India outlines successes, failures of UN at 70

The United Nations has succeeded in preventing a third world war but has not kept up with new challenges, the Indian external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, told the United Nations General Assembly here Thursday.

"Today all of us need to ask ourselves whether we have been able to fulfill the purpose and achieve the goals for which the United Nations was established 70 years ago," Swaraj said in the annual high-level debate of the 193-member General Assembly.

Swaraj then went on to outline some of the United Nations key successes and failures during its 70-year history.

"The United Nations has been successful in preventing a third world war, in assisting decolonization and dismantling apartheid," she said,

However, Swaraj added that the UN had not kept up with new challenges, especially in the areas of peace and security.

"When we ask ourselves whether we have been able to prevent conflicts taking place in several parts of the world, the answer is no," she added. "If we ask whether we were able to find permanent solution to these conflicts, the answer is no."

Swaraj proposed that the United Nations Security Council should be reformed to help address some of these issues, in particular suggesting that more developing countries should be involved in the decision making of the Security Council.

The council is currently made up of five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- and 10 non-permanent members. Enditem