80 years of the UN: Who has exercised the veto power the most?
The organization has been in its eighth decade under intense criticism and with many accumulated crises, but it is still very necessary.
Barcelona"We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save future generations from the scourge of war." Thus begins the text signed by 50 countries in the summer of 1945, still amidst the smoke from the bombs of World War II. Four months later, on October 24, 1945, the United Nations Charter came into force. The text committed the world's governments to resolve conflicts without the use of weapons, to promote peace and respect for human rights, cooperation among nations on equal terms, and economic and social development throughout the world. These principles—currently so much in question—have been adhered to so far by 193 states, almost all of those in existence.
This Friday 80 years have passed since the birth of the UN, in the midst of one of its worst crises of legitimacy. More open armed conflicts than ever before, international law increasingly questioned by more states, and human rights and development at risk of serious setbacks. But not all experts agree that this is the UN's worst crisis: "Eighty years is a long time, and we must not forget that during the Cold War, opposing blocs met in this forum, with the Soviets financing governments against guerrillas financed by the United States and vice versa," emphasizes the director of the Pablo. The decolonization process generated many tensions, and in 1961, the then UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in a plane crash surrounded by suspicion while traveling to the Congo. The Vietnam War already raised much criticism of the UN's ineffectiveness, without forgetting its failures to stop genocides such as those in Rwanda (1994) or Srebrenica (1995), or the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Criticism of the UN's ineffectiveness has been recurrent over the past eight decades, as Security Council decisions (the only binding ones) are constantly blocked by the five veto-wielding powers. In total, there have been 327 vetoes over these 80 years. The top vetoers are Russia and the USSR, which have blocked 161 decisions, followed by the United States, which have vetoed a resolution 95 times, the United Kingdom (32 vetoes), China (21), and France (18).
The era with the most vetoes was precisely the UN's inception, with the USSR's constant blocking of new members in retaliation for the organization's non-recognition of the Soviet republics. The first vetoes not from the USSR were those of the United Kingdom and France in 1956 to prevent UN intervention in Israel's invasion, and those two countries in Egypt via the Suez Canal. During the 1970s and 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, the United States exercised the veto the most, most often on issues related to the Middle East. China, which barely exercised this power in the 20th century, has dared to do so more since the late 1990s, as it gained more influence on the global geopolitical stage. But in recent years, Russia has once again taken the lead in blocking council decisions, especially after 2014, when the conflict with Ukraine began.
"The Security Council is the guarantor of international law, and the moment one of its permanent members invades another country [Russia in Ukraine in 2022], an act explicitly prohibited by the UN Charter, one of the guarantors violates the treaty, which represents a serious crisis of legitimacy for the entire system," he warns. Added to this is the frontal attack by the US president, Donald Trump, against the UN, which is rhetorical but also financial, with a cut in funds This, combined with the debts accumulated by other countries such as China, has forced the organization to cut 20% of its budget for next year. Adding to the political crisis is the constant challenge from Israel, which has not only violated UN resolutions such as the 1967 resolution, but is currently accused of genocide in the UN International Court of Justice and has banned the organization's representatives from its territory.
A reform that doesn't arrive
"The prospects for reform of the Security Council, under discussion since the mid-1990s, are remote," he notes. Daniel Forti, senior UN researcher at the International Crisis Group, who recalls that this debate "is going to gain momentum last year when the Biden administration announced it would support granting two permanent seats to the Council for African countries," but this initiative has been put on hold with the arrival of Trump. Both Forti and Herbolzheimer believe that the UN will withstand the onslaught of this new crisis. "It is a resilient organization and its organizations Forti. And both agree that the benefits it brings outweigh the consequences: "If the UN did not exist, it would have to be invented," says Herbolzheimer.
of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet or former Ecuadorian Minister María Fernanda Espinosa. "After 80 years, I think it is time for a woman to lead the UN. This would be an important step towards signaling transformation," says Gallach, who is part of the Global Women Leaders initiative that is campaigning to achieve this goal on a global scale. "We must form a united front of countries that believe in multilateralism, and there are still many of them, who also believe that the UN needs profound reform but are aware that neither climate change, nor migration, nor the impact of artificial intelligence or other major transformations can be addressed individually."