80 years on, UN remains humanity’s best hope

TODAY (October 24), the United Nations (UN) reaches the milestone of 80 years even as it faces an uphill task in this increasingly difficult world, wherein 2 billion people live in conflict zones, 1.1 billion face multidimensional poverty, 887 million face climate hazards, 667 million go hungry, 100 economies will take at least 123 years to close the global gender gap and one in three women face physical/sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Yet, this beleaguered political organisation of 193 member states always remains ready to address each of the present-day challenges in this era of a planetary-level crisis.

Despite facing various kinds of smear campaigns, the UN has tried its best to live up to the expectations of the original 50 founding members (including India) who solemnly resolved to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

The year 2025 has brought the "race to bankruptcy" for the UN and its chief administrative officer, the Secretary-General, in view of the refusal by some countries to provide their contributions based on the UN scale of assessments. By September 2025, only 136 of the 193 member states had paid their assessments in full. Several contributors, including the US, China, Russia and Mexico, had yet to complete their payments. As a result, the UN has been forced to bring down its regular budget for 2026 by 15.1 per cent — from $3.715 billion to $3.238 billion. This will adversely affect the "UN80 Initiative", including 11 peacekeeping operations, started by UNSG Antonio Guterres to create a stronger organisation that is more agile, responsive, resilient and better equipped to deliver on all its "mandates".

Built on the ashes of the League of Nations at the end of World War II, the UN has survived four times (1945-2025) the life of its predecessor which lasted from 1920 to 1939. Like human beings, the UN is not infallible. It was not designed to take the UN "peoples" to heaven but to try to save them from falling into a hell on earth. Hence, the UN seems to have learned vital survival skills, adaptability and resilience amidst the pitfalls of "how nations behave." There is no other general political organisation with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact as the UN, which is genuinely working towards securing a better world for humankind.

The UN Charter was adopted on June 26, 1945 at Opera House in San Francisco after a series of confabulations held from 1941 to 45 in places such as London, the Atlantic, Moscow, Tehran, Dumbarton Oaks, Yalta and San Francisco. "The Charter of the United Nations which you have just signed is a solid structure upon which we can build a better world," said US President Harry Truman in his closing address at the San Francisco conference.

The UN provides us vital lessons for the realisation of the idealism to eliminate war. It provides a pathway to stop UN-bashing, to enable it to realise the cherished purposes and principles of the UN Charter, making international law work effectively to deter the lawlessness of powerful nations to protect the "peoples" of the UN.

Notwithstanding the trend of UN-bashing, its proverbial bureaucracy and some of its failings, we still have only one UN and it is indispensable for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Why UN matters

It is only a truism to state that the UN Charter is the cornerstone of international law. It has emphatically declared the principle of sovereign equality of all States, respect for their territorial integrity, political independence and the right to self-determination of peoples. Without the historic battles fought in the UNGA, the elimination of apartheid and the liberation of colonies would not have been possible. As a consequence, the UN membership today stands at 193 — up from the original 50.

Even though there have been numerous conflicts raging around the world, the UN has been the most important whistleblower that has sought to hammer on the principles of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means through the principal judicial organ of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The UN Charter provides a concrete blueprint in Article 2 (4) for the prohibition of threat or use of force, along with the right of self-defence under Article 51. Ironically, this core Charter blueprint has been eroded, as seen in conflicts raging around the world. However, that is due to the self-serving interests of the member states.

Some member states have also tried to stonewall the quest for the UN’s restructuring, including the expansion of the Security Council and the "repurposing" of the Trusteeship Council, to reflect the realities of the 21st century. A layperson needs to understand that the UN can act only when member states allow it.

Most of the member states have been looking to the UN system that comprises commissions, programmes, funds and 16 'specialised agencies' (functional organisations). These agencies do commendable jobs in fields such as civil aviation (ICAO), health (World Health Organisation), education and culture (UNESCO), food and agriculture (FAO) and meteorology (WMO).

In the face of global challenges, the UN system has sought to address the gigantic task within very limited resources against heavy odds, including the periodic "shooting of the messenger" (UNSG). It is no wonder that whenever the UNSG has sought to translate into action "mandates" and other Charter-ordained tasks that go against the narrow interests of some member states, those states stop funds or withdraw from the UN agencies (such as WHO and UNICEF) and even declare the UNSG persona non grata!

Life beyond 80 years

On September 29, 2025, at the conclusion of the high-level segment of the UNGA, President Annalena Baerbock underscored that "this organisation was created to tackle the problems no country alone can solve…for a better future that is better together." The institutionalisation of "multilateralism" by the UN, on the bedrock of international law, would still be relevant in the remaining three quarters of the 21st century.

Hence, the task is cut out for such founding members of the UN as India, which is aspiring for a rightful seat on the UNSC's horse-shoe table — to stand by the UN in its hour of existential crisis.

Bharat H Desai is a professor of international law at the University of Bonn, Germany.