The UN’s Impotence Goes Well Beyond Its Obsession With Israel

BY ETHAN GARCIA ROJZE

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The United Nations has long been unable to enforce its own rules. And instead of addressing this failure, countries use the UN as a venue to continuously attack Israel instead of going after the nations that are blatantly ignoring and violating the humanitarian code of the UN Charter. This is not only negligence but also incompetence.

Particularly, and unfortunately, futile are the UN Peacekeeping troops. One of the UN’s stated goals is to protect human rights. This, of course, includes protecting civilians. However, according to their operational code, UN Peacekeeping troops are not allowed to engage in combat unless they are being fired upon, which hinders their ability to save civilian lives. Unfortunately, they cannot use any of their limited resources to defend civilians unless they too are being attacked. For example, if a refugee camp outside of their jurisdiction were to be slaughtered in front of their very eyes, there is nothing they could do. As such, they are extremely limited in their defensive capabilities, and can barely accomplish what they are supposed to do: create conditions for peace.

Another stated goal of the UN is to reduce conflict, and yet, the UN Security Council voted to pull out of South Sudan, which is in the middle of a brutal civil war, due to pressure from its government, which is currently committing war crimes against its own people. 

Moreover, the UN Peacekeeping troops themselves are lackluster, to say the least. This is primarily due to their inability to operate independently and with initiative because of the amount of red tape around them. Given that these troops come from many different countries, they are restricted by the political motivations of their homelands, limiting where they can be deployed. They also have very limited resources and equipment, making their combat capabilities extremely limited. Now, one may argue that they are a peacekeeping group, and that combat should not be their priority. And while that is certainly true, that does not mean their military capabilities should be hampered at the possible expense of the innocents they are asked to protect. 

On top of that, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is almost laughable, with countries like Somalia, where Albinos are considered unnatural and abhorrent and same-sex marriage is criminalized, having a seat. Or of course, Iran, which was recently appointed Chair of the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum despite its enforcement of Sharia law. The hypocrisy of the UNHRC is ridiculous almost to the point of satire.

Furthermore, the number of countries with blatantly corrupt governments that get voted into leadership positions at the UN should be unacceptable to any self-respecting member state. Beyond the rights-abusing states that so frequently get seats on the Human Rights Council, nations such as Russia and China have a substantial amount of power at the UN with seats on the Security Council. Even though these states do not at all represent the ideals of the UN Charter, their high-level positions enable them to influence the UN into defending dictatorships and limiting human rights, rather than defending the rights of individuals and keeping dictatorships in check.

And then there is the UN’s stance on Israel. From 2015-2022, the UN General Assembly adopted 140 resolutions against Israel, compared with 68 on every other country combined. Furthermore, the UNHRC adopted 99 resolutions against Israel from 2006-2022. For comparison, during that same period, the UNHRC adopted 13 resolutions against Iran, a theocracy whose authorities relentlessly repress and crackdown on dissent. Iran funds multiple terrorist organizations for the purpose of annihilating Israel and harassing other neighboring Middle Eastern countries. 

Outrageously, the head of UN Women refused for months to talk about the mass raping and sexual violence against Israeli women by Hamas terrorists on October 7. How can a committee that stands for the rights and empowerment of women across the globe fail to condemn such a blatant violation of women’s rights by Hamas? 

Lastly, perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the UN today is its rampant corruption. Throughout the years, there has been a litany of instances of corruption at the UN, whether it be the disappearance of humanitarian funds, its inability to account for its ballooning staff worldwide including in a variety of specialized agencies, or the scandal-ridden Oil-for-Food Program.

The weakness of the UN as a force for law and order on the global stage only serves to tempt authoritarians across the globe to take more aggressive actions and even act with reckless abandon, ignoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as they go. 
If the UN fails to reform itself and continues down this course, then eventually the West will have to contend with the consequences of its actions—or in this case, failure to act sooner. Whether it comes  through China making a move on Taiwan, Iran giving Hezbollah the go-ahead to launch a large-scale attack against Israel, or some other unforeseen event, nobody knows. And nobody can say when this will happen. But it is almost certain that in such a case the UN will be a hindrance rather than a decisive force for good.