United NationsThe United Nations is the only international organization that involves every country in the world, should they choose to take part. Its purpose is to provide a forum for every country to have the opportunity to express concerns. It creates committees and organizations which provide services such as easy trade and world health awareness. It allows us to travel and communicate everywhere on Earth. The simplest things in our lives can be attributed to the help of the UN. The United Nation works to solve the problems in our work because global problems require global solutions.
The United Nations was founded from the ashes of the League of Nations which was developed after WWI. The League of Nations was an idea from US President at the time Franklin Roosevelt. There were many flaws with the League. The biggest flaw was that the two major world powers at the time, the Soviet Union and the United States (even though it was our idea), were not a part of the League. After international invasions by Italy, Japan and eventually Germany, which lead to WWII, the League of Nations fell apart. Because the causalities after two world wars were so great, state leaders knew the human race could not sustain a third world war; thus the United Nations was formed.
Six organs were created within the United Nations: the Secretariat, Security Council General Assembly, and Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, and the International Court of Justice. The Secretariat is the bureaucratic organ of the UN which deals with administrative issues within the UN. The Secretary General, or head of the UN is found in this organ and because of his position, has significant influence in the world.
The Security Council is the organ responsible for international security. Resolutions from the Security Council are binding and with support from the UN Charter, Article 51, has the teeth to fulfill sanctions in safety and security issues, usually dealing with peacekeeping operations ordered by this Council. This body is made up of fifteen member states, five with permanent seats and ten rotating seats. The United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China occupy the permanent seats and have veto power for all Security Council resolutions. The ten non-permanent seats are filled through general assembly election and are held for terms of two years.
The General Assembly is the organ of the UN which allows for every country to be represented. The General Assembly has 6 committees which focus on different concerns in the world such as disarmament and human rights which need to be discussed and every state has 2 representatives in each committee. Although the resolutions are not binding, like in the Security Council, when a state ignores resolutions passed in the General Assembly, international relations are threatened.
The Economic and Social Council is organ which oversees the international committees working to make our lives easier. These committees are responsible for international travel, transportation, communication, aviation, banking, trade, and health to name a few. Basically, what many would call essentials in today's world.
The Trusteeship Council organ is currently inactive. The creation of this organ was to help states tied down by colonialism. This council successively relieved every colony from the control of another state and helped them develop into countries too. Because this council was so successful, it has been enabled since the 90s.
The International Court of Justice is the judicial organ of the UN. This body hears cases between states, not individuals, on international matters. This court’s jurisdiction lies with each state’s consent, and the sources of international law comes from international treaties, conventions, and customs.
Though support for the UN is generally widespread, there are those who feel the organization is a bureaucratic entity lacking the capabilities required to police itself and the countries fined by the International Court of Justice. Such beliefs are founded based on scandals and corruption that has occurred within the UN. One example would be the Iraq Oil-For-Food Program scandal. The program was initially intended as a humanitarian aid program where Iraq would be allowed to sell its oil in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies. It is believed by many that profits from the program fell into the hands of UN officials (in the form of bribes) as well as the Iraqi government and very little aid was actually supplied to the Iraqi people. As a result of investigations, Benon Sevan, the programs director, was suspended from his position at in the UN. Instances of corruption have also been cited, but rarely proven concerning UN peacekeepers. This obviously doesn't confirm or deny acts of corruption, but being this high on the social chain allows UN members to get away with unethical acts. Accusations have been made that UN peacekeepers have taken part in rape, sexual abuse, and prostitution with the citizens they were expected to aid and protect. If UN peacekeepers hurt the people they are supposed to protect, than what comes of the people we might consider "bad". Little has come of these accusations as there is no formal proof.
Although there are many flaws, like every organization, the UN serves a purpose. It does so much that people don’t always get a chance to see. The 21st century would look very different without the UN because it touches every aspect of our lives. Criticisms of the UN are often based off of the large scale corruption and scandal concerning the UN, without thought to the many, seemingly small things the UN does to make life easier for its member nations through the encouragement of international cooperation. The original purpose of the UN was to prevent a third world war which could have put mankind on the brink of extinction and so far the reason for its existence has been upheld. This is not its only mission though in the modern world. The United Nations seems to have taken the role as the principal of a "global school", and we are the pupils waiting for instruction. It takes the cooperation of all UN members to fix problems or prevent them for the future. The basic cooperation needed can be compared to globalization in a more formal aspect. The UN members are representing their populations in an interconnected relief against a possible WWIII outcome. If local populations follow the model that the UN is trying to show us, than the UN will be all the more effective because the majority of people will be its driving force instead of a couple of social leaders. The United Nations has flaws and rewards that are easily seen, but the UN seems necessary in a global perspective. We need something as a human race we can all share, and this seems to be it. | 