Before it was formed on October 24, 1945 fifty world leaders had gathered at San Francisco on April 25, 1945 with a view to, inter alia, establishing global peace. That was before the fall of Berlin (May 2) and end of World War-II in Europe (May 7).
However, by the time the 50 original members signed the Charter (the 51st member Poland signed it later) on June 25 war was still raging in the Eastern Theatre and the United States was secretly planning to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs.
Shockingly, the two horrific bombs were dropped when Japan was about to surrender. The US just only wanted to hurry the pace and see to it that Japan capitulates before it and not the Soviet Union as the latter was taking keen military interest in the Asia-Pacific after the war was over in Europe. Had Japan surrendered to the Soviet Union and not the United States, the global scenario after World War-II would have been quite different.
On October 24, 1945 the UN Charter came into force. It was trumpeted that this new world body would be much different from the League of Nations which existed between the two World Wars.
Seventy-five years later, the number of members may have risen from 51 to 193 but we are living in a virtual world as all the leaders chose to address the annual General Assembly through recorded speeches obviously because of the fear of COVID-19. Till a year back nobody ever imagined that they will not be able to gather at the UN headquarters to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its establishment.
Actually, the name, the United Nations, was first floated by the then US President Franklin D Roosevelt on January 1, 1942, that is at the height of war raging in large parts of the world.
As its very birth took place amidst horrendous chain of events leading to the nuclear attack, what positive one should have expected from it. If none in the world could prevent this heinous crime from being committed between the signing of the Charter and its coming into effect then whatever had happened since then was a natural corollary of that sin – the destruction of two Japanese cities. Be it war in Korea, Vietnam, between Arabs and Israel, India and Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, the two Gulf Wars, civil wars in Latin America, Africa, Yugoslavia, Middle East, Sri Lanka, South East Asia, etc., this global body has failed to come up to expectation. As if that was not enough on the eve of the completion of its 56th year, two hijacked planes crashed into Twin Towers killing 3,000 not far away from its headquarters in New York. The third one hit Pentagon in Washington and the fourth crashed elsewhere in the United States.
Very often the expression the United Nations sounds synonymous to the United States as the latter treats it as its pocket organisation. Anyway, much larger number of people have died across the world in the last 75 years than during the World War II.
If the principal organs of the United Nations, such as the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court of Justice, etc. have not succeeded in preventing blood-letting across the world, the record of its specialised agencies like the World Health Organisation, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Food and Agricultural Organisation, International Labour Organisation, etc. have little to boast. The World Bank and IMF are often accused of exploiting the poor economies, rather than bailing them out and imposing strict conditions at the behest of big powers. The ILO and WHO can at best be described as recommendatory agencies yet everyone is aware how badly they have let down the people across the world during the recent ‘pandemic’.
The WHO, in particular, has come under strong criticism from different quarters. Initially President Donald Trump charged it with dancing to the tune of China when the fact is that the United States is its biggest funder. While the US government donates 14.67 per cent, 9.76 per cent comes from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The WHO was attacked by Trump simply because it praised Chinese efforts in containing Corona Virus. Whether the WHO is playing into the hands of any country or corporate house may never be known the truth is that it too has contributed to creating a mess in the name of fighting COVID-19.
Curiously, all the prominent world leaders while delivering their speeches during the Annual General Assembly virtual meet conceded that this global body needs reforms as it has failed to rise to the occasion. Good words indeed. But who will bell the cat? Countries like India, Japan, Germany and Brazil have been for years seeking the expansion of permanent membership of the Security Council. The truth is that the Council has done more harm than good to the global peace.
Critiques have started equating UNO with an international club. But sorry this time the Corona Virus has deprived them of an opportunity for recreation.