Can International Institutions Like the UN Effectively Promote Peace - Term Paper Example

Can International s Like The UN Effectively Promote Peace? Use Historical Examples to Support Your Position INTRODUCTION United Nations (UN) can generally be described as an international organization whose prime responsibility is to maintain international peace and harmony among all other member nations. This organization has been into existence since long, with an illustrious history of dealing with a number of critical global crises to restore peace and harmony in the volatile climate. Despite its long existence, this organization has faced numerous successes as well as failures. A number of these success and failure factors associated with this organization can be explained in accordance with its peacekeeping operations which included safeguarding of humanitarian interests as well. The successful and the failed peacekeeping programs undertaken by this organization have been mentioned in the later parts of this discussion. Although a side can be taken regarding the effectiveness of UN in maintaining peace but still the failure instances are also worth considering. The main objective of this paper is to understand the role of UN in terms of effective peace promotion. This research will also project the facts to argue the effectiveness and success of the various operations performed by the UN. BACKGROUND The context of international peace generally means maintaining a balance between established international guidelines, legal obligations, security aspects, and adherence of human rights, societal and humanitarian progress. UN was established in the year 1945, just after the ‘World War II’. The main motive for establishing this organization was to supplant the ‘League of Nations’ and to stop and prevent further wars between nations (United Nations, “The UN in Brief”). The UN is a parent organization to multiple other subsidiary organizations with the help of which it carries out all its peacekeeping missions. However, apart from all these, there seems to occur multiple other ways through which the UN affects the lives of the common people and the interesting part is that a majority of the common population is unaware of the decisive contribution made by the UN day in day out in diverse corners of the world. Altogether, the UN is a joint effort of 193 nations that have subsequently helped in maintaining global peace till date (Langmore 24-28; Pearson Education, “Members of the United Nations”). Apart from just following the above mentioned aspects, the UN is also responsible regarding the promotion of gender equality factors, taking initiatives towards advancement and safeguarding of women along with maintaining of environment standards. This organization also makes simultaneous efforts in the areas of health development such as manufacturing of vaccines for deadly diseases and poverty elimination initiatives. Setting up of the international products and services standards have also been a prime responsibility for this organization. For instance, this organization has established safety standards for international air transportation, setting up of improvised telecommunication systems and structuring of customer protection policies against exploitations. The organization also provides help in terms of preventing drug trafficking and terrorism related activities (Pearson Education, “Members of the United Nations”). SUPPORTING EVIDENCES The subsequent section of discussion will mostly focus towards answering one specific question i.e. is the United Nations (UN) effective enough regarding the promotion of pace between nations? This question will be answered by taking into consideration a number of historical facts and actions carried out by UN over the last few decades. A recent example of the efforts made by UN in terms of keeping peace is related to the scenario observed in Mali (West Africa) (UN Peacekeeping, “UN Peacekeeping in Africa”). In the case of this area, the ‘United Nations Security Council’ (UNSC) tended towards starting with ‘Resolution 2100’ for establishing the ‘United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission’ (MINUSMA). The purpose of this mission was to stabilize the conditions within northern Mali. Through this mission, UNSC also made efforts towards assisting Africa’s intermediate authorities. UNSC initiated this mission with a military strength of approximately 6,800 armed units which included a few women individuals as well (UN Peacekeeping, “UN Peacekeeping in Africa”). Figure: 1 United Nations Peacekeeping Mission Figure: 2 United Nations Peacekeeping Mission Apart from just stabilizing the imbalanced scenario within Mali, UNSC also aimed towards carrying out multiple other operations such as safeguarding of the highly populated areas within Mali along with restoring the ‘Malian State Authority’ within that specific region. Establishment of the ‘Malian Transitional Road Map’ was also a major achievement for the UNSC. This initiative was promoted through bringing the governments of Mali and Tuareg into some sort of political agreement (UN Peacekeeping, “UN Peacekeeping in Africa”). The UNSC also provided assistance to these two governments during their election periods. The UN also made significant efforts in terms of protecting the common population of Mali along with ensuring the safeguard of its military as well as official personals. Throughout the operations carried out within Mali, the UN laid significant importance in relation to the promotion of human rights along with provision of humanitarian assistance (UN Peacekeeping, “UN Peacekeeping in Africa”). Safeguarding of the historical monuments and sites along with bringing the individuals who were considered responsible for carrying out the war crimes into the eyes of the justice were also a few of the substitutionary efforts made by UN within Mali. All these efforts help in proving the effectiveness of UN with regard to the promotion of world peace (UN Peacekeeping, “UN Peacekeeping in Africa”). Alongside the recent operations carried out in Mali, the UN has also proved its significance in resolving multiple other conflicts that have risen in numerous other nations over the past few decades. However, multiple assumptions have been made regarding how the United Nations (UN) will safeguard the interests of the United States of America. Two of these assumptions have been explained as under. The first assumption being that the United States itself supports the concept of maintaining international peace and the second assumption is that the prime motto of the United Nations is to safeguard and ensure the concept of world peace. Thus, since the motives and interests of both the United States and the United Nations coincide, so the answer to the question of UN safeguarding the interests of US can be said as affirmative (Claude 621-636). Another instance of UN’s initiative towards the maintenance of world peace is regarding its efforts made for South Korea. The nation in the current scenario has attained the 12th biggest economy in the world. In this purview, the United Nations (UN) along with other multilateral organizations seemed to have made major efforts regarding the establishment of this nation (Munro 209-218). The Republic of Korea was established under a resolution passed on by the UN as on 1948. This resolution was passed with the intention of uniting both parts of Korea (North and South). However, this initiative failed to attain complete success due to the fact that North Korea went against this resolution and plotted an attack on South Korea nations (Roehrig 623-644). Consequently, as a protective step, The UN deployed its military forces in South Korea with the sole purpose of safeguarding its interest and existence. Since then, South Korea has been a significant partner of UN helping it in carrying out peacekeeping operations in multiple nations (Roehrig 623-644). For instance, South Korea along with the help of UN has showed their active participation as ‘Unified National Interim Force’ (UNIFIL) which was deployed in Lebanon by the UN for recapturing it from the Israel invasion and the establishment of effective authoritarian control over the captured area (Roehrig 623-644). The 350 military personnel of the Dongmyeong Unit deployed by South Korea helped the local inhabitants of Lebanon with medical amenities, road and school construction among others (Roehrig 623-644). The participation of South Korea along with UN in settling the disruptive scenario at Haiti can also be stated as an effective peace keeping mission. This mission was initiated in 2004 as ‘Resolution 1542’. In a similar context to that of Africa, the UN’s motive list through the implementation of this resolution mainly included the following objectives. The first objective was the stabilization of the stressful environment followed by the creation of job opportunities and provision for social services (Roehrig 623-644). The second objective was regarding providing training to the ‘Haitian National Police Force’ (HNP) in terms of making them capable enough for controlling domestic riots. Apart from these two, the other initiatives such as disarming and arresting the former combatants, structural reconstruction programs, monitoring and protection of human rights and assisting the nation’s government regarding effective and un-bureaucratic elections were the prime ones (Roehrig 623-644). This initiative also projects the capabilities of UN in terms of promoting world peace (UN Peacekeeping, “The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti”). Another instance of UN’s intervention for peacekeeping operation is the ‘United Nations Mission in Sudan’ (UNMIS). This mission was also initiated with the intention of improvising the political and economic status of the Sudan government along with ensuring the safety and the humanitarian rights of the local inhabitants of Sudan. However, UNMIS had completed its 6 years of support contract in 2011 and thus possesses no more control over the Sudanese government (United Nations, “United Nations Mission in Sudan”). Beside the above three described nations, United Nations also carried out its operations within Afghanistan. Followed by the signing of the Bonn Agreement which led to the establishment of the ‘State of Afghanistan’ after the US invasion, the United Nation Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) was undertaken by the ‘UN Security Council’ during 2002. This mission was termed as the ‘1401 resolutions’. Moreover, the ‘UN Security Council’ during that period also regulated and controlled the functionality of 23 UN agencies operational within Afghanistan. However, in 2013, the UN Security Council further renewed the date of the ‘resolution 1401’ and extended it till 2014 (UN Peacekeeping, “The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan”). In the similar context to the above discussed measures undertaken by the UN, the prime objective in the case of Afghanistan is also to initiate construction programs, corruption and bureaucracy eradication, monitoring and protection of the interests of the nation’s inhabitants, their associated humanitarian rights specifically for females and infant group. The government of Afghanistan also seemed to have attained significant amount of support and assistance regarding safety and political initiatives (UN Peacekeeping, “The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan”). All the above discussed facts illustrate the efforts made by UN in terms of promoting and ensuring world peace. However, apart from just the success factors, multiple failures are also associated with this global organization. A few of these failure facts have been described in the subsequent section. ARGUMENTS AGAINST UN’s Failure against Terrorism. The first failure factor for the UN is towards the eradication of terrorism. UN does not seem to have any defined law or regulation against terrorism. Multiple hijacking situations have aroused where UN has been requested for providing assistance but the entire efforts have turned out to be a failure. For instance, during the case of ‘El Al Israel’ airplane hijacking in 1968, UN’s assistance was requested by Israel for resolving the situation but no further actions were taken against such terrorism activities (The New Jersey Jewish News, “Explaining the UN’s Failure In Standing Up To Terrorism”). In this similar regard, another instance of terrorism activity also got ignored by the UN when it came for the decision making part. The incident took place during 1972 and was termed as the ‘Munich massacre’. During this incident, 11 Olympic athletes belonging from Israel got brutally killed by Palestinian terrorists. With reference to this incident, ‘General Kurt Waldheim’ who held the rank of the UN Secretary demanded for attaining a meeting session with the Arab nations regarding coming up with measures and legal obligations for presenting such future happenings. Even after all these initiatives, the UN Secretary was repeatedly forced to halt down his initiative against terrorism prevention. This projected a negative sign about UN’s incapability regarding controlling terrorism and maintaining peace (The New Jersey Jewish News, “Explaining the UN’s failure in standing up to terrorism”). However, the attack of 9/11 marked its presence on the face of America and it was during this incident which banged up the senses of UN. This was the starting point when UN came up with multiple obligations and initiatives regarding the prevention of terrorism related activities. However, the entire terrorism judiciary system established by the UN still possesses multiple loopholes within it. Moreover, one major declining factor within this UN established judiciary system is that it only targets certain major terrorist groups such as ‘Al Qaida’ and ‘the Taliban’. However, certain minor groups such as ‘Hamas’ and ‘Hizbullah’ seem to appear pretty well ignored by UN (The New Jersey Jewish News, “Explaining the UN’s failure in standing up to terrorism”). UN’s Failure to Nuclear Proliferation. Over the past few years, the concept of nuclear weapon disarmament has been in the air but still no specific restriction has been set regarding this concept. Nuclear weapons on one hand can be considered as an effective tool for future safeguarding but on the other hand, it can also be considered as a mankind eradication weapon. The choosing of one of the two sides depends on the decisive nature of the superpower nations who are in control of such weapons. As a safeguarding technique, UN considers the technique of nuclear weapon disarmament as an optimal solution for this problem factor (United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, “Nuclear Weapons”). Multiple treaties have been signed regarding the manufacturing and testing of such weapons of mass destruction. For instance, the signing of the ‘Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons’ (NPT) treaty in 1996 can be highlighted. According to this treaty, no nations are allowed to test their nuclear weapons within the atmosphere, or exterior space or underneath water. The main intention was to prevent the excessive nuclear particle fallout within the planet’s atmosphere which might result in giving rise to further more diseases and natural calamities. Even through this treaty got signed multiple years back but still the effective implementation of this treaty is yet to be observed in the coming days. This projects the failure of UN in terms of attaining nuclear weapon disarmament and thus risk the peace maintenance factor (United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, “Nuclear Weapons”). Failure of UN in Resolving the Civil War in Sri Lanka. Apart from the above failure, yet another failure of UN can be brought into picture. This failure is regarding the civil war of Sri Lanka. Based on the internal news which came out of the internal sources within UN, it can be said that this organization has attained massive failure with regard to protecting the safety and the interests of multiple Sri Lankan inhabitants during the continuance of the civil war within the nation. Sri Lanka has been facing multiple war scenarios due to the misunderstanding between the nation’s government and the Tamil rebels. However, the conflict attained its end during the period of 2009. A number of UN officials have projected their discomfort against the leaked news and even criticized it severely (Doucet, “UN Failed Sri Lanka Civilians, Says Internal Probe”). Such leaked news projected UN’s failure of going by its terms and efforts of hiding its mistakes. Multiple reports also project that UN withdrew its supportive forces from Sri Lanka with reference to the statements made by the Sri Lankan government that it will no more be capable enough of providing security to the UN deployed units. This has further deteriorated the situation and contributed to the war continuation. Above all, due to being pressurized by the Sri Lankan government, the UN did not even make any efforts regarding publishing the actual count of civilian causalities as a result of the civil war (Doucet, “UN Failed Sri Lanka Civilians, Says Internal Probe”). Failure of UN in Maintaining Balance of Veto Power Utilization. Veto power is generally described as the authoritative power provided to the five permanent Veto member nations. These nations have the authority of allowing or rejecting every specific decision made by the other 10 temporary Veto member nations. The United Nations also attained a severe failure with reference to bringing about a balance within this system (Jeffery, “Key UN Resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”). For instance, every temporary member nation gets a chance of being elected as a committee member of the Veto council for two year duration. However, due to the continued conflict between Israel and Palestine, the opinion for electing Israel as a member of the Veto council has been repeatedly suppressed by the permanent council members. Consequently, it can be seen that despite being a peacekeeping force which is also responsible for maintaining equality and balance between the member nations, still the entire system gets along performing and promoting unethical practices (Jeffery, “Key UN Resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”). Srebrenica Massacre. This event has been stated as the worst failure of the UN. During the period of 1993, the area of Srebrenica was considered as a safe zone for the inhabitants. These inhabitants mostly comprised of Muslim community people who were also known as the Bosniaks. As being under the fortification of UN, all the military units within that region were disarmed and a small troupe of six hundred Dutch soldiers was allotted to that area as the peacekeeping force (Guardian News and Media Limited, “Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government”). Even after all these initiatives, the Serbian forces started surrounding the area which was declared the UN as a safe zone with all sorts of war machines which included tanks, artilleries and soldiers. As a result, the reinforcement and the supply line for the UN peacekeeping forces gradually narrowed down and they started becoming incapable of protecting the local inhabitants (Guardian News and Media Limited, “Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government”). By the period of 1995, the Serbian forces invaded the safe zone by overpassing the peacekeeping force and brutally annihilated the civilian population. Even after all these, the UN Security Council did not take any initiative and allowed the massacre to continue which led to the killing of multiple innocent lives (Guardian News and Media Limited, “Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government”). All these above discussed facts describe UN’s incapability regarding promotion and maintenance of global peace. CONCLUSION From the effective evaluation of the above discussed facts, it can be concluded that although UN has proved its effectiveness in terms of the maintenance of world peace in multiple aspects but its in-effectiveness can be held equally accountable. On one hand, UN has lent a helping hand to multiple help deprived nation but on the other hand it has hidden itself from facing multiple unbearable situations faced by various nations. The prime responsibility of UN is to maintain peace, social and humanitarian wellbeing irrespective of any arising situation. By taking into consideration all the positive and negative aspects, it can be said that UN can be considered effective in terms of promoting and maintaining peace owing to the fact that in its operating history of more than five decades it has been the major driving force behind a number of key successful global peacekeeping operations. However, it has got to bring multiple improvisations within its functionality by taking into consideration its past negative experiences to ensure comprehensive success. Works Cited Claude, Inis, L. ‘The United Nations, the United States, and the Maintenance of Peace.’ International Organization (2001): 621-636. Print. Doucet, Lyse. UN Failed Sri Lanka Civilians’ Says Internal Probe. 2012. Web. 11 May. 2014. “Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government.” Guardian News and Media Limited.2014. Web. 11 May. 2014. Jeffery, Simon. Key UN Resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.2003. Web. 11 May. 2014. Langmore, John. ‘Strengthening Global Peace & Justice Through the United Nations.’ VCE International Studies (2009): 24-28. Print. Munro, Sir Leslie. ‘Can The United Nations Enforce Peace?’ Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. (2004): 209-218. Print. “Members of the United Nations.” Pearson Education. 2014. Web. 11 May. 2014. Roehrig, Terence. ‘South Korea, Foreign Aid, and UN Peacekeeping: Contributing to International Peace and Security as a Middle Power.’ Academy of Korean Studies. (2013): 623-644. Print. “Explaining the UN’s failure in standing up to terrorism.” The New Jersey Jewish News. 2014. Web. 11 May. 2014. “The UN in Brief.” United Nations. 2009. Web. 11 May. 2014. “UN Peacekeeping in Africa.” UN Peacekeeping. 2013. Web. 11 May. 2014. “The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.” UN Peacekeeping. 2004. Web. 11 May. 2014. “The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.” UN Peacekeeping. 2013. Web. 11 May. 2014. “Nuclear Weapons.” United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. n.d. Web. 11 May. 2014. “United Nations Mission in Sudan.” United Nations. 2011. Web. 11 May. 2014. Read More