The Syrian government’s bloody push into Aleppo this week should remind us that the United Nations, created to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” is only as strong as its member states are united.

The sickening continuation of the Syrian conflict is another stain on member states’ troubling record on international diplomacy and action. They seem neither able to respond to conflict, nor deal with the consequences in terms of the massive displacement of people. The international system was already under a huge amount of strain before this rough year even began. With the current navel gazing in Europe and America likely to last for the foreseeable future, 2017 does not look like it will be much better.

Canada has shown integrity in the face of some of the challenges, particularly with regards to refugees and the attempt last week to show unity in the General Assembly on Syria. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signalled his openness to the world and to supporting international institutions, like the United Nations, by announcing his desire for Canada to stand for a Security Council seat in 2021 and to provide more personnel to UN peace operations.

These are sound foreign policy ideas. But good publicity for a Security Council seat in five years’ time is not enough. Canada needs bigger ideas and a wider strategy for its support of the UN in the short and long term. The UN system is working only by the skin of its teeth. It needs real, hard, political effort to survive.

Politically, the UN’s executive arm, the Security Council, has lost the trust of member states. Bureaucratically, the organization’s activities more broadly are over-stretched, underfunded and need structural reform. Administratively, its human resources are hitting a watershed: around 20 percent of its staff will meet mandatory retirement age over the next five years, including almost half of staff in the most senior positions.

