The wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan along with armed conflicts throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas are all flash points that can ignite into wars, larger wars, and even global nuclear war. The biggest obstacle to ending these conflicts and bringing peace to this planet is a flawed United Nations Charter, and the dysfunctional Security Council it created.
UN General Assembly Resolution 11/1 condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and demanded a full withdrawal of Russian forces. One hundred forty one member states supported that resolution. Yet the war goes on because the Security Council itself is impotent and dysfunctional. It was the Russian Federation that vetoed Security Council resolution S/2022/720 on 30 September 2022 in violationof Article 27 paragraph 3 which requires them to abstain as a party to the dispute. The unanimous consent clause of Article 27 has made the Security Council dysfunctional from the day it was created. Windows of opportunity to correct those fundamental flaws have existed in the past, but the political will to make those changes did not existed.
The United Nations Charter is a fundamentally flawed document the Republic of China and the United Soviet Socialist Republic were founding members of the United Nations and original members of the UN Security Council. The current UN Charter as displayed on the UN’s own website still lists The Republic of China, which is no longer a member of the United Nations, and the USSR, which no longer exists, as permanent members of the Security Council. Article 23 paragraph 1 states: The Security Council shall consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations. The Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America shall be permanent members of the Security Council. … The Peoples Republic of China occupies the Republic of China’s seat and regularly uses their veto power. The USSR no longer exists and the Russian Federation sits in their place. The changes may have been politically expedient, but they simply made a bad situation worse.
The existential crisis all of humanity is facing and the inability of the Security Council to move forward where consensus does exist because of the unanimous consent clause necessitates the elimination of that clause from the United Nations Charter. If we do not correct the deficiencies in the Security Council, war and nuclear war are inevitable. It is therefore essential for our long term survival to take advantage of this opportunity to convene a General Conference of the Members of the United Nations for the purpose of reviewing the present Charter to correct its deficiencies and create a functional United Nations.