The Failure of The United Nations Organisation to Protect Muslim Countries Against War

Abstract

The United Nations (UN), established in 1945, and the primary mandate of the United Nations is   “To maintain international peace and security” under Chapter I of its Charter, has continuously failed to provide shield Muslim-majority states from huge-scale armed conflicts. This paper examines the organisation’s systemic shortcomings through a qualitative, multi-case study approach focusing on Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq and the 2025-2026 Iran crises. Drawing on UN Security Council (UNSC) records, veto data, and scholarly critiques, it argues that structural flaws, particularly, the veto power, combined with geopolitical self-interest have rendered the UN ineffective. While the UN has achieved limited successes elsewhere (e.g., Kuwait 1991), its performance in Muslim-majority contexts reveals a pattern of paralysis, selective enforcement, and eroded legitimacy. The analysis employs realist and liberal institutionalist lenses to explain these failures and proposes targeted reforms.