In 1945 after World War II, the United Nations organisation was created and five members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – who had fought Germany became the permanent Security Council members with veto rights. They had been selected because they were united against the German regime and quite powerful then.

Seventy-seven years later, we still have the same members, although the world and the population of the world have totally changed. The UK and France have veto powers, representing a population of around 60mn each. At the same time, on the same planet, we have Indonesia with 275mn people, Nigeria with 211mn people, and Brazil with 195mn people, obliged to obey the decision of those members. When one of them does not agree, the decision cannot be implemented as we have witnessed with Russia’s veto in the Ukrainian conflict.

In 2022, we as the habitants of this unique planet are not able to take common decisions to protect our world and transfer it in a better form to the future generations, similarly to what our ancestors have done for us. This is a shame. When are we going to grow up and realise that it took thousand years for our planet to be what it is today? We have obligations to the future generations. Nobody in any position has the right to dictate his wishes on the rest of the world, without the approval of the majority of the world’s inhabitants.

The objective of the United Nations has to be modified and all countries need to be represented according to the size of their population. Ideally, we would need one single government to run our world and not 240 governments who see the interests of those who have voted for them. The world has changed and we need to adapt ourselves to these changes. The United Nations needs to have a “united” decision on how to run this planet. It should represent what the majority of the world’s population want and not be dictated by few countries that wish to dictate their wishes.

At a time when technology has taken over our habits and telecommunications are available anywhere, why did we lose our most important value, which is generosity? We can do wonders with our computers and our mobile phones but we cannot stop a ruthless war in a country?

Saleh Miri, Musacat Daily columnist, is an architect who came to Oman in the early 1980s.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Muscat Daily or Apex Press & Publishing