United Nations When the United

¶ … United Nations

When the United Nations was established in 1945, at the conclusion of World War II, its 50 member nations had a lofty goal: the prevention of another war like World War II. Since its foundation, the goals of the United Nations have increased tremendously; instead of simply hoping to reduce wars and violence, the United Nations now seeks to reduce hunger, increase development, and improve human rights in its member nations. While these goals are certainly laudable, it is yet to be determined whether or not they are achievable. In fact, while there has been no major world war since the foundation of the United Nations, the world seems to have seen an increase in other types of violence, like terrorism. In addition, the United Nations seems to confer greater benefits on certain of the member nations. Therefore, in order for one to determine whether or not the United Nations has been successful at accomplishing its goals, one must look to the advantages and disadvantages of the United Nations. To do so, one must look at the United Nations' peacekeeping capabilities, arms control and disarmament policies, human rights work, and humanitarian aid, and how those policies have been applied to member and non-member nations.

One of the main critiques of the League of Nations, which was the predecessor to the United Nations, was that it had no power to enforce its recommendations. Therefore, a relative advantage of the United Nations is that it has the authority to send troops to locations where violence is threatened. This power is referred to as peacekeeping. According to the Human Security Centre, the United Nations' peacekeeping efforts appear to have resulted in a less violence world by eliminating colonial conflicts, reducing interstate wars, and reducing genocide and politicide. (2005). In fact, the most powerful testament to the United Nations' peacekeeping ability is the fact that there has not been a third world war. However, it would be inaccurate to simply label the United Nation's peacekeeping power solely as an advantage, because history has revealed that it has not been applied consistently. For example, the United Nations has either been reluctant to use its peacekeeping powers to aid people in Africa, or has proven woefully unsuccessful when it has attempted to do so. One example of the United Nation's failure in Africa was its failure to prevent the deaths of almost 1 million people in Rwanda in 1994. Not only was the United Nations reluctant to take active steps to prevent those deaths, but it also failed to protect "those who sought refuge from such crimes," partially because of a concern about expending resources. (Human Rights Watch, 2004). The Rwandan genocide was only one area where the United Nations failed to intervene in dramatic violence in Africa; it was followed by nearly 5 million deaths in the Second Congo War, failure to provide adequate humanitarian aid to Somalia, and the current failure to intervene in Darfur, which has seen more than 200,000 genocide-related deaths. (AFP, 2006). Therefore, while the United Nations' peacekeeping ability may be a theoretical advantage, history has revealed that those advantages have not been used to help Africans.

A more clear-cut advantage of the United Nations is that it appears to have helped slow the proliferation of nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction. This statement seems unusual in light of the recent news regarding North Korea's successful nuclear tests, and the fact that both India and Pakistan have recently acquired atomic capabilities. However, the number of recognized nuclear states remains relatively low; only about five percent of all nations are recognized nuclear states. Furthermore, the goal of disarmament and non-proliferation is not merely a reduction in the world-wide number of nuclear weapons, but also the hope that member nations will exercise responsibility when determining whether or not to use established nuclear arsenals. The fact that members, like North Korea, who have developed nuclear weapons, have faced sanctions from the United Nations, and have responded to those sanctions by agreeing to negotiations rather than by using their nuclear weapons, demonstrates that the United Nation's disarmament policies are an advantage.

Another clear advantage of the United Nations is its human rights work. Although it has not always applied its decisions equally to all member countries and has been slow to respond to human rights issues involving women and non-Europeans or non-Americans, the United Nations has been successful in improving the general conditions of human life. The United Nation's position as human-rights watchdog has recently been revamped. Prior to March of 2006, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights contained many members who were accused of human rights violations. This commission was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council appears more willing than its predecessor to call attention to human rights violations, regardless of the country in violation. However, it has yet to be determined whether the United Nations is willing to intervene in human-rights issues when the violator is one of its more important members. For example, although the United Nations recommended the closure of Guantanamo Bay based on human rights violations at the prison, it has not taken any actions against the United States to compel that closure. Despite similar failures to timely intervene in human-rights issues, the fact is that the United Nation's tremendous presence has ensured that human rights violations will receive a greater amount of press than they would have prior to 1945. This press has given the citizens of its member nations a greater power and a greater responsibility to urge their governments to take action to end alleged human rights abuses, both abroad and at home.