United Nations: Failures
The United Nations is the result of an international policy experiment that aimed at bringing together the countries of the world in an attempt to avoid conflagrations such as the First and Second World wars from taking place again in the modern history of human kind. The loss of lives in the wars that marked the 20th century determined world leaders and in particular the five great powers that emerged victorious after the Second World War to consider a new political structure that would determine a path of communication, of public diplomacy and ensure a system of constant contact based on international law. Almost seven decades later, no world conflagrations have taken place; yet, the UN is considered to have failed in its attempt to manage regional and local conflicts and avoiding the loss of human life. The late 20th century saw a series of significant failures from the part of the United Nations from the state of unrest in Cambodia in the 1970s, the inability to stop the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and up to the failure to properly intervene in the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. The United Nations has been sparked with criticism over its mandate, its capabilities, and eventually its actual raison d'etre. These examples are significant for pointing out the shortcomings of the organization whose actions heavily rely on the reactions and politics that are unfolding in the Security Council, the organ that decides the course of action and the mandate of different operations, from peacekeeping to peacemaking to relief aid.
It is cardinal to examine the intentions and purpose of the United Nations before pinpointing specific debacles during the turn of the millennium. In actuality, the UN legacy stretches all the way back to President Woodrow Wilson's presidency. An unprecedented attempt to unite an intercontinental peace force collectively, he insisted on an establishment of the League of Nations, which was the last of his Fourteen Points, a set of principles and doctrines he aspired to maintain towards the end of World War I (WWI). Although the nation states at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles came to accordance to accept the establishment of the League of Nations, the United Nations itself was not able to agree upon a decision. The amount of enmity and resistance to any violation of the previously established isolationist dogma from the Reservationists and Irreconcilables in the U.S. Congress, and eventually ended up declining its membership in the aforementioned organization led to this.
The principles and purpose of the UN charter include the maintaining global peace, advancement of friendly relations around countries on the support of standards of equal rights and accomplishment of universal cooperation, financially, culturally, and socially dependent upon members' sovereign equity. On whether the United Nations succeeded its standards, this is a matter of educational level headed discussion. This paper sees the UN body as an effort that had modified the wartime cooperation to a time of peace through which worldwide participation is usually realized. In any case, this study has focused on the failures of the United Nations.
Origin of tension
To understand the infamous Rwandan Genocide, one must scrutinize the roots stemming all the way back to the origin of ethnic tension. Even as early as 1918, which Belgium took control of Rwanda as its colony, there were distinct differences between separate ethnic groups in Rwanda, causing the Belgium government to categorize and organize a census in which every Rwandan citizen was issued an identity card classifying them as one of three ethnic groups: Hutu, Tutsi or Twa. When the Rwandans ultimately claimed independence from Belgium in 1962, there was a power vacuum followed by numerous ethnical tensions between the two main groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis.
The heightened aspersion led to an initial persecution of Tutsis by Hutus, forcing the majority of Tutsis to flee from Rwanda to other parts of Africa, mainly Burundi. In 1973, Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu leader expectedly rose into power, which catered an accumulated rise of continuous violent conflicts between the Tutsis, which were now the minority, and the Hutus, the majority. Even in the decade of the actual genocide, around 2,000 Tutsi exiles, often referred to as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) based in Uganda, were killed by the Hutu army, which only exacerbated relations
In 1991, there was an opportunity of reconciliation when a new constitution suggested a multi-party parliament in Rwanda. Two years later, the UN attempted this negotiation to ensure that members of diverse ethnic groups are able to hold federal positions simultaneously and secure a placid allocation...
United Nations -- Criticisms Description of the United Nations The United Nations (UN) has a security council that consists of 15 members. The main purpose of this council is to resolve any issues and conflicts in order to maintain peace among the nations in the world. This council was initiated in 1946. The formation of this council happened at the time when the League of Nations failed. The main reason given for
" More precisely, the role of the Resolution was to establish the UN Operation in the Congo. This came as a result of the vivid request of the Government for the UN to intervene, given the troop movement from the Belgian side. The action taken by the Belgian was clearly justifiable. Similar to the cases of Somalia and Rwanda, the nationals from the colonizing country are at great risk at the
Thus, "by late 1992, the catastrophic situation in Somalia had outstripped the UN's ability to quickly restore peace and stability, mainly because the UN was hamstrung by insufficient forces and UN peacekeeping principles and methods could not cope with the need to use force in such complex situations. On 3 December 1992, UN Security Council Resolution 794 authorised a coalition of UN members led by the U.S. To form
The observer group functioning was assumed during the post war periods of 1956, 1967 and 1973. It saw the institution of the first armed UN force to generate a stock between Israeli and Egyptian forces in the Sinai. Ten nations shared soldiers. Another force was instituted after the war between Egypt and Israel in 1967 to watch the peace agreement between the groups. This occurred during a period of
Once all countries, big, small, rich and poor, realize that their greater good lies in maintaining global peace without any "ifs and buts" they can join forces to reform the UN and make it a more effective body. Works Cited Charter of the United Nations." United Nations' Official Website. 2007. March 10, 2007. http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/index.html Holmes, Kim R. "New World Disorder: A Critique of the United Nations." Journal of International Affairs. 46: 2,
UN Security Council Proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to terrorist organizations is inarguably one of the greatest menaces threatening international peace and security today.[footnoteRef:1] Since the turn of the century, this sentiment has grown in strength across the world, and as a countermeasure to this threat, in 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1540 to combat the dangerous nexus between the spread of weapons of mass destruction
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now