The United Nations General Assembly meetings, which annually start in each September, have notable outcomes for economic, social and other global problems including conflicts. Peace is emphasized in each year’s General Assembly meetings including the high-level meeting, where the leaders of all UN Members participate. According to multiple sources including the BBC and CNN, the 2024 UNGA high-level meeting — where the theme is “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations” — also focuses on peace. Though UNGA meetings provide a unique forum for multilateral discussion of various global issues including peace and help address conflicts and bring peace, they do not bring intended outcomes always.
It is notable that the annual UN General Assembly meetings, which serve as an opportunity for countries to raise concerns and highlight areas that require attention and support for peace, have brought notable positive outcomes. Along with the discussion, many peace resolutions have been adopted during the UN General Assembly annual meetings that helped address conflicts and led to peace in different countries in Asia, Africa and other regions. Among others, the discussion of the world leaders on conflicts and peace in different countries helped create pressure and accelerated the peace process many times. But the UN General Assembly meetings, which cover a range of economic, social and other global issues, do not bring the desired outcomes for peace many times.
There are many examples of the failure of the initiatives of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. The General Assembly resolutions — for instance — failed to reach peace in many conflicts including, but not limited to, the Israel-Palestine crisis and the Ukraine war. There are UNGA limitations-based and other reasons that make them less effective. The lack of binding measures and enforcement mechanisms of the UN General Assembly peace resolutions hinders addressing conflicts and reaching peace in different regions. The lack of support from the UN Security Council, mainly responsible for global peace and security, on vital peace resolutions also makes various initiatives of the UN General Assembly meetings less successful many times.
Among others, there is a lack of interest and an absence of cooperation among the parties directly involved in conflicts to address the concerns raised and peace resolutions reached in the UN General Assembly annual meetings driven by several causes including a lack of political will and commitment of the leaders involved to implement peace resolutions, unaddressed deep-rooted historical grievances and issues that fuel conflicts and geopolitical causes. But the lack of binding peace resolutions, enforcement mechanisms and accountability measures for non-compliance with the UN General Assembly resolutions appears to be the most important cause for the failure of bringing peace in different regions and countries many times— including in vital conflicts.
It is desired that steps be taken to address the barriers and make the UN resolution on conflicts and peace reached in the UN General Assembly meetings more successful in ending conflicts and bringing peace. It may be difficult to bring notable changes in the UN system and make diverse UNGA peace resolutions binding mainly due to the United Nations Charter-based and other causes including the lack of willingness and the diverse geoeconomic and geopolitical interests of the United Nations Security Council members. But the joint efforts of both the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council can result in better outcomes for peace steps many times.
Pertinently saying, the UN General Assembly holds special sessions, given that the UN Security Council fails to take effective steps in ending conflicts and bringing peace. But the adoption of peace resolutions by the UN Security Council adopted at the UN General Assembly especially on globally/regionally vital wars, given that they are the resolutions of the global majority, can help reach binding measures and lead to peace many times, especially on vital conflicts in different regions. But the good intentions of the UN Security Council members can make it happen.
