LILLEY: While the world burns, the UN looks away

As wars rage from Ukraine to the Middle East, the United Nations remains distracted by politics, double standards and protecting bad actors.

Published Sep 20, 2026  •  3 minute read

As wars rage from Ukraine to the Middle East, the United Nations remains distracted by politics, double standards and protecting bad actors. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI /AFP via Getty Images

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The world woke up Sunday morning to intensified fighting between Ukraine and Russia, North Korea firing ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan and the real possibility of war between the U.S. and Iran resuming.

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Also this week, the United Nations Leaders’ Week takes place as the General Assembly gathers in New York.

The United Nations was established in 1945, in the wake of the Second World War, to “maintain international peace and security.” Let’s just say that the organization too much of the world puts its trust in is doing a really bad job.

Peacekeeper in name only

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the United Nations on Wednesday and share the same podium as Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, the man defending Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

I’d say that both are given equal treatment, but given the structure of the UN, Russia is actually treated better and given a veto on the Security Council that prevents the UN from acting against Russia’s aggression.

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Critics of the United States and American President Donald Trump might level the same criticism at the U.S. given its war against Iran. The difference is the entire world declared that Iran could not and should not get a nuclear weapon, but well-funded UN agencies were useless in stopping Iran from progressing.

There is a world of difference that anyone with a conscience can see. The problem is the UN doesn’t have a conscience.

Last year, the UN General Assembly passed 15 resolutions condemning Israel and just 11 dealing with the rest of the world. Of the 11 focused on the rest of the world, six were against Russia, two against the United States, just one on Iran and one on Syria.

There were none on the ongoing terror attacks by Houthi rebels against international shipping. There were none against China’s ongoing campaigns against Taiwan, Tibet, Uyghur Muslims or its own people. There was no condemnation of Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon. No condemnation or concern over the ongoing conflicts in Nigeria or Sudan.

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Obsessed with the wrong things

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has displaced as many as 14.5 million people, according to the UN, and yet the organization remains obsessed with Israel, not Sudan. Due to its structure, it cannot act on Russia’s many acts of aggression over the years.

This isn’t new. The United Nations has been like this for decades. The problem is that too many Canadians look at the UN through rose-coloured glasses.

We have an image stuck in our heads of Canadian soldiers in blue berets doing good work. That’s an image that hasn’t been relevant or accurate since the 1990s.

Instead of focusing on ending conflict and doing good in the world, the UN is now concerned with condemning Israel and finding ways to criticize the United States, a tendency that predates Trump entering the White House.

While there is some good aid work done by the UN, there are also groups like UNRWA, which Canada funds to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, that are linked to terrorism. Even after credible evidence emerged of ties between Hamas and UNRWA, including allegations that UNRWA teachers, social workers and health professionals participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, the Liberal government in Ottawa continued funding the organization.

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Dictators welcome

The UN recently acclaimed a representative of authoritarian Algeria to head the UN Economic and Social Council. Last month, the dictatorship of Eritrea was appointed chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 2026 Social Forum.

The UN is not a collection of like-minded democracies. It is not the world’s best and brightest. It is a club that grants an authoritarian dictator the same rights, privileges and respect as any democratically elected leader.

The UN was created to defend peace and security. Eighty years later, it too often serves as a shield for dictators, a forum for anti-Western grievances and an obstacle to solving the very crises it was built to prevent.

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