• The United Nations General Assembly’s 75th session is underway and the 75th anniversary of the world body will be celebrated on 24th October.

Achievements of UN in last 75 years

• The UN has achieved success in various fields like

1. Peacekeeping operations and military operations by UN Security council
2. Decolonization and Anti-racism practices by the UN General assembly
3. Creating new International Economic order
4. Promoting Globalisation and creating international order in which globalisation can flourish by the various UN Specialised agencies
5. Global and collective Action towards Climate Change

Need for Reforms 

• Multilateralism has played a vital role in the current scenario for bringing reform in the UN especially in the United Nations Security council and in the relation of the General assembly with the UN Security council. 
• Multilateralism is questioned because other countries also want to enjoy the same power as official or permanent members enjoy as well as the idea of human rights and sovereignty is also questioned.
• The major issue which the world order is facing is with the power structure and the UNSC being less representative in nature.
• The major focus should lie in increasing the relevance of the United Nations because it is losing its relevance day by day due to various issues especially related to UNSC.
• The role of China in capturing the organisation for domestic purpose is the emerging threat for the other countries.
• It is difficult to visualize the world without the UN because it decides the future of multilateralism and the existing structures of the UN can play an important role in shaping the multilateral order.

Focus areas for reforms

(i) UNSC– The UNSC should be made more representative and the power has to be divided equally.

(ii) Health– The UN efforts have failed during the pandemic due to weak central command.

(iii) Digitization– The UN can intervene in matters of data privacy, data adequacy etc.

(iv) The Climate is the long term challenge and the UN has shown significant progress in tackling it but there is a need for Global collective effort.

(v) In terms of democracy issues, the UN needs to enlarge its intervention.

(vi) The financial structure has to be reformed because reforms cannot be talked about without having financial accountability.

Way Forward

• Instead of going for large scale reforms, domain specific approach or reform is needed to avoid structural impediments. Eg: Global health
• The issue of veto power or permanent membership has to be looked upon in order to maintain the UN’s relevance for other countries.
• Till now, the UN system has been controlled largely by the U.S and its allies but in the current scenario China is emerging due to which the leadership is being questioned and it needs a special focus because the confrontation between the U.S and China can become an area of contention in the functioning of the UN.

Conclusion

• The UN needs to achieve a large number of success and it can be done through collective effort of all the countries which may give tangible results to the world.

Reference:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMbe4mxTBww&list=PLVOgwA_DiGzoqQsGjmamTu6f453RWpm_I&index=1