NOT many people would have known that United Nations (UN) Day, to commemorate the founding of the world body, was celebrated on Thursday (Oct 24).
It has been 79 years since the formation of the UN, a momentous occasion indeed, especially following the end of World War 2.
It was envisioned to be a body that would foster international cooperation and resolve conflicts.
Yet, in the years since, it has proven that its grand ideals of peace, equality and justice have been overshadowed by the grim realities of international politics.
Many have called the world body a "toothless tiger", and for good reason.
It is supposed to be a powerful organisation, yet, despite its size, influence and resources, has found itself paralysed in many of the world's most pressing crises.
One only needs to look at the conflicts in the world today, from those going on in Africa to Ukraine, Myanmar and, most notably, Palestine.
Throughout the years, the UN has shown that it can speak loudly, but often fails to bite.
The main cause for most of these issues can be traced to the veto power of the Big Five, all of whom are permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The power held by the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom allows any one of these nations to block substantive resolutions, regardless of the majority view.
This means that no matter how dire a situation may be, and no matter how clear the path to peace or justice might seem, the interests of one nation can stand in the way of UN action.
The most recent example of this, perhaps, was the veto in April by the United States of Palestine's application for full membership of the UN.
Every other member of the Security Council had voted in favour of the draft resolution, which would have recommended full membership for the besieged nation.
That vote flew in the face of what the US has done publicly, in pushing Israel to recognise the two-state solution.
While the vision of the UN is one that is an ideal, it cannot be denied that, in practice, it cannot be achieved.
For as long as the veto power exists, the UN will never achieve its goals and there will never be peace.
It will not matter if the entire world community votes for something.
All it takes is for one of the Big Five nations to use its veto power for everything to come undone.
What good, then, if the world needs to solve a problem if just one of these nations has a vested interest?
Thus, the war in Ukraine will go on.
So, too, the suffering of Palestinians, perhaps even leading to them being wiped out completely given the action of the occupier in the occupied territories.
Or will the Palestinians be wandering in an unknown country, having been chased out of the land in which they have lived for generations, by the people whom they had welcomed as refugees themselves decades ago?
The veto power is a relic of geopolitics that followed World War 2, one that has long been criticised by world figures.
The UN has achieved much since its formation, but until the veto power is removed, the world body will never achieve the noble ideals on which it was formed.
The writer is NST news editor