Is the UN system failing to protect smaller nations?

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The UN system is widely seen by this columnist as failing to protect smaller nations, mainly because veto power and great-power dominance limit what it can do.

The UN is presented as essential in principle, but ineffective in practice when major states are involved. The case made is that smaller countries face war, rising food and energy prices, and new pathogens, yet the Security Council’s structure leaves them dependent on stronger powers for any binding action.
The Security Council gives five powers exceptional control over action

The US, China, France, the UK and Russia hold permanent seats and veto power on the Security Council. That makes the Council the most powerful UN body for responding to threats and aggression, but it also means those same states can block sanctions or other measures against themselves.
Great-power conflicts are used as evidence of limited UN action

The invasion of Ukraine is cited as a recent example where there was no meaningful UN action. The same argument is extended to past US invasions, with the claim that the UN did not act because the states most able to use force are also the ones most able to stop action.
Smaller states are described as having little room to advance major issues

The imbalance is said to run through the wider UN system, not just the Security Council. Small states are described as needing backing from stronger nations to move significant matters forward, which is why the organisation is portrayed as losing credibility in most cases of aggression.
The UN is seen as useful in parts, but too constrained overall

Some UN bodies still have value, including the Red Cross and peacekeeping missions. Even so, the organisation is described as a slow bureaucracy that struggles to deal with a dangerous and changing world, and as having had little success in bringing war criminals and serious human rights violators to justice, especially when they come from powerful countries.

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Is the UN system failing to protect smaller nations?

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