The United Nations Function - Essay Example

The United Nations Function and Impact in International Politics After the Second World War, in a very critical circumstances, 50 Nations from the world came together to sign the charter of United Nations in 26th June 1945. And thus the United Nations was formed. Second World War was an exceedingly tragic experience and it was a strong though that the world should never go through such dreadful experience once again. And with this thought the UN was born. After the Second World War, it became necessary for the world to form such organization which will be ready to lend a hand to maintain the international peace and will facilitate the cooperation among the different nations and which could circumvent the war. This international organization was formed to replace the previously existing organization called League of Nations. The term United Nations was instigated by British politician Winston Churchill and the 32nd President of United States Franklin Roosevelt. United Nation is by nature a liberal organization. As far as world politics is concerned the UN has many roles to play such as peace building, development aid, facility and availability of fresh water, labor issue, and help to the refugees. United Nations is involved in fighting for the elimination of the different stigmas such as poverty and diseases and the fight against the threat to the environment. It basically works for addressing the economic and social problems in the world, particularly in underdeveloped as well as developing countries because these problems are the major source of conflict which later leads to war. Maintaining Peace: The major function of United Nations as mentioned above is to establish and maintain peace and security and to shun the situation of war. If any conflict arises, it is also the major function of the United Nation to settle the conflict without violence. It is the purpose of the UN to encourage peace among all the nations [1] The UN’s first experience of peacemaking activity came in 1949 in the Middle East and in 1950 in Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, The second function of UN was the promotion of welfare of mankind and of course the international cooperation. In turn it helps the nations to improve their life style and attain prosperity and thus enhance the standard of the living of their citizens. United Nations gives an opportunity for the countries promote their opinions. The major intimidation for peace is the nuclear proliferation. United Nations has maintained the world peace by preventing Nuclear Non-proliferation. The International Atomic Energy Agency has succeeded in reducing the spread of nuclear weapons, It is done through frequent inspection and monitoring nuclear reactors in 90 countries. The United Nations also has kept strong arm control with the help of international agreements such as the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Second successful achievement is in health problem. United In establishing peace also UN is successful in implementing the strong initiatives The United Nations has negotiated 172 peaceful settlements. It stepped forward to end the Iran-Iraq war, the civil war in El Salvador, and to withdraw the Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In the task of maintaining the peace United Nations peace operations helped to espouse ceasefires, conduct free and fair election in the secure atmosphere, dissuade violence, create free countries, and political stability. The major countries which took advantage of United Nation’s aid are El Salvador, Cambodia, Macedonia, Mozambique, Namibia, Cyprus and Haiti, etc. Economic and Social Development: One more major function of United Nation is to promote economic and social development throughout the world. For attaining this objective United Nations has involved in an innumerable activities. The United Nations time to time arranges funds and sponsors to many agencies to accomplish this goal. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of UN keeps an eye on these activities. The aim is to promote full employment for everybody and an assurance of higher standard of living and economic and social progress of every individual. It has taken initiatives to reduce the gap between the affluent people and the deprived people. The UN has started many programs such as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This programs aims at helping negotiate international Trade agreements which stabilize prices and promote trade with developing countries. Another program is United Nations Development Program which takes different steps to help the developing nations. For the underdeveloped and the developing countries the UN is like their friend which is always there to give them the helping hand. One major thing is that most of the experts and the volunteers of UN are from the developing countries. Financial Aids In the process of financial assistance UN has a lion’s share. It gives financial support through International Bank for Reconstruction and Development known as World Bank. The World Bank was established in 1944 with the view to assist the developing nations by offering them funds for their different projects. The bank provides the loans to the member nations and in returns it encourages the foreign investment. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established by United Nations to promote financial cooperation among the different nations. Environment: Today because of the industrialization and urbanization the environment is getting buckled day by day. The entire world is suffering from the natural catastrophes such as pollution, global warming. It is the sign of the deterioration of the environment. It is very indispensable to protect the earth from the environmental problems. United Nation is active in this purpose also. For that the United Nations has formed the program called United Nations Environment Program which motivates for sound environmental practices. The major task done under this program is to monitor environmental conditions, develop environmental standards and recommend the alternative energy sources. Through international treaties, the U.N. leads efforts to shield the ozone layer and curb global warming. For protecting the forests UN has implemented Forestry action plans that help to take action against deforestation and encourage sustainable forestry practices for 90 countries. It is necessary to supply clean and sufficient drinking water and for that the U.N. has assisted to provide safe drinking water for 1.3 billion people in rural areas, and has enduring efforts to help thwart over-fishing and clean up pollution. Human Rights: Every human being has a self respect apart from race, age, sex, color, status, language and religion. The concept of Human Rights emerged from the Second World War when the Jews were tortured and brutally assassinated by Hitler. “The UN […] contributed to the “collective delegitimization” of colonialism. The General Assembly proclaimed that the subjection of any people to alien domination was a denial of fundamental human rights, contrary to the UN Charter, and an impediment to world peace and that all subject peoples had a right to immediate and complete independence”[2] After the Second World War the UN has adopted the policy of human rights which is known as Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This policy was espoused on 10th December 1948. This day is observed as Human Rights Day. Under the concept of Human Rights it is regarded that all human beings are born free and equal. The UN has played an active role in establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) Health One of the major functions of United Nations is to concentrate on the health of the people all over the world. For that the UN established the organization called World Health Organization (WHO) its basic purpose is to improve the health of the people and for that many programs have been arranged by the United Nations. UN on priority basis has taken an initiative to combat the worldwide diseases such as AIDS. It is possible only with the help and strong efforts of UN to immunize against the deadly diseases such as polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis. There were only five percent children in 1974, who were immunized in developing countries. But by the strong efforts of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as well as World Health Organization (WHO), the rate of immunization increased and became 80%. United Nations has time to time helped the famine affected people by providing them relief fund. The United Nations has also arranged the international funds for the agricultural sector. It has developed the system of providing economic credit for the underprivileged people from all over the world. Around 230 million people from 100 developing countries took advantage of the fund arranged by UN. Nations strove hard for more than 13 years to eradicate the diseases like polio and small pox. Its credit of eradicating the small pox in 1980 goes to the World Health Organization. (WHO) It also fought against polio and wiped it out from Western Hemisphere. Fight against Natural Calamities: When the people have to suffer the natural calamities such as flood, earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, the affected people are badly in need of quick help. In such conditions the UN plays a major role. Apart from natural calamities the people have to face the man made disasters such as war. During war especially people migrate from one region to another region and thus create the refugee crises. The agencies of United Nations such as Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Flood Program (WFP). United Nations and International politics: After the First World War the two superpowers took hold of the entire world and the rest of the nations came under the influence of these two superpowers, first was United States and the second was USSR. The rest of the nations adopted the policies of either one. It didn’t become possible for the UN to maintain good relationship between these two powerful nations nor could it be able to restrain the cold war that was developing between them. The situation of cold war became obstacle for many nations which wanted to be the members of UN. Stephenson in his book “The United Nations and International Politics,” states, “The cold war also affected the entry of new members into the UN because each superpower opposed applications from the states in the other’s bloc.” [3] So the member countries were constantly being opposed by the other superpower which the nations were not in favor of. “The issue first arouse in 1946, when Afghanistan, Albania, Iceland, Ireland, Jordan, Mongolia, Portugal, and Sweden applied to the Security Council for membership. The US opposed the applications of Albania and Mongolia. The USSR objected to the admission of Ireland, Portugal, and Jordon.”[4] Thus the UN was like a puppet in the hands of the two superpowers and it was a great hindrance in accomplishing the objectives of the United Nations. After the Second World War the Nazism was totally destroyed from the world politics. The European colonialism also ended. This decolonization led into the rapid growth in UN membership and in 1965 it reached at 118. The United Nation then developed the program called United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 1965. This program aimed at providing the technical assistance to the newly independent countries from the third world. The African American as well as the Caribbean activists used to approach to United Nations for getting justice to the entire black community to draw the attention of the United Nations to the problem of denial of human rights. “The impact of anti colonial movements and the growing “Third World” presence in the United Nations was felt not only by the Civil Rights Activists but by the federal government.” [5] At that time the Eastern countries blamed United States for having Jim Crow laws which was related to racial segregation. They further blamed that it is not expected from the nation which call itself a guiding light of democracy. UN delegates from India, Pakistan, and Burma especially criticized United States for implementing the Jim Crow in the land of democracy where all people are supposed to be treated equally. [6] It is very important to see whether the UN has become successful in attaining its goals on the international political arena. While describing the failure of the UN in establishing the peace and preserving human rights, Ryan in his book The United Nations and International Politics, points out the failure of United Nation, which involved genocide in Rwanda in 1994, Human rights violations in Bosnia and Croatia. "Reluctance to respond to genocide can be seen as a symptom of a more general indisposition to deal with the protection of ethnic minorities."[7] Thus according to him the UN can play a very significant role in the world politics with the help of increased funds, qualified administration and more diverse representation of Security Council. Currently the transparent work is not possible because maximum contribution is from the Western Countries. Female Literacy: In the third world especially the female literacy rate is very low. U.N. programs to help promote education and advancement for women helped raise their literacy rate in developing countries from 36% in 1970 to 56% in 1990. For the education of women the UNESCO tries to attain the following objectives: To promote for the equal participation of women in decision making at all level. To promote women’s financial independence by giving them opportunities of employment with healthy working conditions. Enable woman to prevail over poverty Protect women from violence. Integrate gender equality in all policies and programs and take proper action to develop mutual responsibility of both men and women to promote equality. International Justice: Few years back the powerful world leaders were acting like dictators as international law was not taking strong action against them but now the picture has changed. The United Nations Tribunals for Rwanda address the legal responsibility of the person who has committed the crime of imposing war or committed crime against humanity. International Criminal Tribunals and Special Courts have been established by United Nations in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The purpose is to impeach the leaders who are responsible for war crimes as well as the crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was founded by United Nations in 1945. ICJ handles disputes between nations, but only when the parties agree to be bound by its decision. International Criminal Court was established in 2002. It brings trial against those who committed serious political crimes, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The major obstacle is the pressure from US but still it tries to bring the global justice. Before the trend of globalization the political system had been driven traditionally and independently by every nation within its border. But the scene changed after the emergence of globalization. The political activities thus started taking place on global level. In the era of globalization the world politics acts through some major political schemes such as European Union and through the organizations such as International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. These activities also rise above the national borders through various global movements and NGOs. There is a controversy of opinions whether the United Nations has become successful in achieving its goals. For example some critics say that UN has totally failed in preventing the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 which resulted in the death of millions of people. It is also a criticism on UN for having failed in providing food to starving people in Somalia and many more such incidents are there where UN could not help the people. The United Nations while achieving its targets has to face many technical problems. However it is trying to do its best. United Nation has become successful in achieving the different goals. To some extend it has become the puppet in the hands of wealthy nations but still it is trying to bring the atmosphere of peace and cooperation in the whole world. Sources: [1] http://www.progressiveu.org/015320-un-role-in-world-politics [2] Kegley, Charles W. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. 11th ed. United States: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2007.) p.141 [3] (Stephenson “The United Nations and International Politics,”) p.38 [4] (Stephenson “The United Nations and International Politics,”) Pg38, [5] (“Rethinking American history in a Global Age, by Thomas Bender, Published by University of California Press, 2002, Pg138, [6] (Layton, “International Politics”, quotation from page 116) [7] (The United Nations and International Politics, by Stephen Ryan, New York: St. Martins Press, 2000. 209 pages.) p.142 [8] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2065/is_n3_v47/ai_17386907/pg_3/?tag=content;col1 [9] http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/politics/index.htm Read More