Six of the best ways Ireland can sway UN

Palestine, aid and human rights on our agenda

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THE United Nations was an idea born "out of despair.

That was how Taoiseach Micheal Martin described the institution that has become the bedrock of international law and human rights for the past 80 years.

It was, he said, "meant to prevent humanity from destroying itself".

How that big idea is doing today is a subject of much debate.

To many the world feels closer to global conflict than at any time since the UN was born from the ashes of the Second World War.

In Ukraine, Vladimir Putin continues to openly test and defy the world order as he seeks to extend the power of his new Russian empire.

Gaza has become a mocking stain on any notions that international values and rules apply to all.

We have a US president who openly takes on the power of courts and flippantly questions the sovereignty of nations.

FAMINE

The US has also dismantled vast swathes of the humanitarian aid budget and network that was the pride of UN agencies.

It was money and support that was keeping people alive in the poorest parts of the planet, such as Sudan where there is a forgotten war and a forgotten famine.

The Trump administration is openly hostile to the organisation it hosts on the banks of Manhattan's East River.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the post war order that the UN represents as being "weaponised against America".