LETTER | World demands a reformed United Nations

LETTER | Of all the institutions and agencies of the League of Nations to have survived the dreadful end of World War I in 1919, only the International Labor Organization (ILO) could prove itself worthy of being retained.

On issues verging on international peace and security, not excluding international humanitarian laws, even genocide - of which one is in motion in Gaza - although the world has witnessed others in Myanmar, Darfur, Rwanda and countless others before, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is rendered hapless. Why?

As and when a binding resolution has to be passed by the UNSC, the veto power of the five permanent members has been wielded time and again to protect crony states, even when they are actively pursuing a policy of wiping out either partially or in whole, another population - ethnic cleansing.

The hot-button issue of today is Gaza. The problem is it has been triggering countless terror campaigns, as things stand, verging on the likes of Israel, bombing 1.7 million more Gazans, all of whom are concentrated in Rafah.

Since the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Jan 26, which the judges voted by 14 to two, that Israel is involved in a plausible genocide and the United States is complicitous, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

It was none other than the former UN Ambassador of the US during the Barack Obama administration, who has to admit, what the world has long known, indeed, opposed, that Gaza is facing a triple assault from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), deliberate choking off of at least 500 food trucks that are needed to keep the victims fed.

Malaysia has spoken of the strategic and moral necessity of reforming the UNSC. Instead of allowing each of the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US - from wielding their veto to protect their allies that have gone rogue in murdering tens of thousands without even wanting to countenance a second "ceasefire”, such a formula be permanently altered in these forms.

Reforming use of veto

First and foremost, for a veto to work more effectively, to prevent an issue from degenerating into the worst spectre of a killing spree by one state against the other, at least three vetoes are needed by the five permanent members to block the UNSC resolution.

Secondly, the UN General Assembly (UNGA), a simple majority from the 197 member states is also needed to approve what the UNSC had approved of.

Without these immediate reforms, the world will be swaying to more disasters as a genocide fought like a blood feud of Tel Aviv against the Palestinians to have all of them dispossessed of their identity and their rights to have their own separate state, would continue unabated leaving cross-generational scars.

By accusing the United Nations Relief World Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza of unproven allegations of aiding and abetting the aggression of Oct 7, 2023, Israel has choked off the funds and logistical abilities of UNRWA to keep the besieged Gazans in Rafah from having any wide scale life support.

The decision of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway to restore the aid, having found no element of foul play, is unable to avert the onset of a complex humanitarian emergency.

One that is made all the more complicated by the incestuous relationship of the Israeli lobby that has planted its fangs not only in the US but other member states of the UNSC - except Russia and China.

The world demands immediate reforms of the UNSC that extend to the UNGA since the crisis in the Middle East has stoked tensions of a serious collapse of the international system.

Due to the proliferation of wars in Ukraine, which is essentially a proxy conflict between the G7 and European Union (EU), indeed, the 32 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) to use Ukraine as a red herring to gang up against Russia, the impact of this conflict alone since Feb 24, 2022 has increased the prices of food, fuel, fertiliser and animal fodder.

The conflict in Gaza rightly drew the Houthis in Yemen into the fray, to block the maritime trade of the world from the Suez Canal to safely pass through the Red Sea.

Not surprisingly, the cost of maritime insurance has shot up from 0.7 percent to seven percent.

Ships that want to lower their security premiums have also had to avoid the route completely. In turn, these vessels have had to circumnavigate half of the African coastline in the West and South, passing Cape Cod in South Africa, before making their way into the Indian Ocean, the Straits of Malacca and the South and East China Sea.

The duration of such travels has been increased by two weeks. These complications have had the most severe disruption on the global supply chain between the East and West.

Trade with China

While the EU can use the land corridor of Central Asia to reach China, not only would the cost of the goods be increased by 300 percent but more critically, the EU is not keen on working with China to resolve many issues that had kept their trade from going ever larger.

The world is deprived of relying on China as a powerful locomotive to spur the post-pandemic comeback or the economic rebound.

Since 2021, Sino-Asean trade has exceeded the size of the Sino-EU trade for the first time over, a trajectory that has continued to remain stern and steady.

But when the immediate comes in the way of the urgent, the former should be adopted. The deadly statistics of the constant pounding of Gaza by Israel have led to all 36 hospitals being destroyed.

Water and fuel have also been choked off to intentionally leave the Gazans, Muslims and Christians alike, in a diabolical shape.

With half of the 2.3 million population aged between five and 14 - at a time when they need their physical nourishment - malnutrition has also set in to stunt the cognitive development of the young Gazans.

Journalists are not spared either as 281 of them have been killed by the IDF within the first three months of the conflict, making it the worst death toll on journalists since World War I and II combined.

More than 100 UN personnel have also been killed. A threshold that has never been breached since the UN was first formed to ensure peace and security.

In light of the immediate disaster that is unfolding across the board, Malaysia's proposal deserves a hearing and systematic deliberations by all quarters of the world. It shouldn't and mustn't be debated at the UN Reforms Day in Sept 2024. All would then be too little too late to redeem whatever is left of the UN.

As things are, the rules-based order continues to function in sheer calumny. In fact, there isn't one at all irrespective of what the West has stated.

The lack of the simplest rules to prevent the international community from falling through the bottom will only lead to a world marked by total might against the rights of all seeking basic security and the right to a fair and meaningful existence.

Writer is the founder of EMIR Research, a think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.