Soon after the end of the devastating World War II and the establishment of the United Nations, Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko, later Soviet Union’s foreign minister, was his country’s permanent representative to the world body. For his frequent use of the veto against resolutions sponsored by the United States and its allies in the Security Council, he was described by some Western diplomats as “Mr No.”

The five permanent members of the Security Council, the US, Russia, Britain, France, and China, as well as 45 other founding members of the UN, had agreed to prevent a third world war and preserve the world’s peace and security. The UN Day is observed on October 24.

The outstanding achievements of the United Nations in its 76 years have been: saving lives of millions of children, peacekeeping, convention on the Law of the Sea, eradication of smallpox, peaceful settlement of many disputes and adoption of te convention on human rights.

The frequent use of veto has long been seen as a hurdle to progress in the UN Security Council. The permanent members’ endorsement is also needed for the nomination of the UN secretary-general. Whenever the permanent members do not agree, the Security Council, the most commanding organ of the UN, becomes paralysed.

The failure of the United Nations to prevent regional wars has resulted in polarisation and poor economic development in the warring entities. In turn, this causes dependency.

The Cold War, which started soon after the United Nations came into existence, shattered the dream of collective security and divided the world into rival camps. Unable to take decisive steps for peace and security the United Nations sank deep in a stalemate of disputes and spheres of influence.

Proxy wars were abetted and the weapons manufacturers made billions of dollars at the cost of underprivileged nations.

The East-West conflict was a tremendous blow to the UN. The superpowers’ leverage was a sword hanging over its head. Germany was divided into East and West Germany and Korea into South Korea and North Korea.

East Germany and North Korea were in the Eastern camp and West Germany and South Korea were in the Western camp.

The US and Soviet Union were determined to prevent each other from gaining ground. Whenever interests of the superpowers were involved the Security Council became a resolutions-producing machine. When Kuwait was invaded and occupied by Iraq on August 2, 1990, the UN roared like a lion. According to a Brown University research, after 9/11 at least 801,000 people were killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan.

The case of Palestine highlights the helplessness of the UN in the face of the US and its allies which support Israel. Palestinians thus remain homeless in their own land. Since 1972, Washington has vetoed 53 UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel’s aggression and illegal settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

India’s occupation of Kashmir since 1948 is another terrible example of UN failure. Emboldened by the United Nations’ failure to force the implementation of its resolutions Prime Minister Modi’s Indian government has repealed even the special status of the occupied Kashmir and confined eight million Kashmiris to their homes. It is now pursuing a policy of demographic change.

Afghanistan has been traumatised by four decades of war. The economic infrastructure, institutions and fabric of the Afghan society have been destroyed. The US-led coalition forces have now withdrawn from Afghanistan and the Taliban now control the entire country. The UN needs to play its due role for reconciliation among Afghan factions to avoid another dreadful civil war.

According to Brown University research, 69,000 Afghan security personnel, 51,000 civilians and 3,500 coalition forces personnel have been killed in Afghanistan. 20,000 people have been maimed and five million Afghans displaced since 2002. The two-decades US war has cost more than $2 trillion.

The UN has also failed to stem bloodshed in Syria and provide a way out to its people to end the prolonged conflict. The former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, had expressed profound resentment about the Syrian war in his final address to the General Assembly when he remarked: “Powerful patrons that keep feeding the war machine also have blood on their hands… Present in this hall today are representatives of governments that have ignored, facilitated, funded, participated in, even planned and carried out atrocities inflicted by all sides of the Syrian conflict against Syrian civilians.”

The UN also failed to resolve the Suez Canal war (1956), the Congo crisis (1960), the occupation of Golan Heights by Israel (1967), the Cambodian civil war (1975), the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), the Somalian civil war (1991), the Rwandan civil war (1994), the Srebrenica massacre and the civil war in Bosnia (1995), the South Sudan conflict (since 2013), Yemen’s civil war (since 2014), the carnage of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Libyan conflict.

Given the many complicated and unresolved problems in the world, the UN has a vital role. However, it seems to lack the power and the determination. It has been reduced to a debating club.

Cooperation among powerful states is critical to preserve globalisation, international collaboration, and for resolving world’s many problems. Using the UN as a rubber stamp cannot lead to resolution of problems. The US and its allies’ domination of various UN institutions has resulted in poor performance and loss of credibility.

There is a dire need today for the UN to perform better. If the world remains hostage to veto wielding powers, especially the US, confidence in its ability will decrease further. During the Gulf War (1990-91) when the US and its allies overstepped the UN mandate, the then secretary-general, Javier Perez de Cuellar, was forced to remark, “The UN does what the US says.”

The writer is a KP-based freelance journalist. His areas of interest are South Asian affairs and Afghanistan