Topic > The United Nations in today's world: vital or redundant

IndexContextSuccessPeaceEnd the famineContaining the global drug problemFailuresGenocide in RwandaSpread of cholera in HaitiThe fall of Srebrenica and the failure of UN peacekeepingWhat I want to changeMy opinionContextThe United Nations were founded on October 24, 1945 after World War II. The UN began with fifty-one countries and currently has one hundred and ninety-three member states that strive to maintain peace among all nations (History of the United Nations). The reason the United Nations was created was to prevent another disaster like the Holocaust. The name United Nations was created by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Charter of the United Nations was first signed on 26 June 1945 by fifty in a conference(History of the United Nations). Poland was unable to participate in the conference, forcing the representative to sign it a few months later, allowing Poland to become one of the original fifty-one “member states.” The United Nations has established several bodies called the General Assembly (principal body), Security Council, Economic Council, Social Council and International Court of Justice. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Achievements Peace Since 1945 (after World War II), the number of deaths due to conflicts has decreased. Fewer people died during conflict in the first decade of the 21st century, for example, than in any other decade of the 20th century. Over the past sixty years, the United Nations has sent 69 peacekeeping missions to trouble spots around the world. In this way the United Nations restored peace. By restoring peace to countries, this has allowed many countries to recover from conflicts. There are currently ongoing peacekeeping operations around the world (around 16) involving over 125,000 women and men from 120 countries. These people go to areas where others cannot go and help keep the peace. Since the 1990s, the UN has ended many conflicts through mediation or third-party action with UN support. Some examples of ended conflicts are Liberia, Sierra Leone, the North-South conflict in Sudan, and Burundi. There is research that points to the UN's peacemaking/peacekeeping and conflict prevention activities as a major reason why global conflict decreased by 40% in the 1990s. The United Nations' preventative diplomacy has ended numerous conflicts that could have turned violent. The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission supports peace efforts in countries emerging from conflict. This commission brings together international financial institutions, international donors, governments and troop-contributing countries and proposes different ideas to rebuild peace in the country and help them recover. The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund is currently funding 222 projects in 22 countries. They do this by providing fast and flexible financing. Ending Famine The world does not have the same amount of food in every place and there are still people dying of malnutrition every year, but after the war, the number of people dying of famine has decreased. from seventy million to a few thousand. The United Nations World Food Program is one of the reasons why famine problems have decreased so much. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations uses global efforts to eliminate hunger. The goal of this organization is for everyone to have access to high quality food that leads them to have ahealthy life. This organization also helps developing countries improve and modernize their forestry, agriculture and fisheries practices so as to improve the health and living conditions of their populations. The World Food Program (WFP) is a non-profit organization that fights world hunger. It is the largest humanitarian effort and provides assistance with food when there are emergencies. The program partners with multiple communities each year to help improve the nutrition of people around the world. Every year the World Food Program helps approximately eighty million people living in approximately eighty countries. The program provides nutritional support and food to people with less money and undernourished people. The Program works to achieve the Global Zero Hunger Goal. In 2014, the program was able to provide school meals or take-home rations to over seventeen million children. The Program uses cash transfers so that people can purchase food. In 2014, around nine million people were able to purchase food this way. Finally, the Program also supports humanitarian efforts in the fields of logistics, telecommunications and aviation. Containing the world's drug problem The United Nations office that reduces the quantity and demand for illegal drugs is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. They use the three main UN conventions to help in drug control. This part of the United Nations works with countries to improve the general safety and health of the public. They do this to prevent drug use and to help treat people who abuse drugs. Since the United Nations has been committed to controlling the drug problem around the world, it has contributed to and reversed the increase in drug abuse over the past twenty-five years. In some countries, in particular, the Office is trying to improve drug control in Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Andean countries, West Africa and Myanmar. Failures Genocide in Rwanda In 1994, the United Nations launched an assistance mission to help Rwanda emerge from the genocide. Genocide occurs when a large group of people are killed on purpose, especially people of a certain ethnic group or nation. Unfortunately, the peacekeepers were unable to stop the Hutus who were killing people and killed approximately one million Tutsis. There was a report that researched the United Nations and their role in Rwanda. It stated that the United Nations had failed to protect Rwanda and how it had completely ignored the situation at hand. They paid no attention to the evidence given to them that showed that a genocide had been planned. The report says the UN abandoned Rwanda when it needed it most. The report was commissioned by a secretary general named Kofi Annan. Annan said he was sorry on behalf of the United Nations for having failed Rwanda. Annan initiated a report to find out what happened to the United Nations during the Rwandan genocide and how the UN could learn from its mistakes. He commissioned Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson to prepare the report and concluded: "Our conclusion is that there is a fundamental failure that explains why the United Nations failed to stop or prevent the genocide, and that is the lack of resources and of will". - a lack of willingness to engage in preventing genocide," Carlsson said. The report shows that the UN and its Security Council paid no attention to the assessment made by a UN human rights investigator based in Rwanda The evaluation, carried out in August.