Article by Philip Brown

Has the UN succeeded in its principal goal?

The UN was formed after World War 2 “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, [1]. The first purpose of the UN is “To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.” [2]

And indeed there have been no world wars since the UN was founded. On the other hand there have been 478 wars in the 76 years between the UN formation and May 2021 [3]. During that period a new war started somewhere in the world on average every 2 months.

Most wars that start now are civil wars. But some people would argue this had nothing to do with the UN and everything to do with the fear of the consequences of using nuclear weapons.

Can anyone really claim that the UN has saved succeeding generations from the scourge of war?

References

[1] UN Charter, Preamble: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/preamble

[2] UN Charter, Article 1.1:  https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-1

[3] List of wars 1945 – May 2021: https://unacov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wars-1945-May-2021.xlsx also available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n3EM0o9jpaBZxUi_8_wAN61vp5XCSFKiSL0mU1ohttE/edit?usp=sharing

More information about armed conflicts since 1945

Prio.org publication, Trends in Armed Conflict, 1946–2017: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Dupuy%2C%20Rustad-%20Trends%20in%20Armed%20Conflict%2C%201946%E2%80%932017%2C%20Conflict%20Trends%205-2018.pdf