United Nations Discussion - Report

On the account of 75 years of United Nations, the Interim Committee organized a discussion on 25 October 2020.

The three major topics of discussion were

1.) Reforms in the UN

2.) Role of UN in the changing world order

3.) Role of UN during the COVID-19 pandemic 

○ Minutes of the discussion on UN, held on 25 October 2020 at 5.00 pm ○

Moderator: Mr. Vasu Sharma

Aniruddha Phadke started the meeting by giving a brief overview of the topic and highlighting the veto power offered to P5 nations. Subsequently Vasu spoke about multi-utilitarianism, resurgence of sovereign nationalism and the crisis of legitimization. 

I. “Reforms in the UN”:

1. Inclusion and representation of minority countries as well as newly independent countries. Since the beginning Europe and America have dominated the UN and African and Asian countries have been demanding equal stand. 

2. UNSC needs to be reformed because out of the 15 members only 5 are permanent. Because of the imbalance in seats allotted, gaining seats to SC has become a competition to dominate the power politics around the world. 

3. Any amendment passed by the UNSC is binding to all nations, whereas anything passed by the G4 is not binding all. Hence veto creates an imbalance. 

4. On what basis should India be given a permanent seat? 

a. India has always taken a normative path towards multi-utilitarianism and preached peace and stability. This is displayed in our Foreign Policies. 

b. The strength of our Armed Forces 

c. India is one of the biggest economies in the world

d. India’s contribution to the UN peace keeping forces

e. Ability to balance between national interests and multi-utilitarianism

5. Why was the veto power introduced?  

a) UN was created by the allied powers and these countries decided to keep some special powers to themselves.

b) To maintain peace and stability.

c) At the time of inception of UN, most of the new countries would not have been able to handle matters individually.

d) We need some authority because removal of veto may leads to disorganization. 

6. Misuse of Veto : To restrict the power of other countries, the P5 have often misused their power when they felt threatened by smaller countries.  

7. A discussion was brought up on how the veto power in its actual existence is wrong, it gives power to selective countries as discussed and creates an unjust situation. 

8. The idea of macho politics was introduced and how India should try new tactics. India should leave UN since the US has already started withdrawing.  China also threatened to leave once when its powers were questioned. During the COVID19 pandemic, we have an advantage to leave. 

9. Why we should do macho politics, debating and demanding will not work. 

10. We have tried everything over the past 75 years.  Using these tactics will help to build pressure on the SC.  

II.  UN and the changing World Order:

How has the World Order changed? In 1945, the world needed an agency to curb the threat of World War III. UN managed to achieve that but after 75 years much more is expected.

1. Why India deserves to be a permanent member in the SC? 

a) Second most populated country in the world

b) Fifth largest economy

c) Has a lot of experience in tackling militants and enforcement of peace

d) Always complied by our mandate of “peace and stability”

2. Why is this the right time to bring about a change?  

a) Minority countries have developed and are at par with the P5

a. Power equation needs to change since P5 often misuse its power. E.g. China is using its Telecommunication Chairmanship to influence 5G technology through Huawei.

b. Due to the CORONA virus pandemic, this is the fertile time to implement change. 

c. P5 were powerful 75 years ago but not anymore. 

3. Shortcomings of the UN:

a. UN failed to bring peace to Palestine. 

4. How China has misused its power:

a. Mis-management of data during COVID19 pandemic

b. Border issues with Tajikistan

c. Disputes in the South China Sea 

5. P5 countries should be held responsible for maintaining “peace and stability” because of the additional power handed to them. They should be answerable for their action and stick to the mandate of the SC. They should mediate peace. 

6. Inspite of its shortcomings UN won’t be considered ineffective because:

a. UN mediated and East Timor got independence in the Indonesia and Australia region. 

b. UN succeeded in controlling starvation in South Sudan by air dropping food. It also provided security to the locals from the government. 

c. Poverty alleviation.

d. Decreasing infant mortality rate.

e. Medical facilities to conflict ridden zones.

f. Maternity care and child development.

g. WHO succeeded in controlling Ebola and Zeka virus.

h. WHO-UNICEF succeeded in Polio eradication. 

i. UNESCO helps in maintaining heritage sites and also conserving the culture.

j. WFP is a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.

k. Blood donation camps etc organizes at grass root level.

III. UN Handling COVID:

1. Why WHO could have done a better job?

a. It Issued useful guidelines but could have contained the virus in China

b. Failed to provide global health leadership

c. WHO has been accused of favouring China in order to extract more data about virus

d. After the H1N1 virus, international regulations came into play, that allowed WHO to play an important role in containing such outbreaks. E.g. WHO played an important role in containing the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

e. China acknowledged the COVID19 virus on 31 Dec 2019, whereas WHO declared an emergency in March

f. Election of Dr. Tedros as the WHO chief.

2. Why WHO is not completely at fault?

a. WHO’s leadership was questioned only when America accused it possibly to avoid getting blamed for its poor management 

b. WHO got highest funding from US, so when the fund stopped so did the efficiency.

c. Now that the vaccines are being developed, WHO is the only organization that is advocating towards reserving vaccines for African, South East Asian as well as other minority countries. 

3. Greatest mistake WHO did was to underestimate the gravity of the situation and assuring people to not panic. They should have been honest. 

4. WHO should have been more strategic and handle things better because it had to play a role of the leader for which it was created.

5. Being an international organization, it should have utilized its networking and authority to handle everything strategically. 

Conclusion:

In the concluding remarks Vasu highlighted why India needs to be on the high table. The next 2-3 years are extremely crucial for India since it is hosting multiple events of global governance and it should exploit this opportunity to the fullest. 

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Minutes taken and drafted by Fiona Francis, FYBA.