United Nations

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Seal of the United Nations

The United Nations is an organization of countries all over the world, originally created to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, and human rights. It has since devolved into a radical debating society which has ironically blocked most of the goals for which it has been formed. [1] Critics view the UN as an agent for eroding the sovereignty of the United States and instead promoting forms of world government. President Bill Clinton rejected and ignored the position of the United Nations when he ordered U.S. military "police actions" in foreign countries. President George W. Bush also rejected the inaction of the UN when he authorized military action against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq for ignoring various UN resolutions.

The UN was founded in 1945 at the signing of the United Nations Charter by 51 countries, replacing the League of Nations, founded in 1919. The UN currently has 192 members, including every country in the world except Taiwan and Vatican City.[2]

Organization

Flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency

The main deliberative organ is the General Assembly which usually meets annually in September with representation by all member states. The General Assembly votes on the annual budget of the United Nations, elects members to other UN organs and committees, and makes non-binding recommendations to member states through resolutions.

The Security Council handles matters relating to international peace and stability. It consists of five permanent members (USA, UK, France, Russia and PR China), and ten temporary members, which are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The Security Council decides by vote. On substantive issues, nine members must support the proposal, including all five permanent members, giving each permanent member an effective veto power. The chair of the Security Council rotates each month among its members, in alphabetic order.

The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, was founded to settle conflicts and disputes over questions arising from the interpretation of treaties among member states. It only may entertain [3] cases where all parties to the case in question have agreed to recognize the jurisdiction of the Court. The Court also advices other organs and agencies of the United Nations on questions of the interpretation of treaties.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council is a deliberative and advisory organ dedicated to promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. It cooperates with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group and similar international agencies.

The United Nations Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the UN system. The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General, who is nominated by the Security Council and appointed by the General Assembly for renewable five-year terms. The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon, the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea. It is customary to let the position rotate among the different world regions.

Criticism

The U.N. has at various times in its history been accused of inefficiency and waste, which some critics have attributed to its cumbersome and excessive bureaucracy. Probably the most controversial issue with the United Nations is the Oil-for-Food scandal.

As a meeting place for many different nations, the UN can only act as a mechanism for international consensus. The UN has been unable to act in a clear and decisive way when confronted crises in which this consensus is not present. Recent examples include the Iranian nuclear program and the genocides in Darfur, Sudan and Rwanda. Because each of the five permanent members of the Security Council have a veto, and because they often disagree, many times no action can be agreed upon. Typically but not always this division includes the United States on one side with either China, Russia or both on the other. Other times the Security Council has been able to agree but lacks the will or means to enforce its resolutions. A recent example is the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Crisis, where no action has been taken to enforce the provisions of Resolution 1559 and Resolution 1701 to disarm terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. There usually are no consequences for violating a Security Council resolution.

Inclusion on the old United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) of nations such as Sudan and Libya, whose leaderships have dubious records on human rights, and Libya's chairmanship of this Commission, has been a highly controversial issue.

The UN headquarters, on the east side of Manhattan, opened its doors on January 10th, 1951.

The United Nations has on many occasions ignored the plight of people across the world, especially in parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Current examples include the UN's inaction toward the Sudanese government in Darfur, the Chinese government's ethnic cleansing in Tibet, and the Israel-Arab conflict. [2]

During the Rwandan genocide the UN did not authorize UNAMIR to intervene or use force to prevent or halt the killing.

Arab-Israel dispute

The UN has taken a one-sided approach to issues relating to the Israel-Arab conflict. Israel has consistently been singled out by the UN for uniquely critical treatment. In 1975 the General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that "Zionism is racism" [4], and UN-sponsored meetings supposedly opposing racism have criticized Israel (which grants equal political and religious rights to Arabs) while suppressing all criticism of those Arab countries (where non-Muslims are second-class citizens and anti-Semitism enjoys state support).

Unlike other refugee groups, the Palestinian Arabs have their own agency within the United Nations, and are beneficiaries of special events such as an "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People."[5] Israel was excluded from membership in any of the UN's regional groups until 2000. In effect, this meant Israel was forbidden from serving on UN bodies such as the Security Council. Israel's recent permission to participate more fully within the UN as a member of the Western European and Others regional group is temporary and subject to renewal. Israel is allowed to participate only in the New York operations of the UN and is excluded from the UN offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Rome and Vienna which handle such issues as human rights and arms control. Censure of Israel has apparently been instituted as a routine agenda item for various UN bodies such as the Human Rights Council. The 1975 Resolution 3379 qualified Zionism as a form of racism (later revoked with Resolution 4686).

UN Peacekeepers Child Sexual Abuse

The United Nations since its founding has been enmeshed in various scandals.

In July 1997 the UN announced an investigation into United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Cote d'Ivoire on charges of widespread sexual abuse with a large number of underage girls. [6] More than 300 members of UN peacekeeping missions around the world have been investigated for sexual exploitation and abuse since 2004, including some stationed in Congo, Cambodia and Haiti. [7]

Incidents

  • 1998 - Bosnia [8]
  • 2003 - Nepalese troops accused of sexual abuse while serving in DR Congo. Six are later jailed
  • 2004 - Two UN peacekeepers repatriated after being accused of abuse in Burundi
  • 2005 - UN troops accused of rape and sexual abuse in Sudan [9]
  • 2006 - UN personnel accused of rape and exploitation on missions is Haiti and Liberia
  • 2007 - UN launches probe into sexual abuse claims in Ivory Coast

History

The term "United Nations" was widely used during World War II to denote the allied powers making war against Germany and Japan. As an organization, the UN originated as a bureau within the US State Department during World War II tasked with planning and organizing a post-War future. President Franklin D. Roosevelt envisaged "four policemen", the British Empire, United States, Soviet Union, and Republic of China to be the major forces on what later became the UN Security Council to enforce the peace worldwide. This was deemed a modern approach to replace the old spheres of influence as they were called during the age of Imperialism. In 1971, following United States recognition of the People's Republic of China, the 'mainland' Chinese government took over the UN membership and seat on the Security Council hitherto held by the Republic of China, although that entity had only controlled the island province of Taiwan since the Nationalist collapse after the resumption of the Chinese Civil War in 1945 to 1949. In the original planning stages State Department employee and KGB Agent Alger Hiss was tasked with much of the organizational work and later became the first Secretary General at the United Nations Charter Conference in San Francisco. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull said a the time while selling the idea to Congress, "there will no longer be need for spheres of influence, for alliances, for balance of power, or any other of the separate alliances through which in the unhappy past the nations strove to safeguard their security or promote their interest." Comunist party General Secretary Josef Stalin got the United Nations precisely on his own terms and in a form that has enabled him to intervene into every problem in the world and to completely frustrate the British and Americans in every effort to introduce order, peace and security. [10] Nonetheless, the separate alliance of NATO came into existence at the same time and played a much greater role in US foreign policy commitments and decisions during the Cold War than the UN ever did.[Citation Needed]

In its earliest years, the United Nations was not dominated by the Asian and African "Third World" nations which ultimately poisoned the organization, but was of only limited use in controlling international conflict.

A General Assembly resolution led to the partition of Palestine in 1947, but the UN was useless in preventing armed Arab aggression against the new State of Israel in 1948. In 1950, A UN Security Council resolution authorized use of force to combat North Korean aggression, but that was possible only because the Soviet Union was boycotting the council and unable to veto. It was the only instance during the Cold War in which the UN took a stand against Communist aggression.

In the years to come, the Security Council became frequently paralyzed because of the Soviet veto, and the General Assembly became a shrill sounding board for anti-American sentiment.

Further reading

External links

Sites critical of the U.N.

References

  1. ↑ Why the Security Council Failed, Michael J. Glennon, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2003.
  2. ↑ Switzerland finally joined in 2002. [1]
  3. ↑ International Court of Justice, How the Court works, retrieved 26 April 2007.
  4. ↑ 16/12/1991, A/RES/46/86, Elimination of racism and racial discrimination/Zionism
  5. ↑ UN Web Site for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, retried June 29, 2007
  6. ↑ U.N. suspends peacekeepers amid sex abuse charges, CNN, July 21, 2007.
  7. ↑ UN probes 'abuse' in Ivory Coast, BBC, July 23, 2007.
  8. ↑ Teenagers 'used for sex by UN in Bosnia', By Stewart Payne, London Telegraph, 25/04/2002.
  9. ↑ UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan, By Kate Holt in Juba and Sarah Hughes, London Telegraph, 04/01/2007.
  10. ↑ John R. Deane, The Strange Alliance: the Story of Our Efforts at Wartime Co-Operation with Russia, New York: The Viking Press, 1947, p. 43.
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