As the paralysis scales in Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and other places in the world, if care is not taken, we may not have the United Nations anymore. The fact is evident: few and fewer nations care about what the United Nations puts out these days, and the attack on its institution is unprecedented.
I have served the United Nations as a global citizen in many ways and forms, flying in planes and helicopters, and doing what global citizens do. But over the last few years, I can see a clear stress on the foundational cord of the United Nations.
Truth and facts are not absolute anymore. Everything now is based on relativism. You may blame me for thinking that it was actually based on order. The world has a few more years for a redesign because if we continue like this, expect some countries to resign as members of the United Nations. The operating order right now is broken – and this is a huge risk to global peace.
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In the Igbo Nation, men fight, dance and do whatever, but one day, it is expected that they will converge and drink together. In Ovim, that is the Nkwo day (in some communities, it could be Afo, Orie or Eke). During that drinking, the most elderly person asks the ancestors to bring peace, and allow kinsmen drink together, and reconcile. Magically, some of those “enemies” will forget their animosities, reducing tension in the land.
Then as kinsmen gather for the yam festival, they ask everyone to eat the yam and vegetable from the same pot. How do you eat from the same pot with your enemy? Haha, you must dis-enemy that person before eating. Peace is consolidated, and the spirits of Nwaoha (a child is born to the community, not just the parents) and Udoha (peace to all in the community) scale.
Good People, as in ancestral Igbo which had mechanisms to bring people together and solve problems, the world needs the United Nations to deepen its influence, towards bringing peace to our fragile world.
Of course, this is coming on the news that Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have exited ECOWAS membership. This is a very troubling pattern where few really care about supranational institutions like the UN and ECOWAS.
I do expect Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana to lead to ensure ECOWAS does not disintegrate into pieces. It has taken decades to build that economic alliance, we cannot allow it to just collapse overnight.
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There are people and entities who are never comfortable with rules or order. The UN has been greatly weakened, with its mission derailed, either by politicians or its own internal bureaucrats. There is too much corruption in our world today, with distrust and hatred being sowed and nurtured. The big question remains, would the world be more stable and peaceful without the United Nations? I seriously doubt.
Again, the strength of the UN is relatively linked to the strength of internal politics within the US. Let’s be real, without the US, this world can easily implode. Neither China nor Russia comes close to possessing the institutional capabilities required to run global affairs, those two are still challenged by their own internal politics, and there’s too much misalignment in values if they attempt to impose their own cultures or governing styles on the rest of the world. They simply lack the capacity, it goes well beyond having a sizable military budget.
The more the US loses its leadership mojo, the more the world becomes unstable, the UN neither has a military nor financial resources to get things done, it’s still the big guys that fund and supply the resources, with the US leading the pack.
The optics don’t look good.