Nidhi Razdan: How the UN can make a difference

Gulf News

The world has watched with horror the tensions that have escalated in the Middle East over the last few weeks. From Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens to Israel’s bombing of the civilians of Gaza, the cycle of violence has been numbing.  Last week, a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, divided the world further. Even though the resolution was adopted with 120 countries voting in favour, the real story lay in those who voted against it, like the US and UK, and those who abstained, like India. It is astounding that a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire should not be overwhelmingly approved but here we are.   Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/war-in-gaza-is-testing-the-uns-limits-1.99211437  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #unitednations #NidhiRazdan

Transcript

00:00The world is reeling from one crisis to the next. There's Russia and Ukraine, which is

00:08still continuing. And now there's Israel and Hamas. A question that many are asking is,

00:13what about the United Nations? Why is the UN unable to effectively step in and get a

00:18ceasefire enforced? Part of the problem seems to be the way the UN is structured. It was

00:23founded in 1945 after the Second World War. And in a sense, those structures are still

00:28stuck in 1945. The fact that you still have a UN Security Council that has five permanent

00:34members who have veto powers reflects that the UN hasn't really changed with the times.

00:39Geopolitics has completely changed since 1945. And as the government of India has been arguing

00:44for years now, the UN needs to change with those times and reflect the aspirations of

00:49so many more countries at the Security Council in order for it to continue to remain relevant.

00:56And the fact is that while smaller groupings like NATO or BRICS or the SCO have acquired

01:01greater spheres of influence amongst those countries that are a part of it, there's really

01:06no platform quite like the United Nations. And if the UN is able to effectively change

01:13structurally and ensure that it represents truly the voice of aspiring countries and

01:20the voices of more countries, then it is really the only platform that can take us out of

01:26these crises that we are currently facing. Is the UN up to the task? Let's see.

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