United Nation's Effort to Provide the World Peace - Essay Example

Extent that the UN has been successful since it Creation The idea of the world peace is only a recent idea. Not very long ago the world had seen the two biggest wars of the human history collectively taking the toll of about 64 million people. Europe was crippled by the wars. It was in this context that the 51 States, shortly after the World War II, on 24th October 1945, ratified the United Nations (UN) Charter with the hope of freeing the world from the possibility of the wars. United Nations initiated various efforts in different directions to prevent the possible conflicts (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). What is role is the UN playing today? Has the UN really been able to achieve the target of maintaining peace throughout the world? Has it really become the instrument of the super powers to fulfill their selfish motives? Since its creation a number of questions have been raised on the credibility of the UN. Big nations are bypassing the charter of the UN so how far is it relevant? Is it really going the League of Nations way? The most recent case has been the case of Kosova, where the UN controls the administration. Is that the role UN is supposed to play? Or is that UN was compelled to take on the Kosova due to the hegemony of the super power. Was really the war on Kosova by NATO essential? These are the questions, which are bound to come up while discussing the role of the UN in the world stage. If the UN has really made mistakes in Kosova, has it really understood its mistakes or is it still repeating them? The study indeed shows that the mistakes are still being committed. Is only preventing the war sufficient for the world peace? Can the world be peaceful without the welfare measures? And how relevant is UN really today, when we have seen the recent Afghan war and the Iraq war. These are the questions, which we shall try to answer in our discussions. These are the never ending and controversial questions. The Preamble of the UN clearly states that United Nations was founded to prevent and resolve international conflicts and help build a culture of peace in the world. These intentions are clearly reflected in the departments and the programs of the UN. The UN is taking care of everything that can be the source of the conflicts. The conflict can occur amongst the States or within the States and their causes can also be different. The former can be due to the land dispute, water dispute or other natural resources dispute. The conflicts within the State can be due to religious tensions, due to illiteracy, due caste system or due to uneven distribution of resources. The role of the UN has become more important considering the fact that the weapons have become much more deadlier after the World War II (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). As mentioned earlier that UN is trying to remove all the source of the conflicts, in this resolve it has initiated a number of programs and agencies with the aim of achieving specific targets. The role of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is to contribute towards the elimination of the poverty, socially mobilize women, develop the respect for the environment and reinforce the democratic institutions. To help the UNDP are thousands of Non government organizations (NGOs) (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). Illiteracy also contributes to the conflicts. The role of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is to give access to and promote education, science, culture and communication (Matsuura). UNESCO is also supposed to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are available to all sections of the society. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) strives to change the mentality of the States about the environment. Pollution can be one of the sources of conflict between the nations. The pollutants that flew from a chemical factory to Danube river to the many European nations and oil spill over in the ocean affecting many nations on its shore are a couple of the examples. The role of the UNEP is to develop the international legal framework to prevent the environment (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). The role of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) is to promote respect for the human rights. It tries to have international conventions for human rights signed and ratified. It also helps to provide training to the army or the police to respect and maintain the human rights during the times of the tensions (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). The UN International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established in 1946 to provide the relief to the post war children victims in the form of food, clothing, and medicines. The role of the UNICEF is to help the children of the poorest and the least developed countries. Directly it helps by supporting the government programs like improving child health, education and nutrition. It works with various ministries and the NGOs (UN Children’s Fund). The UN peacekeeping forces are employed by various organizations in the area of arm conflicts (United Nations Peacekeeping Forces – History of Organization). These forces can be combined armed forces of the different countries that are willing to contribute towards the works of UN. Again the conflicts can be amongst the States or within the State. The UN in this case initiates the process so as to reduce the causes of the tensions among the warring groups. The peacekeeping forces are employed only after the decision of the Security Council. There are two types of the peacekeeping groups: 1) Unarmed observers and, 2) military forces. The unarmed groups are supposed to collect the data of the ground conditions while the armed groups are entitled to keep the fighting groups apart and maintain law and order in the area. The intervention of the UN has been particularly in demand in the Middle East, of both the unarmed groups and the armed groups. How ever the achievements have not been without the casualties. (United Nations Peacekeeping Forces – History of Organization). On a few occasions the UN has allowed the member states to use all the necessary steps to keep the peace including the Military action the recent example was when Iraq conquered Kuwait. The Security Council gave the mandate to US and allies for the military action against Iraq (Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations). In present period the peacekeeping forces have mainly been sent to the countries to fight the internal conflicts between different ethnic groups. Unfortunately in some cases the so called super powers have been using their military even without the permission of the UN Security Council. One of such most tragic incident have been that of Kosova. In 1989, amid the rising break away movements in Yugoslavia; the then President Slobodan Milosevic revoked the autonomy of Kosova, which deepened the differences between Serbs and Kosowars. The majority Kosowar movement supported peaceful solutions, but Kosova Liberation Army, with the help of arms from US, resorted to the violent means. The Serb forces were sent to crush them; in turn many Kosvar refugees started leaving their territories. The western nations demanded that NATO army be sent to Kosova to prevent the civilians from autocracies of the Serb army. When President Milosevic refused, ultimately the NATO, bypassing the UN started the 78-day long bombing campaign resulting in more Kosovars fleeing the region (Kosova). After the with withdrawal of various forces from Kosova, the UN established a Kosovo Peace Implementation Force (KFOR) and an Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), asserting administrative control over the province (Kosova). As it is clear NATO attacked Kosova without the permission of the Security Council. Even later also US attacked Iraq with the blame of possessing weapons of mass destruction without the permission of the Security Council. If the most active member of the UN bypasses the Security Council what is the use of setting up such major international organization. And unfortunately the UN can do nothing but just witness the US attacking Iraq. This was precisely the situation during the League of Nations. The major nations would bypass the League rules and ultimately their continuing military actions lead to the Second World War. The UN got the hold of Kosova. The duties of the UN are clear in the mandate, which reads, UNMIK was born on 10 June 1999 when the Security Council in resolution 1244 authorized the Secretary-General to establish in the war-ravaged province of Kosovo an interim civilian administration led by the United Nations under which its people could progressively enjoy substantial autonomy. In particular, resolution 1244 has called upon UNMIK to: perform basic civilian administrative functions; promote the establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo; facilitate a political process to determine Kosovos future status; coordinate humanitarian and disaster relief of all international agencies; support the reconstruction of key infrastructure; maintain civil law and order; promote human rights; and assure the safe and unimpeded return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Kosovo. (UNMIK- At a Glance) But has the UN really been able to fulfill its duties in Kosova? As per the reports, published 25th January 2004 in TCS Daily, “the week of January 21, the territory’s prime minister, Bajram Rexhepi, was reported to have exchanged harsh words with UN administrator-in-chief Harri Holkeri, at a meeting where a Kosovo labor leader threatened a general strike.” (1). As per the other report published in the International Herald Tribune, dated July 18, 2000, “Bernard Kouchner, the chief of the United Nations administration in Kosovo, has made it through a tumultuous year. Last November, when the provinces water and electricity were almost nonexistent, the West was not providing the money or personnel it had promised and the cold was as profound and bitter as the ethnic hatred.”(1) Even the report of UN Security General Kofi Anna says that Kosova has fallen behind in its effort to promote stable, multiethnic society. The discussions on Kosova’s future has proven difficult as Serbians and ethnic Albanians refuse to change their said positions. (Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, 2006). Clearly the work for the UN has not been easy. UN is now faced with the similar situation in Iraq, where US with allies launched the attack without the permission of Security Council. Fortunately, here the elections have been organized under the supervision of US and present Iraqi government is working in spite of lots of difficulties and the internal civil war. Conclusion: The aim of the UN has been to maintain the peace throughout the world. It understands that all factors leading to the conflicts should be removed and hence it has formed its various arms to address to different issues of the concern to the society. These different arms of UN also carry out a lot of humanitarian works in case normal and natural calamities. To further maintain peace the UN sends its unarmed and armed personnel to pacify the warring groups. In exceptional case the Security Council has given individual nation to carry out its military mission. However the UN becomes helpless when the major States send their military to smaller nation without the permission of the Security Council. In these cases there is nobody to question or oppose the hegemony of the Super power, not even the UN. The major powers should be patient in cases of emergency and the take the decision collectively agreed by the member States of the UN. The examples of Kosova and Iraq clearly show that the actions of the NATO and US were not correct in these states. In Kosova there is no peace and stability yet while in Iraq, where no weapons of mass destruction were found, there is yet no end of the civil war. Bibliography Erlanger, S. (20 July 2000)“A Year of Small Gains For UN Chief in Kosovo ; Kouchner Persists Against Balkans Hatreds.”International Herald Tribune. Global Policy Forum. Available from. Accessed [ 5, April 2006] Matsuura, K. “Revitalizing the U.N. Specialized Agencies.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Available from< http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/culture/unesco/un-matsuura.html> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] Schwartz, S. (26 Jan 2004)“Iraqs Future vs. The UNs Track Record.” TCS Daily. Available from < http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=012604A> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] “Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations.” The United Nations and the Culture of Peace. UNESCO. Available from < http://www.unac.org/peacecp/factsheet/role.html> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] Kosovo. Global Policy Forum. Available from < http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/ksvindx.htm> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.” (January 25, 2006). Kosova. Global Policy Forum. Available from http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/ksvindx.htm. Accessed [ 5, April 2006] “UN CHILDRENS FUND (UNICEF).” Social and Humanitarian Assistance. Available from < http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/United-Nations/Social-and-Humanitarian-Assistance-UN-CHILDREN-S-FUND-UNICEF.html> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] “United Nations Peacekeeping Forces – History of Organization.” Nobelprize.org. Available from < http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1988/un-history.html> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] UNMIK- At a Glance. United Nation’s Interim Administration Mission in Kosova. Available from < http://www.unmikonline.org/intro.htm> Accessed [ 5, April 2006] Read More