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Jaishankar Slams UN as Gridlocked and Irrelevant to Global Decisions
- •External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar stated that the United Nations is gridlocked and largely irrelevant to decision-making on key global issues.
- •He highlighted the UN's inability to shape decisions during major crises such as conflicts in West Asia, Ukraine, Africa, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
- •Jaishankar attributed the ineffectiveness of the UN to a lack of Security Council reform, noting that the body fails to represent current global interests.
- •He pointed out that while UN membership has grown nearly four times since 1945 to 193 states, the governance structure has not kept pace.
- •Emphasizing India's role as a voice for the Global South, he stressed that the focus must be on fixing the UN rather than working around it.
Key Questions Answered
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described the United Nations as gridlocked and largely irrelevant to global decision-making because it has been unable to shape decisions on major issues like conflicts in West Asia, Ukraine, Africa, and the Covid-19 pandemic due to a lack of reform in the Security Council. He noted that the body no longer represents the entirety of global interests and its current management structure has failed to keep pace with its membership growing nearly fourfold since 1945.
The United Nations currently has 193 member states, following its establishment in 1945 with 51 founding members, with South Sudan being the latest addition in 2011.
Representing the Global South, India raised concerns regarding the 'four Fs', which stand for food, fuel, fertilizer, and finance, highlighting that these challenges are widely shared across the region.
