A call to world leaders: the UN must act urgently on Gaza or risk collapse
A call to world leaders: the UN must act urgently on Gaza or risk collapse
Next week, the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly will convene in New York, bringing together world leaders and custodians of our shared humanity.
As a former colleague who once stood among you in those halls, corridors and forums in pursuit of peace and a stable world order, I address you today with an urgent and heartfelt appeal.
In Gaza, more than two million people are enduring a catastrophe that defies humanity: tens of thousands have been killed - most of them women and children - and hospitals, schools and shelters reduced to rubble. Meanwhile, food, medicine and water are being deliberately denied.
A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has now found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The situation there is not only a humanitarian catastrophe but a moral reckoning for the UN, and your actions now will decide its very legitimacy and survival.
This reckoning comes at a time when the UN Security Council itself is paralysed, trapped by the principle-free rivalry among the P5 countries (the five permanent members). That paralysis has made the mission of the General Assembly more crucial than ever.
As the body representing the broadest expression of humanity's collective will, the assembly must step out of the council's shadow and act decisively to preserve the dignity, credibility and authority of the UN.
You gather for this year's General Assembly not only as representatives of your nations but as guardians of humanity's collective conscience. Today, the world stands at a dangerous crossroads.
The founding principles of the United Nations - human dignity, sovereign equality and collective security - are under unprecedented assault.
The UN's founding Charter begins with a solemn declaration: "We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of nations large and small."
Today, that pledge is being broken.
Moral collapse
The catastrophe in Gaza is a moral collapse, unfolding in full view of the world. At the same time, a troubling shift in global attitudes is normalising the language and logic of war.
The recent decision to rename the US Department of Defense as the Department of War is not a simple administrative change, but strips away the pretence of defence to glorify aggression.
A troubling shift in global attitudes is normalising the language and logic of war
History shows where this path leads. Before the Second World War, many major powers openly glorified war: Germany's Reichskriegsministerium, Italy's Ministero della Guerra, Japan's Rikugun-sho and France's Ministere de la Guerre.
After 1945, the international community deliberately rejected this mentality, instilling a stated commitment to defence rather than war into the foundations of the postwar order. To reverse that consensus now risks dismantling a fragile framework and replacing it with a law-of-the-jungle world.
That same militaristic turn is emboldening and legitimising Israel's relentless assaults - from Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran and now Qatar. Almost all these actions have taken place with direct or indirect US approval, carrying the grave risk of a wider regional conflagration that could destabilise the entire international system.
This is not just another crisis. It is a test of the principles on which the United Nations was founded - for world leaders, for the institution itself and for humanity as a whole.
A failing system
The UN was conceived as a neutral and independent platform, free from manipulation by individual powers or alliances. Its legitimacy rests on three principles: the sovereign equality of nations, the universality of human dignity and the collective responsibility to maintain peace and security.
Yet, today these principles are under direct threat. The US, as host country, has denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation, obstructing their participation in the General Assembly. This constitutes a violation of the UN Headquarters Agreement of 1947, which guarantees unimpeded access for all member states.
Meanwhile, repeated Security Council vetoes have left the UN paralysed, enabling the selective enforcement of international law and deepening perceptions of institutional bias.
History warns us of the consequences when international institutions fail their founding missions. The League of Nations collapsed because it did not act decisively when faced with aggression in Manchuria (1931), Abyssinia (1935) and Czechoslovakia (1938). Condemnations without consequences and appeasement without accountability invited catastrophe, and within a decade, the world was plunged into another devastating war.
The UN was created precisely to avoid that fate. It was built to ensure collective security, guarantee equal participation and serve as the guardian of universal values - not as an instrument of geopolitics.
If it fails to act decisively on Gaza, it risks sharing the League's fate of irrelevance and eventual demise.
Decisive action
Despite these failures, history also offers hope.
In 1988, when the US denied Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat a visa to address the General Assembly in New York, the UN acted with courage and principle.
It relocated the session to Geneva, where Arafat delivered his speech on 13 December that year. That bold decision reaffirmed the UN's institutional independence and its refusal to be held hostage by host-country politics.
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That same spirit of resolve is needed today.
If Palestinian representatives are denied access once more, the assembly should relocate its proceedings to Geneva or another neutral venue to guarantee inclusivity and fairness.
At the same time, decisive steps must be taken to protect civilians in Gaza and restore credibility to the international system.
This requires convening an Emergency Special Session under the Uniting for Peace framework to bypass Security Council paralysis; establishing a UN-supervised humanitarian corridor to secure the flow of food, medicine and clean water; ensuring protection for humanitarian convoys, medical facilities and civilian initiatives at sea, including flotillas such as the Sumud mission; and supporting independent investigations into grave breaches of humanitarian law, so that accountability through the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and other mechanisms is not delayed indefinitely.
As these efforts proceed, I note the election of Annalena Baerbock as President of the 80th General Assembly. The challenges before her are formidable, and with them comes a responsibility to demonstrate principled leadership. I extend my best wishes for her success in meeting this test at a moment when history demands nothing less.
History will judge us not by our declarations but by our actions - and by our silence.
The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and the erosion of international norms represent an existential challenge to our collective humanity. If the UN fails to act decisively, it will exacerbate the suffering and hasten the breakdown of the global order it was established to protect.
Esteemed leaders, I appeal to you with deep moral urgency: Gaza cannot wait. Humanity cannot wait. History will not forgive delay.
With hope and determination,
Ahmet Davutoglu
Former Prime Minister of Turkey
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.