Peace, a victim of vested Interests

The idea of peace is much more complicatedthan the phenomenon of war, for the reason that, it involves political,economic, social, cultural and religious issues of the diverse races andnations of the world. That is to say, all problems emanate from man. In modernmaterialistic societies which have been badly conflict-ridden, for ensuringpeace and protection of human rights diplomacy is of prime importance.

Peace as understood, is the absence ofhostility or the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal orinternational relationship, safety in matters of social or economic welfare,the knowledge of equality and fairness in political relationship. Ininternational relationship peace essentially refers to the absence of a war orconflict. In the new context, the concept of peace would be the existence of apolitical and economic environment where each nation, society or individualhuman being is truly free from the control of any powerful person or powerfulnation, free from poverty, hunger, indignities, every individual human beingmust be free to explore the limits of his/her potential.

   

Today peace is threaded, more than anythingelse by poverty, unjust economic order and absence of democracy, essentially inthe sense of human liberty. In a world pervaded with violence and disputes, thestruggle for peace becomes a must. Societies torn to the point ofdisintegration by civil war or violence are societies with regulatorymechanism; the bodies which exist to settle conflict are wrapped or evenparalyzed.

The idea behind the creation of UnitedNations was saving future generation from the scourge of war. The founderslived a devastation of two world wars. The UN ought to be the upholders ofpeace and security. The primary objective to prevent the escalation of war andhelp to restore peace following the outbreak of armed conflicts and promote lastingpeace in societies emerging from war, but the aim has been lost.

Founded in 1945 after World War II theUnited Nations was created to replace the defunct League of Nations, in orderto restore an order among the nations by providing a platform for dialogue thatcould somehow rescue the world for the prevalent crises. But unfortunately, theUN by and large has failed to perform those duties. No doubt, the organisationwas set up to mediate between state-to-state crises. But from Philistine toIndian occupied Kashmir, global conflict has changed and seemingly, it’s nolonger fit for the purpose.

There are many reasons behind the UN’sinability to stop the bloodshed of innocent people around the world’s mostdisturbed regions. The disturbing truth is that the world’s primary institutionto deal with war and enter state conflicts is itself dead.

The culture of peace means tolerance,non-violence and justice. More leaders are tempted and seek to bolster theirinfluence or diminish that of their rival’s by meddling in foreign conflict.Multilateralism and its constraints are under siege, challenged by moretransactional, zero-sum politics. Instrument of collective action, such as UNSecurity Council are paralysed:

If one area has borne the brunt of internationallawlessness over the past year, it is the humanitarian crises. There is adramatic rise in the number of conflicts, with devastating humanitarian, socialand economic costs.

At least 70 conflicts involve non-stateactors, a historic high. The past five years have seen worsening trends acrossconflicts indicator: more wars, more people killed and civilians increasinglytargeted.

Conflict and peace both are inherent traitsof human nature. While conflicts lead society towards destruction, peace pavesthe way for development and progress. UN lost pacifism, which is why, thedecades old disputes are yet to be settled. As of now, UN has adopted manyresolutions to maintain peace and protect human rights worldwide. As good aplace as any to witness, the slow decline of the post-second world war globalorder is the UN Security Council. The key task was restoring order to ashattered post-war world. There was this tremendous enthusiasm for thinking,that war had come to an end and it was exciting to think that these countriescould work together.

Too many UN resolutions passed since 1948,what did they bring? Nothing so far! The dispute over Kashmir seems too lost inthe mere magnum of endless disputes, such as the attribution of a state toPalestine. We don’t need more resolutions; we need to actually start protectingand safe guard the rights of the people suffering.

As long as the UN is the indebted to the USlike countries, peace like situation will be a distant dream. The countrieswhom UN has vested veto powers have never moved an inch over their personalinterest. That is why the most valid and historically recognised disputed ofthe world has not been settled owing to the reasons of lacking interests of theveto powers. The result of this is violence, terrorism, killings anddestructions. In order to let peace prevail, UN has to exercise powersindependently without being a rubber stamp.

The writer is a peace activist

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