October 6, 2026
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization that is in the news a good bit. It was established in 1945 after the conclusion of World War II (WWII), which was a horrible event, lasting years, causing mass destruction in several countries and more than 70 million deaths.
Prior to its establishment, another international organization already existed. The League of Nations, established in 1920, had goals similar to the UN, but was not doing its job very well. As WWII drug on, the major Allied powers, including the United States, decided to establish another organization that would do a better job of ensuring peace and security across the globe.
And on January 1, 1942, 26 countries signed the Declaration by United Nations, which set forth the war aims of the Allied powers, and in 1944 discussions were held about a new organization to replace the League of Nations. And after the end of the war, the UN became active, and a few years later established its headquarters in New York City.
Since then, its story has been uneven, and sometimes bad. Trying to guide the world’s nations to peace and security is a tall order. Countries have their own ideas about what to do, and while the UN is preaching peace and security, they will do what they want. And what some of them want is detrimental to others.
And the UN’s record for enabling peace is a mess. But then, the UN has no power over its 193 members. It can pass resolutions and make international law, but it cannot control what its members do. That is a good thing. We do not need a world government that most certainly would not follow the lead of the United States of America.
Some of the UN’s member countries are terrible places. Nations like China, Iran, North Korea and Syria are very repressive, with horrible records on human rights, and with aggressiveness against other nations, like Russia is exerting over Ukraine, and China is against Taiwan.
Despite the horrible history of mistreatment of their people, however, these countries are allowed to participate fully alongside free and democratic countries. The UN treats all countries equally, and while this is admirable in some respects, it tends to portray the good ones and the bad ones as equals.
Looking at the long list of global issues that need to be dealt with, we find that the UN focuses on and addresses a few select issues, and ignores the rest. One of those is Climate Change, which has been made out to be a huge global threat. Lots of time is spent on it at the UN, while other issues are left alone.
Another example is the Israel-Palestine conflict. Whatever your personal feelings are on this subject, the UN has issued more resolutions against Israel than every other country on the planet combined.
And that action shows that there is a definite bias against Israel among UN members. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium to address the General Assembly last month, many of the representatives -- reportedly dozens of them -- got up and left the hall, not even willing to listen to what that member nation’s leader had to say. How can an international body help the world live in peace if its members will not even listen to what others have to say about important topics?
Netanyahu used his address to defend Israel's military campaigns, to reject accusations of genocide as a lie, and to criticize international moves toward Palestinian statehood, the positions of his nation. As this was happening, the Secretary-General of the United Nations apparently did and said nothing.
A problem that affects many members negatively is that the power of the UN is held by just a relative few of the entire member body. Fifteen members comprise the Security Council, and China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States are the permanent members of the Council. Those five countries have veto power over all the Council’s decisions. This has been shown to negatively affect how the UN can respond to crises, when one of those countries wants to prevent it.
The main purpose of the UN is to bring nations together to resolve their differences, to promote a peaceful world. It has often proven unable or incapable of doing this.
Reason.com reported last month that, “A Gallup poll released Sunday found that a majority of Americans think the U.N. is doing a ‘poor job’ protecting human rights, upholding international law, supporting sustainable development, and administering humanitarian assistance, international peace, and security.”
Resolutions passed last year by the General Assembly show “an organization that meddles in the domestic politics of its members while failing to pursue its stated mission to ‘maintain international peace and security.’”
Allowing political bias to rule in an organization charged with working to create a peaceful world, is totally wrong, 180 degrees off course. This is why so many believe the UN is bad for the world. Thus, what is the point of the UN continuing to exist?
An organization that can focus on peace and security is needed. But the UN isn’t it.
