This archive report was first published on 25 September 2021.
As the United Nations celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2020, it launched a global conversation on building a better future for all. However, this initiative somehow managed to sidestep some critical issues.
According to surveys involving over 1.5 million people across its diverse global membership, the UN sought contributions to a 12-point agenda that it believed could only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly's 76th sitting, Secretary General Antonio Guterres emphasized the need to 'think big' and 'reset the foundations' of collective action. However, the reality on the ground suggests that little has changed in power relations at the world body.
Leaders from developing countries spoke in polite and largely conformist terms, failing to raise the need for a more equitable distribution of power at the UN Security Council. The five permanent members – the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China – continue to hold significant sway, with the rest of the world relegated to a rotational presidency.
It is difficult to imagine how the UN can become more inclusive when the power to make major decisions remains in the hands of a select few. The four other permanent members of the UN Security Council, excluding China, account for less than 10 percent of the world population, while India and Africa, which together account for a fifth of global population, are yet to find a seat at the high table.
As the UN has often been used as a veil to sanction unilateral positions, the concentration of power in the hands of a select few has hindered the rise of emerging economies. The World Trade Organisation, for instance, has been an instrument of Western hegemony, with Western powers pushing for an open trading regime despite practicing protectionist policies for centuries.
