How global powers have undermined the UN charter
The international legal system constructed around the United Nations has been progressively weakened since the early 2000s. Although US President Donald Trump has recently stepped up this process in his second term, it is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, the last 25 years have seen the great powers and regional players successively violate the basic tenets of international law without much consequence.
The Collapse of the Prohibition on Aggression
Among the most obvious victims of this trend is the ban on wars of aggression. In 2003, the US and the UK invaded Iraq without any plausible assertion of self-defense, and this trend continued. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022. More recently, the US and Israel conducted airstrikes against Iran in 2025, and in 2026, the US launched a military intervention in Venezuela. All these incidents continued to normalize the violation of the UN Charter’s most fundamental prohibition against the use of force.
Genocide and the Normalization of Impunity
The ban on genocide has not fared any better. Large-scale atrocities have taken place in Myanmar, Palestine, and Sudan without any real accountability. Great powers such as China, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates have been accused of supporting or protecting perpetrators of genocide through arms sales, diplomatic support, or economic assistance. The inability to enforce the Genocide Convention’s obligation to prevent and punish genocide has turned “never again” into an empty mantra.
Torture as a Persistent State Practice
However, torture is still prevalent despite its absolute prohibition in international law. The United States’ torture in Bagram, Abu Ghraib, and its current detention policies at Guantánamo Bay established the precedent. Russia and Syria have been accused of institutionalized torture in their prisons and detention centers, while Israel has been accused of torture in Sde Teiman and other detention centers. Such torture is still prevalent in many states, perpetuating the notion that torture is selectively punished, if at all.
Apartheid, Segregation, and Chemical Weapons
Even bans that were thought to be established are now being flouted. Charges of apartheid and racial segregation have been leveled against China in Xinjiang and against Israel in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. At the same time, the ban on chemical weapons, which dates back well before the founding of the UN, has been broken through targeted assassinations attributed to Russia and through use in the Syrian civil war.
State Failure and Nonstate Violence
Not only are states violating prohibitions, but they are also failing to fulfill their positive obligations under international law. The obligation to prevent genocide, protect civilians, and investigate and prosecute serious crimes is being systematically disregarded. At the same time, non-state actors have brazenly violated international law: Hamas has targeted civilians and taken hostages, Al Shabaab and the Houthis have committed piracy, while groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and the Lord’s Resistance Army have reinstated slavery, including sexual slavery.
The UN Under Financial and Political Siege
The United Nations itself, the organizational framework of the post-World War II international legal system, has increasingly become a target. Since the beginning of Trump’s second term on Jan. 20, 2025, the United States has significantly cut or stopped funding for several UN agencies. In February 2025, the US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO and stopped funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
In January 2026, the US announced that it would stop funding 31 more UN agencies, including those dealing with climate change, women’s empowerment, and the Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, the US accumulated about $1.5 billion in unpaid mandatory dues, putting it at risk, under Article 19 of the UN Charter, of forgoing its vote in the General Assembly.
UNRWA and the Assault on UN Mandates
The impact of the assault on the UN has been most apparent in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel, with the full support of the US government, has launched an unprecedented assault on UN agencies. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has been declared persona non grata, and UNRWA officials have been barred from entry.
Even more seriously, some 400 UNRWA staff members have been killed, hundreds of their children have died, dozens of staff members have been arrested and reportedly tortured, and over 300 UNRWA facilities have been damaged or destroyed. In January 2026, Israel destroyed UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem, in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and UN safeguards.
International Law vs. Political Reality
The International Court of Justice, supported by an overwhelming majority of UN member states, has ruled Israel’s occupation, annexation, and settlement policies unlawful and condemned its obstruction of UN mandates. Yet these legal findings have not translated into enforcement, highlighting the widening gap between law and power.
The “Board of Peace” and a Parallel Order
These global and local attacks converge in Trump’s so-called Board of Peace. Although UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025) endorsed a legally bound, UN-centered transitional mechanism for Gaza, Trump’s version—launched in Davos in January 2026—deviates sharply from that mandate. The resolution envisioned Palestinian self-determination, non-occupation of Gaza, and technocratic Palestinian governance. Trump’s initiative, by contrast, centralizes authority in himself, sidelines the UN, and promotes a redevelopment plan that critics argue amounts to dispossession.
A Test for the International Community
Domestically, Trump’s actions can proceed only if US institutions and voters permit them. Internationally, they can succeed only if the UN membership fails to enforce its own resolutions, fund its institutions, and uphold the UN Charter and ICJ rulings. The struggle now is whether collective international will can reassert the rule of law—or whether unilateral power will eclipse it. The fate of the UN and the international legal order may ultimately hinge on that choice.
