Is the UN still relevant?

The United Nations is an organization that stems from the Atlantic Charter, which is a product of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The charter was created to guarantee people certain rights following WWII.

These rights were:

Freedom from Want

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Religious Belief

Freedom from Fear 

Following in the Charters footsteps, 50 nations met in San Francisco and signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26th, 1945. Later in October, the UN became an official organization.

In October 1945, the UN’s aims were:

“…to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untoldsuffering to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small…”

 

To answer the question of whether the UN is still relevent in modern society, one must look at the conflicts in which the UN has helped to resolve and judge whether the aims of the UN are applicable in today’s diverse society.

One conflict that stands out as a failure of the United Nations is the Rwandan Genocide of the early 1990’s.  In this conflict, the Hutu tribe killed millions of Tutsi tribe members. The UN Security Council showed great opposition in aiding the dying nation.

One UN Peacekeeper with UNAMIR, Canadian Romeo Dallaire, was told to evacuate only foreign nationals, however he did not follow orders.  He continued to help prevent Tutsi slaughter. Dallaire is credited for saving the lives of over 20,000 Tutsis. 

In this conflict, the UN failed in their aims of creating and protecting the equality of the Tutsi people.

The failure of the UN in Rwanda is just one of many failures. Others include:

Second Congo War

Srebrencia massacre

And the existing conflict in Darfur and Chad. 

Along with the failures, the UN has had some success.  There has been an 80% drop in genocide and politicide, and a 40% drop in overall violent conflict.

With the failures of the UN outweighing the successes, it is hard to argue that the UN is living up to the expectations it has set for itself in its charters and articles of resolution.

The relevancy of the UN depends greatly on the willingness of the member states to participate in the resolution of conflicts in any region of the world.

In our modern world, there are issues that arise everyday and demand attention, regardless of their location and our agendas.

If UN is remain a relevant organization within the world and live up to the expectations it has created for itself, then the member states must be willing to put aside personal agendas and aid in resolving the issues that create turmoil and strife for citizens all over.

~ by jessolwen on January 11, 2008.