‘UN is gridlocked’: Jaishankar says global body ‘largely irrelevant’ in decision-making

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday said the United Nations needs urgent reform, arguing that the global body has increasingly failed to play a meaningful role in decisions on major international crises, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf.

Jaishankar made the remarks while responding to a question during an interactive session at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in Delhi, news agency PTI reported.

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'UN has been largely irrelevant to decision-making'

He was asked about the future of the UN and multilateral institutions amid growing questions over their effectiveness in addressing global challenges.

"Where the UN is concerned, I think it's obvious to everybody by now that the UN is gridlocked. If you look at the big issues of the day, whether you look at the conflict in the Gulf, whether you look at the conflict in Ukraine, whether you look at other issues in Africa, whether you look at Covid, actually, the United Nations has been largely irrelevant to the decision-making," Jaishankar said.

"I think, again there's a widely held view that a lot of it is because the (UN) Security Council is gridlocked, that the Security Council no longer represents the entirety of the global interest," he said.

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'UN remains a prisoner of the past'

Jaishankar has previously criticised the functioning of the UN at international forums.

"The world has evolved into a smart, interconnected and multipolar arena and its members have increased fourfold since the UN's inception. Yet the UN remains a prisoner of the past," he had said at the 2nd Foreign Ministers meeting of G20 Brazil 2024.

Speaking at the conclave, Jaishankar pointed out that the UN was established with 51 members and now has nearly four times as many.

"So, if you have grown four times, and you want to keep the old board of management, it's not going to work. I mean, it's common sense," he said.

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'Few countries' resisting UN reform

Without naming any country, Jaishankar said some nations were opposing changes to the UN while invoking Africa's interests to justify their position.

"few players, a few countries who are resistant to the reform of the UN, and, they are using the name of Africa, they are using Africa's interest as an argument to block the reform of UN".

He said African countries themselves have clearly articulated their position on the issue.

"And the irony is Africa actually now has a clear position. Africa has actually come to the intergovernmental negotiations and indicated what they would like to see. They've laid out their position," he added.

'We need the UN'

Jaishankar said the focus should be on strengthening the UN rather than bypassing it.

"So, I think we need to see whether, we will continue to watch, in a sense, the irrelevance, or I would say ineffectiveness, a better word, of the UN. And it's an important question, because we need the UN. The UN has done a big service to the international community," he said.

He argued that our job must be to "fix the UN, not to work around the UN", adding the UN itself has to help with that process.

The flagship event was held under the theme 'Resilience in an Age of Flux'.

Jaishankar shared the stage with former Singapore foreign minister George Yong Boon Yeo during the closing session of the three-day conclave.

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'System is broken': Jaishankar on global trade

On the international financial architecture, Jaishankar said the concerns extend beyond the financial system to global trade.

"I do think, not just the financial system, but more important the trade system...There's a widespread feeling in the world that the system is broken. That at the heart of the issue is we created a system for market which is based on market principles."

"And we today have very substantial non-market practices which have not been called out. And the non-market practices today have distorted the international economy. So, this struggle between a market norm and the non-market reality, I think is at the heart," he added.