The cry to reform the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is getting louder as the world peace body, entrusted with the job to ensure a peaceful world in the aftermath of the Second World War fails to perform its designated task on several occasions; the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war for the last seven months is a stark reminder of the same. Such failures show that UNSC is unable to uphold the UN charter under the present arrangement. So to revamp UNSC, first and foremost the veto power given to five permanent members of the council should be withdrawn as the power has often been misused and has acted as a roadblock to world peace. The power has allowed permanent members of the council to impose their views on others nations, often ignoring the interests of smaller and weaker nations. Moreover, the permanent members have even gone against the resolutions passed by UNSC. The gulf war in the nineties was the best example of such big brotherly attitude of some permanent members, wherein the United States of America (US) and England along with their allies attacked Iraq rejecting the UNSC resolution for peace on the pretext that the west Asian nation was in possession of a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). UNSC could not prevent the two nations from destroying Iraq, though the allegation regarding WMD turned out to be false. Again, in the last seven months, several resolutions have been passed denouncing Russia for invading Ukraine, but all these resolutions have been reduced to be just another piece of paper as Moscow has not shown any inclination to heed warnings by UNSC .
The failure to work independently by succumbing to pressure from rich and powerful nations has proven to be a major weakness of the UNSC and has made the body ineffective. So, revamping of the body should not be limited only to the induction of a few nations in the 15-member executive body of the council. Rather comprehensive changes should be effected so that UNSC can take decisions independently without being arm-twisted by selected nations. It should be reminded that the UN was established with the aim to treat all its members equally and any attempt to dilute the approach should be prevented. The executive body should be constituted democratically with every member-nation enjoying equal rights, instead of the present system of providing extra rights to five countries. The executive body should be selected by the members through secret ballots for a fixed term. The process will certainly help to end the hegemony of powerful nations over the world peace body and if implemented properly, in the future we may have an executive body of the council sans present five top nations. Otherwise, UNSC will remain a toothless tiger unable to prevent any war in which one of the top five nations is involved.
