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Every year, on Oct. 24, the world marks United Nations Day. It was on this date that the UN Charter came into force in 1945. With the ratification of this seminal document, including by the five permanent members of the Security Council, the UN officially came into being.

Its first and foremost aim, as the UN Charter states at the very beginning, was to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.” Tragically, 80 years later, war still has not been eradicated and is very much present in countries’ foreign and domestic affairs, while the most powerful organ of the UN, the Security Council, has often failed to prevent wars, to bring them quickly to a halt when they do break out or embark on an effective effort of peacebuilding when hostilities end.

Hence, there is much skepticism about whether the UN is fulfilling its mission and debate on whether it is merely a very expensive exercise in window dressing.

However, without downplaying the need to reform the UN, especially the Security Council, focusing only on the organization’s failures does an injustice to the achievements of the entire UN system and many of its agencies for the stellar work they do in improving the human condition. Beyond peacekeeping operations in different parts of the world, we tend to forget that the UN Charter introduced a noble set of aspirations that are the agreed principles and aspirations of global society, even if not every state behaves accordingly. It is still our best benchmark for a more peaceful world, in which everyone enjoys similar rights and opportunities.

Over the last quarter of a century, the UN agencies focused first on fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, which were set out at the beginning of the century and later evolved into the Sustainable Development Goals for all countries, not just developing countries. Among these goals are eradicating hunger, universal high-quality education, gender equality, improving maternal health and protecting the planet — innovations that could not be achieved without a strong UN system.

Many UN agencies do not receive sufficient recognition of their dedicated work, but in a world where 319 million people are facing acute hunger, the World Food Programme last year provided over 124 million people in more than 120 countries with food. In many countries, its programs are the only ones to ensure that schoolchildren have access to healthy nutrition or are at least supplied with basic nutrition. Beyond food, its basic premise of a world where food insecurity is eliminated can only be achieved when everyone has equal opportunities, equal access to resources and an equal voice in the decisions that shape their households and communities.

Focusing only on the organization’s failures does an injustice to the achievements of the entire UN system

Yossi Mekelberg

The UN system comprises a web of funds, programs and specialized agencies that do their work mainly away from the limelight, changing for the better the lives of hundreds of millions of people, their families and societies, in many cases where the challenges are immense due to political strife, lack of infrastructure or scarce resources.

You may be forgiven, for instance, for not having heard of the UN Development Programme’s “Pacific Green Transformation Project.” But this is helping communities in the island nations of Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu — where every increase in global temperature risks their very existence due to rising sea levels — to switch to using renewable energy, reduce fossil fuel dependence and create sustainable, green solutions for future generations.

Then there is the UN Refugee Agency, thanks to which many people’s lives are saved and their rights protected, helping them to build a future after being forced to flee their homes in the toughest of circumstances of conflict and persecution.

This is only a tiny sample of the UN’s work away from the headlines that is making a difference by improving the lives of millions across the globe. It can be argued that, had the UN achieved its No. 1 priority of minimizing war and other armed conflicts, much of the work of its agencies would have been made much easier. This view has some but only limited truth to it. However, in a world in which the nation state still rules supreme, nonstate actors, especially on a global scale, tend to be viewed with suspicion and are perceived by the governments where they operate, even when their work is clearly necessary, as interfering in the domestic affairs of countries.

The very fact that, despite all the turbulence the world has experienced since the UN’s inception, along with its many critics, there is still nobody who seriously suggests that this unique experiment, as much in international affairs as in human history, should be abandoned. This is testimony to the organization’s success in promoting clear goals for the benefit of the entire human race.

The principle, even if not always put into practice, that all human beings and all societies are equal and have the same rights to access public goods has made a significant contribution to the global social discourse. It might sound self-evident but this principle was not generally recognized until very recent times. The UN has been a major contributor to this shift in global discourse, driven by lessons that inequality, poor living conditions and dominance over others in certain parts of the world or of certain countries over others, whether militarily, economically or culturally, are major sources of security threats and undermine world peace.

It is the UN, through its agencies, that works to create opportunities for an increasing number of people, from a very young age and throughout their lives, whether by providing access to healthcare or education or by protecting labor rights or immigrants’ rights. Its work continues to help create a world that is fairer, more just and more sustainable, amid growing fears about the consequences of climate change.

And maybe, considering the failure of its predecessor the League of Nations, established in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, to prevent another world war 20 years later, the UN should get some credit for its contribution over the years to preventing a third world war. World peace, equality of rights and access to resources to allow everyone equal opportunities are far from being achieved but, 80 years later, this is only the beginning of the journey.

• Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg