Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine is the third holiest place for Muslims. It is built on a hilltop in the Old City of Occupied Jerusalem.
It has been a major flashpoint in terms of violence against innocent Palestinians for decades. On April 05, 2023, in a fresh act of state terrorism; Israeli forces once again fired stun grenades inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque wherein at least twelve Palestinians were injured, and more than 300 worshippers were arrested according to Reuters.
It is a well-known fact, that the United Nations came into being at the end of World War II. The world had seen the failure of the League of Nations before. The main purpose of its charter, which formed the United Nations, was to “protect the next generation from the menace of war.”
On the contrary, since the founding of the United Nations from 1945 to 2001, according to the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) there have been two hundred forty-eight (248) armed conflicts that occurred in one hundred fifty-three (153) regions of the world, two hundred one (201) were initiated by the US.
At present, although a lot of work is being done around the world because the United Nations, has failed to prevent many of the major human tragedies in the world. Even now a great human tragedy has arisen in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and occupied Palestine, but the United Nations seems incapable of taking any action.
However, the main reasons for this are some of its basic Inadequacies. For example, the United Nations have a large body of experts, but the final decision on security matters is made by the Security Council, where five permanent members have veto power, which is usually used to protect their state interests rather than justice.
It is pertinent to mention here, there is a long list of unresolved conflicts and disputed territories around the world. But Palestine and Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are two of its major failures that need to be resolved on an immediate basis. Despite numerous resolutions of the United Nations, both cases are long pending on their table and have not yet been implemented.
On the one side, it is undeniable fact that; there have been three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947, and it is now often feared that the dispute over nuclear weapons between the two countries could spark a devastating war.
On the other side, the occupied Palestine conflict in the Middle East is still a burning fire, with frequent sparks. The United Nations adopted treaties in 1948 establishing the state of Israel. This resolution also recognized the right of local Palestinian Arabs and their right to return to their homeland, which has not yet been implemented. Meanwhile, the common cause in both unresolved disputes is either the division of the major powers or the geopolitical interests of the world powers.
The United Nations as an institution has failed to provide justice to the Muslim world. There is a great need to improve this institution, otherwise, there are growing fears that it may become irrelevant in the future for the Muslim world. In particular, the monopoly of permanent members and US-led entities such as NATO making and enforcing their decisions above or in parallel with this organization could be seriously detrimental to the future of this organization. Hence, it is high time for the UN to bring institutional reforms to maintain its credibility.