Has the United Nations Failed to Fulfil Its Founding Promise to Maintain International Security - Research Paper Example

? Has the United Nations failed to fulfil its founding promise to maintain international security? Introduction One of the major outcomes of Second World War was the formation of United Nations (UN) on 24 August 1945, in order to ensure safety and security of the international community. The necessity of a global body in settling international disputes was evident to global powers after the First World War itself. The League of Nations was formed in 1919 after WW1 because of the above awareness. However, League of Nations failed to achieve its objectives and the result was WW2. For the first time in the history of wars, America used nuclear weapons in WW2 and the world witnessed the destructive power of the nuclear weapons for the first time. Moreover, the potentials of a simple regional conflict in becoming a global conflict were also revealed to the external world through Second World War. Many countries forced to take part in the WW2 because of circumstantial pressure. The failure of League of Nations in preventing WW2 forced the global leaders to think in terms of a more powerful global body and the result was the formation of UN. Different subdivisions such as The General Assembly, The Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, The Secretariat, and The International Court of Justice etc were also formed inside UN in order to manage international disputes of various kinds. However, UN has failed to settle many of the international disputes developed after its formation and it failed to fulfil its founding promise to maintain international security. UN & International security The 1971 Indo-Pakistan war is one of the major examples in which UN failed to interfere effectively. In 1965 also, both India and Pakistan engaged in a severe battle for the ownership of disputed Kashmir. Until now, Kashmir dispute has not been solved amicably and India and Pakistan come closer for a third battle recently after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack. In one of the recently revealed cables, WikiLeaks revealed how India and Pakistan responded immediately after the 26 November, 2008 Mumbai attack by Pak terrorists. In the days immediately after 10 Pakistani Lashkar e Taiba terrorists killed 166 people in Mumbai, a man pretending to be India's then External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, called Asif Zardari, Pakistan's president, to warn it was about to launch a military response. President Zardari immediately contacted the country's military leadership and ordered its air force to be put on high alert to confront a possible Indian attack. He also mounted a diplomatic campaign to put pressure on India withdraw its "threat"(Nelson, 2011). Irrespective whether the revelation of WikiLeaks is right or wrong, one thing is sure; India and Pakistan came much closer for a war after the Mumbai terrorist attack and the international community is responsible for avoiding this war. United Nations has not shown many interests in preventing this war. In fact none of the UN officials have shown any interest in this issue. The disputes between India and Pakistan are widening gradually and international community is afraid of a possible war between these two nuclear powers in the near future. Even at the time of writing this paper 9on September 7 2011), televisions flash news show that more than 10 people were killed and around 50 people injured in Delhi because of a bomb blast suspected to be conducted by the Pak terrorists. It should be noted that in the five years alone, India suffered three or four major terrorist attacks from Pakistan. All these terrorist attacks were happened because of the disputes over Kashmir. UN seems to be not learning lessons from past experiences. It should be noted that UN failed to prevent two Indo Pak wars and it is doing nothing to prevent a third possible war between these two Asian powers. The 2001 World Trade Centre attacks and the subsequent development of war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan is another example for the failure of UN. It should be noted that thousands of innocent people lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq because of this war. America attacked Iraq on two occasions; one at the time of Bush Sr. and the other at the time of Bush Jr. Iraq’s ambitions to expand its territory by capturing Kuwait, was the reasons for first war whereas the second war was conducted because of the allegation that Iraq was possessing weapons of mass destructions. On both the occasions, UN provided moral supports to America for conducting these wars. Now, political analysts all over the world are unique in their opinion that both these wars were conducted on baseless allegations and UN could have prevented it. Because of the over influence of America in the policy making bodies, UN seems to be a toy in the hands of America. Many people believe that after the destruction of Soviet Union, America has increased its dominance in UN and they are executing their agenda with the help of UN. The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time on September 15, 2004 that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal. Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council or in accordance with the UN's founding charter (MacAskill & Borger, 2004). Anan’s words sum up the true story behind the functioning of UN. America is behaving in their own way, violating all the international laws. The rest of the world including UN remains helpless, even though they have their opinions and concerns. America obeys UN laws when it is in line with their interests whereas they have no hesitation in violating it when these laws are against their interests. Middle East is another region in which UN failed to ensure security to the lives and properties of the innocent people. The conflicts between Israel and Arab world have the history of many centuries. Having an independent state like all the other people in the world and leading a peaceful life are seem to be distant dreams for the Palestinians. Israelis have settled in to lands that Palestinians call home and these Israelis believe that they have the right to live there and call it home themselves. Palestinians want the Israeli "occupiers" to leave, and they desperately want a homeland of their own, a country of their own (The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, n. d). Palestine has every right to form a free state; however Israel thinks in the opposite direction. In their opinion, a free Palestine state may create problems to the Israelis. It is a fact that these conflicts can be rectified over a night period of time. However, nobody can say that UN did anything right in Middle East also. Israel is still conducting attacks on civilians in Palestine, violating all the international laws. However, UN is not making any sincere effort either to stop Israel from doing so or save the people in Palestine. UN accepted or recognised Palestine as an independent state. But, UN is doing nothing to prevent Israel from executing its massacres in Palestinian territory because of the over influence of America on policy making of UN. UN has no problems in interfering effectively in international matters in which America has not much interest. For example, UN’s involvement in Libya has saved the lives of many people. United Nations Security Council passed a resolution mandating the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, and ‘all necessary measures short of an occupation force’, to halt Gaddafi’s continuing attacks on rebel forces. The measure was passed with ten votes in favor, including the UK, US and France, and five abstentions from Brazil, China, Russia, India and Germany (Middle East unrest: UN resolution mandates action in Libya; increased violence in Bahrain, 2011) Libyans are now enjoying freedom from Gaddafi’s dictatorship. It was not possible for the Libyan agitators to defeat Gaddafi so easily, had UN failed to interfere in this matter. The imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya with the help of NATO forces helped the freedom fighters to escape from the air attacks of Gaddafi. It would have been a different story had Gaddafi allowed using his air forces. In short, UN interfered effectively in Libya only because of the support it got from America. In other words, it is possible for UN to interfere in global matters effectively, had its hands were not tied by the Americans. Conclusions To conclude, UN failed to maintain international security on many occasions after its formation. The two wars between India and Pakistan, the two wars between America and Iraq, the current war on terror in Afghanistan, the ongoing clashes between Israel and Palestine etc are some of the examples in which UN failed to ensure international security. At the same time, the recent Libyan agitations were handled effectively by UN. America’s interference or over influence in policy making bodies of UN is the major reasons for the failure of UN in ensuring international security at present. If UN allows functioning independently, it can handle matters related to international security more effectively. References 1. MacAskill E and Borger J (2004). Iraq War Was Illegal and Breached UN Charter, Says Annan. The Guardian, Thursday 16 September 2004. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq [Accessed on 7 September 2011] 2. Middle East Unrest: Un resolution Mandates Action in Libya; Increased Violence in Bahrain (2011). [Online] Available at: http://justjournalism.com/the-wire/middle-east-unrest-un-resolution-mandates-action-in-libya-increased-violence-in-bahrain/[Accessed on 7 September 2011] 3. Nelson D (2011). WikiLeaks: Hoax Phone Call Brought India and Pakistan to Brink of War. The Telegraph. Wednesday 07 September 2011. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8401391/WikiLeaks-hoax-phone-call-brought-India-and-Pakistan-to-brink-of-war.html[Accessed on 7 September 2011] 4. The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (n. d). [Online] Available at: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/palestinianisraeliconflict2.htm[Accessed on 7 September 2011] Read More