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Source: https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/article-908043
The UN Has Drifted beyond Its Charter. It's Time to Rethink It
(Jerusalem Report) Amb. Alan Baker - The United Nations, established in 1945 on the heels of the Second World War, has, over the years, evolved into an institution in which geographical and political blocs frequently outweigh the universal objectives of the Charter. Instead of serving as a universal forum dedicated to international peace and security, many of its deliberative bodies have become arenas for ideological competition, regional alliances, and partisan political bargaining. General Assembly resolutions often seek to establish political and legal narratives extending beyond the Charter's purposes. This raises questions about the organization's credibility as a moral authority. The volume and frequency of such resolutions have fueled perceptions that political majorities, rather than consistent legal and moral standards, increasingly drive UN decision-making and functioning. The challenge confronting the UN is one of legitimacy. Universal membership, intended to enhance its authority, ironically has increasingly become a source of paralysis and politicization. Democratic constitutional states frequently find themselves numerically outweighed by governments that neither practice democratic accountability nor consistently uphold the principles proclaimed in the Charter. After more than eighty years, it is appropriate to ask whether the UN has gradually become something its founders never intended: an overly politicized institution whose political authority increasingly exceeds its constitutional foundation, and where narrow political interests dictate its actions and undermine its effectiveness. The writer, former legal officer in the UN's Office of Legal Affairs and legal adviser to the Israel Foreign Ministry, heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.