The U.N. is Broken: From Rwanda to Ukraine, the Cost of Inaction

The UN was created in 1945 to stop wars, protect human rights, and keep global peace. Enshrined in the UN Charter, this mission promised to shield the vulnerable. However, the UN has repeatedly failed in that mission.

The biggest breakdown of this mission is the failure to stop mass slaughters. The 1994 Rwandan genocide for example, even with clear warnings about an upcoming massacre, the UN chose to cut its troops on the ground. Within 100 days, close to 1,000,000 people were murdered while the world watched. Just 1 year later, in July 1995, a similar incident happened in Bosnia. UN troops labeled the town of Srebrenica a safe zone. Yet when enemy forces marched in, the small UN force did nothing. More than 8,000 were slaughtered.

After the October 7th attacks, a high-level probe by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) concluded that at least 9 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were directly involved in the Hamas-led massacre, which killed about 1,200 people. The UN was forced to fire these individuals after finding credible evidence linking them to the attacks. Rather than acting as a neutral force, sections of the UN became compromised.

This failure continues in Iran, where the UN has proved unable to halt severe, state-sponsored violence. During major domestic Iranian anti-government crackdowns, security forces carried out mass killings across all 31 provinces. Independent human rights groups identified thousands of verified victims, with some internal logs indicating more than 36,500 deaths. Instead of stopping the bloodshed, the UN became a stage for pure hypocrisy. On September 23, 2024, Iranian President Pezeshkian stood at the UN General Assembly podium. He held up photos of dead schoolchildren to deflect from his own regime's violence. In a display of hypocrisy, he countered his critics by declaring, "Those who are terrorists... describe us using that word," while the international community failed to hold his government accountable.

The 5 permanent members of the Security Council hold a total veto power. They use this power as a weapon to protect themselves and their allies. This flaw makes the UN helpless during major wars. In Ukraine, Russia uses its veto to block any action against its invasion.

The UN was created to prevent the horrors of the past from happening again, but history is unforgiving toward institutions that stand by when action is needed most.