The 81st General Assembly session of the United Nations (UN) was held in New York City on September 8, 2026, and continued until September 29, 2026. This session took place at a critical period of global development: The unprovoked war against Iran by the United States; the continued genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel and its destabilization of the Middle East by military operations in Syria, Lebanon and the West Bank; the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen; the continued war between Ukraine and Russia; the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its President and First Lady; the bombing of fishing boats by the U.S. in international waters; a worsening Climate Crisis including a rise in sea levels; and the threatened takeover of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Against this background is the concentration of capital into fewer and fewer hands, creating a growing oligarchy; the existential food insecurity among countries of the Global South, along with the underdevelopment gap between the rich and poor countries, becomes wider.
The Weaknesses and Double Standards of the UN
In 1945 after the devastation of World War II experienced especially by Europe, 51 countries formulated the UN Charter; the General Assembly has now grown to 193 countries. In addition, Palestine and Vatican City have observer status.
The goal of the UN was the promotion of peace, security, human rights and international cooperation. In its 81-year existence, the UN has undergone structural changes and has seen more than its fair share of international conflicts. However, the UN is now experiencing a completely different world, with conflicts nowhere near the scale and threat to human existence, which did not exist in 1945.
These objective realities present challenges for the international body to address in keeping with its mandate at inception.
For the UN to be effective and relevant, and to fulfill its mandate as when founded, it must eliminate the blatant double standards it has practiced for decades. It unhesitatingly sanctions countries it does not like and turns a deaf ear to those it favors or wants to appease.
The week of September 21 to September 26 was critical, with several crucial topics scheduled for debate which affect the existentialism of the global community: Right to Development; Climate Action and Just Transition; Sea Level Rise meeting; Durban Declaration and Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. It was hoped that the agenda would include discussions about the continent of Africa being permanently represented on the UN Security Council.
The continent of Africa has a population of 1.6 billion people distributed across 54 countries, with a global GDP projected at $3.56 trillion for 2026. Based on these objective realities, there is no rational reason why Africa should not be represented as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
As a collective body, the UN is only as strong as its membership. There was a time when the UN could be counted on to take principled and unequivocal positions on international conflicts.
Today, with the ascendance of far-right governments, the UN has become weak and ineffective, and overly cautious in taking principled positions on international conflicts. No reasonable person expects the UN to change the world or “browbeat” a country into compliance with the Charter; however, the concept of accountability and consequences should be forthrightly expected for violations of the Charter. There must be enforceable mechanisms in place for non-compliance.
Had it not been for South Africa taking the lead in filing charges with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel for its genocide in Gaza, the entire body would have remained in relative silence and “sit on their hands” as they have been doing throughout.
The devastation in Gaza has been referred to as “the greatest destruction of an urban area in modern history.” Despite the “flowery” words from some United Nations officials, and occasional simplistic comments from the leaders of some countries, the devastation taking place in Palestine has met relative silence from the international community.
Now, an even more pervasive weapon—starvation—has been unleashed on the remaining civilian population. Famine has reached the “worst case,” a U.N. affiliated group says. “Overall deaths are often quoted in the range of 60,000 but could well run into the hundreds of thousands. Most of those who survive will experience ill effects through life, physical and psychological” (Patrick Mazza, CounterPunch).
The State of Israel has extended its military operations to the West Bank, Lebanon, and incursions into Syria. What rationale does the UN have for not placing definitive sanctions on Israel?
In this regard alone, the UN is weak and perpetuates a double standard in the way in which it views and addresses international conflicts. The international community has for decades refused to acknowledge the occupation, genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place in Palestine.
The speech by President Donald Trump was intellectual buffoonery, devoid of leadership protocol and displayed a disdain and arrogance toward International Law.
To speak callously at a world forum about the annihilation of a sovereign country, Iran, shows a threat to global peace and security; the arrogance and obsessive “great power” chauvinism of the U.S. has extended beyond its borders.
Some countries have even publicly expressed concern that their country could be invaded by the United States. This is an unsettling situation and does not promote the cause of world peace as initially conceived in the UN Charter.
Last but by no means least is the escalation of the U.S. embargo against the Republic of Cuba. For 66 years, successive U.S. administrations have enforced and continue a unilateral, immoral and illegal embargo against Cuba, which has escalated to genocidal levels under the second term of the Trump administration.
To cut off petroleum supplies to the island of Cuba is beyond inhumane; it is a form of economic and social genocide.
The Cuban government has reported that the economic loss between March 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, amounts to US$8.08 billion; the cumulative loss from the embargo is estimated at US$178.7 billion.
Apart from its intent to cripple the Cuban economy and to foment unrest and social chaos in order to topple the Cuban government, the U.S. directly renders hospitals and Cuba’s health care system dysfunctional, which has resulted in unnecessary deaths.
The UN at the Crossroads
For the United Nations to remain relevant and improve its effectiveness as a collective, it needs to review its performance over the decades, especially how conflicts are handled. The effectiveness will have to come from the membership of the General Assembly and the Security Council, which acts as a kind of “go between” for the general body.
That places critical action on the development of social movements within the member states. That translates to organizing, agitating and mobilizing for the advancement of progressive socio-economic change, and the coming to power within their respective countries.
This will significantly impact the misuse of the veto power by the permanent members within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The permanent members have used their veto power in the UNSC to quash resolutions passed by the General Assembly; they arbitrarily approve resolutions involving countries they agree with or countries they are friendly with, while rejecting/vetoing those resolutions related to countries they do not like. This is opportunism and unprincipled and certainly does not help the causes for which the UN Charter was designed.
Growing global inequality—worsened by the increasing concentration of capital—is another cause of great concern. This intrinsic character of capitalism, worsens the already dire position of member states of the Global South. Countries are faced with the unpleasant task of deciding whether to institute social programs for the benefit of their people, or debt servicing to international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank.
On September 18, 2026, Amitabh Behar, the executive director of Oxfam, said: “Just look at the obscenity of inequality. At the moment, 3,000 billionaires have a combined wealth of $18.3 trillion, that is almost the GDP of China. This at a time when a quarter of the global population actually lives with food insecurity. Almost 780 million sleep hungry; they do not get three square meals a day.”
The reality is even more startling when one looks at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ World Inequality Report 2026. Between 1995 and 2025, the personal wealth of the world’s bottom 50% grew only 2% to 4% annually, which translates to 1.1% of global wealth growth.
The obscenity of capitalism’s gluttony is revealed when the top 1% experienced growth of 2% to 8.5% annually.
This is a potentially volatile situation which the UN as a collective has to develop strategies to adequately address, and social movements within member states have to examine their role and efficacy in confronting this menace.
The adjunct agencies of the UN which provide humanitarian assistance to programs within member states must demand adequate funding from the general body in order to effectively carry out and fulfill their missions. These agencies should also guard against their agencies being weaponized or used to spy on or influence dissent against social injustice.
Resistance to occupation, genocide and other forms of social injustice requires no justification; an oppressed people have the inalienable right to fight for their liberation. Humanitarian assistance should not be predicated on one’s perception of the validity of social resistance.
Despite its weaknesses, the United Nations remains a critical and useful world body and has helped to keep the world from plunging into another world war.
There have been attempts to nullify its existence by: threats to withholding funding contributions; demonizing its agencies; placing unilateral and immoral sanctions on the International Criminal Court judges; placing unilateral sanctions against the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese; in some instances the dissolution of UN humanitarian agencies in member states, and the downright ignoring of resolutions passed by the General Assembly.
It is left to the majority of the member states to struggle to preserve this world body; it is an existential imperative.
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About the Author
Richard Dunn is a retired construction professional, trained in Architecture and Energy Management.
He’s been a social justice activist since 1968 and was particularly active with the Walter Rodney defense demonstrations.
Richard is an author, a contributing columnist to newspapers, an editor for a music industry magazine and operates a social justice website.
Richard can be reached at: richarddunn75@gmail.com.
This is an extremely excellent and well written article. The only thing that I would add to this article is some mention of the imperialistic actions, human rights violations, and unilateral veto misuses perpetrated by other major powers, such as Russia or China.