Gallons of ink have been spilled censuring the Trump administration’s response to the monthslong coronavirus pandemic— much of it legitimate, some of it not. But there is another stakeholder that has been missing in action ever since the first case of COVID-19 emerged in China’s Hubei province: the United Nations Security Council.

It’s a relatively effortless affair to poke fun at the Security Council for its overly bureaucratic nature, obsession with legalese, and penchant for boring speechifying. One can fall asleep five minutes after tuning into a Security Council debate, where delegates seated around the table deliver the usual bland, rehearsed colloquies about the importance of international law, the sanctity of state sovereignty, and the urgency of conflict resolution. Indeed, the entire U.N. system can make the U.S. Senate look like the apex of speed, productivity, and efficiency.