization has further fueled criticism that the international system is ineffective.

- Demands for UN Security Council reform

Maya Ungar, a UN researcher at the International Crisis Group, told Anadolu that the "big push" in UN reform relates to changing the Security Council's format to allow for more permanent members.

"The one issue that everyone seems to have consensus on is that an African member state — or two, which is the, kind of, formal African position — should be able to also share in this permanent member status at the Security Council. Now, this is the issue with the most momentum.

"It's not necessarily the most realistic, unfortunately, and that's because any major reform to the UN Security Council and its membership would require amendment of the UN Charter," said Ungar.

Doing so, she explained, would require a two-third majority of UN member states, as well as the agreement of all five permanent Security Council members "not just at the national head of state level, but also at their legislators."

Highlighting the growing role of "middle powers" pushing for UN reform, Ungar said the G4 Group, consisting of Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, want permanent representation on the UN Security Council.

"You also have a number of smaller powers who have been taking a really active role in brainstorming" on the matter of UN reform, she added.

- 'Legitimacy crisis'

When asked about the criticism of the UN's actions regarding the war in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Ungar said, "I think that the UN is facing a bit of a legitimacy crisis, right now.

"This is in accordance to its inability to engage at the way that many are wanting it to on some of these major crises."

She said that this was often due to the UN being sidelined, sometimes "for good reason. Other times, its power politics at play, which don't allow the UN to play, for example, the mediation role that it want to play in a certain conflict."

To attempt to deal with the emerging challenges that the UN faces, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called leaders together for a "Summit of the Future."

This summit will be important as a "re-affirmation of the principles that underwrite the UN system." Ungar is more cautious in her expectations of the summit's impact on international peace and security, which she said is unlikely to be anything "groundbreaking."

"Now realistically, is it going to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine? Is it going to stop Israel's incursion into the occupied Palestinian territories? No, but this is what the UN is attempting to do right now," she said.

Pointing to the role of financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in ensuring international peace and security and the need for reform in this field, Ungar underlined the need for increased cooperation between them and the UN.

"Failure to do so means that those who suffer the most on the ground do not have access to assistance and the full benefits they can get from the international community," she said.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul