New Delhi: Amidst diminishing clout and relevance in present times, the United Nations is under stress following US President Donald Trump’s Wednesday decision to further withdraw from more of its bodies and sharply curtail voluntary funding.
The organisation has also failed to convincingly address concerns over the rise in armed conflict and widespread humanitarian crises.
Global leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have repeatedly pressed for institutional reform to restore relevance and effectiveness.
“To take the world towards a better future, it is necessary that global systems are in accordance with the realities of the present. Today, the United Nations Security Council is also an example of this. When the UN was established, the world at that time was completely different from today. At that time, there were 51 founding members in the UN. Today, the number of countries included in the UN is around 200,” the Indian Prime Minister had reminded world leaders at the G20 Summit’s New Delhi chapter in September 2023.
He reiterated the concern in 2024, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, emphasising the need for reforms in international institutions, global cooperation, and the importance of technology regulation for sustainable development.
Many leaders had joined in echoing those views.
At 80, the United Nations is facing a credibility and capacity crisis driven by structural paralysis, funding shortfalls and great power retrenchment.
In November last year, Prime Minister Modi again pointed out in his statement at the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) leaders’ summit that United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms are no longer an option, but a necessity.
Like many other outcomes earlier, an emergency UNSC meeting called on Monday following the United States’ military operation in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, ended with leaders agreeing to disagree.
In other global conflicts, while President Trump convinces the world of having stopped over eight armed conflicts, the world peace body watches from the sidelines.
Now, Washington’s further squeezing of funds will hurt the United Nations, which is already cutting corners.
On Wednesday, Trump ordered that the United States end participation in and funding for 31 United Nations entities and 35 other bodies “as soon as possible”, according to a White House release.
Earlier too, the President had similarly decided to quit or slash funds to several of the world body’s organisations.
The United Nations’ current predicament flows from repeated failures to enact deep institutional reforms: structural anachronisms (notably UNSC composition and veto), mission creep, duplication across agencies, and chronic funding fragility. Those weaknesses have made the organisation vulnerable to great power contestation and to donor retrenchment, producing a cycle in which perceived ineffectiveness fuels withdrawal, which in turn deepens operational shortfalls.
Facing a deepening financial crisis, the United Nations last year urged members to pay up.
“The United Nations is facing a worsening cash crisis that threatens its ability to carry out vital work,” the world body said in a May statement, adding: “With a growing shortfall in contributions – $2.4 billion in unpaid regular budget dues and $2.7 billion in peacekeeping – the UN has been forced to cut spending, freeze hiring, and scale back some services.”
“Officials warned that this risks eroding the UN’s credibility and its capacity to fulfil mandates entrusted to it by Member States.”
As India’s Prime Minister had reminded the world earlier: “It is a law of nature that individuals and organisations that fail to adapt to changing times inevitably lose their relevance. We must think with an open mind as to what is the reason that many regional forums have come into existence in the past years, and they are also proving to be effective.”
(IANS)
