“We always find something to give us the impression we exist.” The dark yet illuminative words on existential futilities from Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy Waiting for Godot could well have been written to define the rising irrelevance of the United Nations, which is observing its 80th anniversary. The theme of this year’s General Assembly—‘Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights’—is a blend of lofty ideals lost in translation in the real world.
The sequence of events spells the UN’s crisis of credibility rather eloquently. On Tuesday, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry stated that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. On Thursday, the UN was a bystander on a 14:1 vote as the US vetoed a resolution for “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages”. Israel’s war in Gaza is over 700 days old. As Gaza is razed, the toll on humanity is stark—hostages and a million Palestinians are held to ransom in an unending war.
Irony punctuates the script at the UN. This week, Belgium, Australia, Portugal, Canada and Malta are expected to join Britain and France in recognising Palestinian statehood. However, the head of the Palestinian state, Mahmood Abbas, cannot attend the UNGA as the US revoked his visa despite the ‘1947 Headquarters Agreement’. On Friday, the UNGA passed a resolution to enable the Palestinian president of to deliver his speech virtually. Meanwhile, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, once designated a terrorist by the US, is slated to meet Donald J Trump in New York.
The war in West Asia is only one instance of the UN’s failures. A common refrain the world over is that at the UN, conflicts do not end. They get a seat, a speech, and resolutions that resolve nothing. The Russia-Ukraine war has been raging for over 1,300 days. As thousands were killed, the UNGA passed resolutions, including one by the Security Council in February 2025 “imploring for a swift end” to the conflict. In September 2025, Russian drones entered Poland and its fighter planes hovered inside Estonian air space, worsening the fears.
Article 1 of the UN Charter underlines its purpose—“To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures.” In the eight decades of its existence, the UN’s track record in ending wars is sketchy and worse than Trump’s contested claims of stopping wars. The war in Syria began in 2011, the one in Yemen in 2014, and the strife in Libya continues since 2014. In 2025, wars are raging across the international dateline and countries are seeking the cover of regional security blocs.
In his absurdist novel The Plague, Albert Camus observed that people say war is stupid, can’t last long, but stupidity has a knack of getting its way. The UN’s dithering has validated this truism for decades. The UN is failed by its architecture. The resolutions passed by the General Assembly are effete at best, reflect pusillanimity, and imposes no consequence on the censured entity. The composition of the Security Council, a dinosaur of post-war self-certification, doesn’t reflect global realities.
The fact that India, the world’s most populous democracy and fifth largest economy, is not included is a testament to the questionable legitimacy of the Security Council. Indeed, India Germany, Japan, and Brazil have campaigned for change for over two decades. There is no representation for Africa or South America. In the meantime, the permanent members of P5—the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China—have weaponised the veto to kill multilateralism, which is manifest in the perpetuation of killings in Gaza and Ukraine.
The failure of the UN is not limited to preventing wars. Its umbrella of organisations hosts causes and have mostly served to express angst. Climate change is a live challenge thriving on inaction. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up in 1988. Yet, despite the Paris Agreement and over two dozen COP summits, glaciers are melting and global emissions and extreme weather events are wreaking havoc. The International Organization for Migration, set up in 1951 to ensure the dignity of displaced people, has struggled to articulate a global approach and is a silent spectator to the coercive tactics adopted in Europe and elsewhere.
The UN’s global counter-terrorism strategy is illustrated by its failure to build consensus on a universal definition of terrorism. The World Health Organization set up in 1948 has struggled with intent and execution—five years after the pandemic it waffled in its report on the origins of Covid, failed to get China to share details, and is yet to formulate a universal approach on prevention. The UN’s ambitious Millennium Development Goals, targeted for 2015, morphed into the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030. In 2025, the record of achievements on the goals is patchy. The failings of the UN Human Rights Council are streaming live on screens and are well documented.
The idea and the need for a global body is indisputable, but the UN in its current form cannot address modern challenges—be it artificial intelligence, climate change, cyber threats, or the rise of state-sponsored terrorism. To paraphrase Franz Kafka from The Castle, all that the UN seems to have done is to guard the distant and invisible interests of visible masters. As it turns 80, the UN is fading into a footnote in the history of hope. It must reflect and redesign its operating system to be contextually relevant.
Read all columns by Shankkar Aiyar
Shankkar aiyar
Author of The Gated Republic, Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India’s 12 Digit
Revolution, and Accidental India
(shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com)