United
Nations (UN), international organization of countries created to promote
world peace and cooperation. The UN was founded after World War II ended in
1945. Its mission is to maintain world peace, develop good relations between
countries, promote cooperation in solving the world’s problems, and encourage
respect for human rights.
The UN is an organization of countries that
agree to cooperate with one another. It brings together countries that are rich
and poor, large and small, and have different social and political systems.
Member nations pledge to settle their disputes peacefully, to refrain from using
force or the threat of force against other countries, and to refuse help to any
country that opposes UN actions.
UN membership is open to any country willing to
further the UN mission and abide by its rules. Each country, no matter how large
or small, has an equal voice and vote. Each country is also expected to pay dues
to support the UN. As of 2007 the UN had 192 members, including nearly every
country in the world.
The UN’s influence in world affairs has
fluctuated over the years, but the organization gained new prominence beginning
in the 1990s. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Still, the UN faces
constant challenges. It must continually secure the cooperation of its member
nations because the organization has little independent power or authority. But
getting that support is not always easy. Many nations are reluctant to defer
their own authority and follow the dictates of the UN.
II |
|
CREATION OF THE UNITED
NATIONS |
The UN is the result of a long history of
efforts to promote international cooperation. In the late 18th century, German
philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed a federation or “league” of the world’s
nations. Kant believed that such a federation would allow countries to unite and
punish any nation that committed an act of aggression. This type of union by
nations to protect each other against an aggressor is sometimes referred to as
collective security. Kant also felt that the federation would protect the rights
of small nations that often become pawns in power struggles between larger
countries.
Kant’s idea came to life after World War I
(1914-1918). Horrified by the devastation of the war, countries were inspired to
come together and work toward peace. They formed a new organization, the League
of Nations, to achieve that goal. The League would last from 1920 to 1946 and
have a total of 63 member nations through its history, including some of the
world’s greatest powers: France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, and
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). But the League had two major
flaws. First, several of the world’s most powerful countries were not members,
most notably, the United States. Second, the League required consensus among its
members to oppose aggression. Dissent by any one member could prevent consensus
and render the League impotent. When Japan, Italy, and Germany undertook
military aggression in the 1930s, they would not agree to censure themselves,
thus preventing the consensus necessary for League action. This aggression
ultimately led to World War II (1939-1945). In the end, the League failed in its
most basic mission, to prevent another world war.
Despite this failure, the idea of a league
did not die. The first commitment to create a new organization came in 1941,
when U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston
Churchill announced the Atlantic Charter, in which they pledged to work toward a
more effective system to keep world peace and promote cooperation. In 1942
representatives of the Allies—the World War II coalition of 26 nations fighting
against Germany and Japan—signed a Declaration by United Nations accepting the
principles of the Atlantic Charter. The declaration included the first formal
use of the term United Nations, a name coined by President Roosevelt. A
year later, four of the Allies—the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet
Union, and China—agreed to establish a general international organization. The
four countries met in 1944 at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington, D.C., and
drafted a charter for the new organization. They called the new league the
United Nations. But they still could not agree to certain details, such as
membership and voting rights.
The four countries met again in early 1945
at a summit in Yalta, Ukraine (see Yalta Conference). There, they settled
their differences and called for a conference of nations to complete their work.
On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organization
convened in San Francisco, with delegates from 50 countries attending. The
delegates worked for two months to complete a charter for the UN that included
its purpose, principles, and organizational structure. The charter contained a
formal agreement committing all the world’s nations to a common set of basic
rules governing their relations. The UN officially came into existence on
October 24, 1945, with 51 member countries-the 50 represented at the conference
and Poland, which had not been able to send a delegate.
Like the League of Nations, the UN was
founded to promote peace and prevent another world war. The UN recognized it
would not be successful unless it had the ongoing support of the world’s most
powerful countries. The organization took several steps to ensure that support.
To encourage continued U.S. involvement, the UN placed its headquarters in New
York City. To reassure the world’s most powerful countries that it would not
threaten their sovereignty, the UN gave them veto authority over its most
important actions. Five countries received this veto power: the United States,
the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and China. (Russia inherited the
Soviet Union’s veto after the breakup of that country in 1991.)
Another major strength of the UN, unlike the
earlier League of Nations, is that virtually every territory in the world is a
member, or a province, or a colony of a member. Some nonmember political
entities, such as the Vatican City and the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), also have permanent observer mission status at the UN.
III |
|
STRUCTURE OF THE UNITED
NATIONS |
The UN’s charter established six distinct
bodies that serve different functions: (1) the General Assembly, (2) the
Security Council, (3) the Secretariat, (4) the Economic and Social Council, (5)
the International Court of Justice, and (6) the Trusteeship Council.
The General Assembly is made up of all
192 member countries, each with one vote. It undertakes all major discussions
and decisions about UN actions. It is like a global town hall, providing a
powerful medium for countries to put forward their ideas and debate issues. The
Assembly can discuss and make recommendations on any issue covered by the UN’s
charter. However, the recommendations are not binding and the Assembly has no
authority to enforce them. Members decide routine matters with a simple majority
vote. Important decisions require a two-thirds majority.
The General Assembly meets annually in
regular sessions that generally run from mid-September to mid-December. Recently
the General Assembly has been meeting year round. It also convenes for special
sessions every few years on specific topics, such as economic cooperation or
disarmament. In addition, the Assembly can meet in emergency session to deal
with an immediate threat to international peace. At the beginning of each
regular session, Assembly members elect a president to preside over the
assembly. The Assembly sessions, like most UN deliberations, are simultaneously
translated into many languages so that delegates from around the world can
understand any speaker.
The General Assembly has the power to
admit new members to the UN. It approves the budget for UN programs and
operations. The Assembly can establish agencies and programs to carry out its
recommendations. It elects members to serve on certain agencies and programs,
and it coordinates those programs through various committees.
The Security Council is the most powerful
body in the UN. It is responsible for maintaining international peace, and for
restoring peace when conflicts arise. Its decisions are binding on all UN
members and have the force of international law. The Security Council has the
power to define what is a threat to security, to determine how the UN should
respond, and to enforce its decisions by ordering UN members to take certain
actions. For example, the Council may impose economic sanctions, such as halting
trade with a country it considers an aggressor.
The Council convenes any time there is a
threat to peace. A representative from each member country who sits on the
Council must be available at all times so that the Council can meet at a
moment’s notice. The Security Council also frequently meets at the request of a
UN member—often a nation with a grievance about another nation’s actions.
The Security Council has 15 members, 5 of
which hold permanent seats. The General Assembly elects the other 10 members for
rotating two-year terms. The 5 permanent members—the United States, the United
Kingdom, France, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), and China—have the most
power. These nations were the winning powers at the end of World War II, and
they still represent the bulk of the world’s military might.
Decisions of the Council require nine
votes. But any one of the permanent members can veto an important decision. This
authority is known as the veto right of the great powers. As a result,
the Council is effective only when its permanent members can reach a consensus.
This created problems during the Cold War, the post-1945 struggle between the
United States and Soviet Union that ended when the Soviet Union dissolved in
1991. During that time, the council was frequently deadlocked because the United
States and Soviet Union could not agree. Beginning in the 1990s, increased
cooperation between the United States and Russia enabled the council to become
more effective.
The Council has a variety of ways it can
try to resolve conflicts between countries. Usually the Council’s first step is
to encourage the countries to settle their disagreements without violence. The
Council can mediate a dispute or recommend guidelines for a settlement. It can
send peacekeeping troops into a distressed area. If war breaks out, the Council
can call for a ceasefire. It can enforce its decisions by imposing economic
sanctions on a country, or by authorizing joint military action.
In recent years, there has been growing
controversy over which countries should have permanent seats on the Council.
Some nations believe that other countries beside the original five should be
included. For example, Japan and Germany are powerful countries that pay large
membership dues and make substantial contributions to the UN, yet they do not
have permanent seats. There is no easy solution to this problem. Adding more
permanent members creates its own set of complications, including how to decide
which countries get a seat and which do not. For example, if Germany joined,
three of the permanent members would be European, giving that region an unfair
advantage. Several proposals for addressing this problem have been considered,
including adding Germany and Japan as permanent members, waiving the veto power
of the permanent members, and limiting Council membership to one year. Thus far,
none of the proposals have been adopted, partly because the present structure
works well for the five permanent members and they can veto any changes to
it.
The Secretariat is the UN’s executive
branch. It oversees the administration of the UN’s programs and policies and
carries out day-to-day operations. This branch is headed by the secretary
general, who acts as the UN’s spokesperson.
The UN’s staff includes administrators,
experts on technical issues such as environmental protection, and economic
advisors working on various programs and projects in the member countries. These
workers have a variety of responsibilities, such as overseeing the operations of
peacekeeping missions, preparing studies on world issues, organizing
international conferences, surveying economic and social trends, and providing
translations of speeches. They perform the day-to-day work necessary for basic
UN operations. The largest concentration of staff outside New York City is in
Geneva, Switzerland, where several UN programs and agencies have
headquarters.
One purpose of the Secretariat is to
develop an international civil service of diplomats and bureaucrats whose
loyalties are not tied to any one country. The staff answers only to the UN and
takes an oath not to obey any outside authority. The UN charter calls on its
members to respect the independence and international character of the staff.
However, the UN has had mixed success following through on this ideal. The
secretary general is generally seen as an independent diplomat. But member
nations still compete to place their citizens in control of staffs that
administer important UN programs.
In the early 1990s the UN bureaucracy
came under increasing criticism for inefficiency and even corruption. Much of
this criticism came from the United States, which believed it was bearing an
unfair share of the costs of supporting the UN. By the mid-1990s, these
criticisms had led to a series of reforms, including budget and staff
reductions.
The secretary general is a powerful
public figure who oversees the daily operations of the UN and plays a major role
in setting the organization’s agenda in international security affairs. The
secretary general can bring to the Security Council any matter that might
threaten world peace. The secretary general has the authority to serve as a
neutral mediator in international conflicts and to bring hostile parties
together to negotiate. The secretary general’s personal attention to a problem
can often help bring about a resolution. For example, in the 1990s Secretary
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali personally mediated conflicts in Somalia, the
former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere. In the 1980s, Secretary General Javier Pérez
de Cuéllar mediated conflicts in Central America. The secretary general also
works to build consensus among the five permanent members of the Security
Council, knowing that without it the Council cannot act.
The secretary general is formally
chosen by the General Assembly. But the secretary general must first be
nominated by the Security Council and win the consent of all five of its
permanent members. The secretary general serves a five-year term, which may be
renewed. The Security Council can nominate a candidate from any country, but it
is an unwritten tradition that the position rotates geographically, with a
secretary general chosen from a new region after every two terms. In 1997 the
General Assembly created the post of deputy secretary general to assist in the
management of the Secretariat. The secretary general appoints the deputy
secretary general.
The secretary general, like the rest of
the UN staff, is supposed to be independent. In reality, the secretary general
must rely on member countries, especially the five permanent Security Council
members, to get anything done. As a result, the secretary general often
struggles with the Security Council over what direction the UN should take.
Since the Security Council chooses the secretary general, there is a limit on
how independent the position can be.
Kofi Annan of Ghana was elected by the
General Assembly to be secretary general from 1997 through 2001. In 2001 the
General Assembly unanimously elected him to a second term, running from 2002
through 2006. He was the first secretary general from sub-Saharan Africa and the
first to rise through the UN staff to the top job. Before becoming secretary
general, Annan served as undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations. He
was credited with doing the best job possible with difficult peacekeeping
missions in Somalia and Bosnia in the early 1990s. Annan was educated in the
United States and knew the UN bureaucracy well. As secretary general, Annan
reformed the UN secretariat’s finances and management and significantly improved
relations between the UN and the United States. He also worked to improve human
rights worldwide and to slow the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS), particularly in developing countries.
Annan’s immediate predecessor, Boutros
Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, was secretary general from 1992 through 1996. He tried
to expand the UN’s role as peacekeeper and peacemaker. He was outspoken with the
Security Council, a trait that got him into trouble with its members,
particularly the United States. For example, he scolded the Council for giving
him big projects without enough money to carry them out. In 1996 the United
States vetoed his candidacy for a second term. Since both Annan and
Boutros-Ghali represented African nations, Annan’s selection preserved the
tradition of keeping the secretary general’s post in the same geographic region
for two terms. Annan was succeeded in 2007 by Ban Ki Moon, former foreign
minister of South Korea.
Secretaries general have come from
various regions of the world, but it is an unwritten rule that they never should
come from one of the most powerful countries. This tradition is a response to
concerns that a secretary general selected from such a country would not be
perceived by other nations as objective or neutral. There is also a fear that
such a selection would give the world’s most influential nations that much more
power. Past secretaries general include Trygve Lie of Norway, who served from
1946 to 1953; Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, 1953 to 1961; U Thant of Burma (now
Myanmar), 1961 through 1971; Kurt Waldheim of Austria, 1972 to 1982; and Javier
Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru, 1982 through 1991. No woman has yet served in this
position.
D |
|
Economic and Social
Council |
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
works under the authority of the General Assembly to coordinate the economic and
social work of the UN. ECOSOC has 54 member countries elected by the General
Assembly for three-year terms. ECOSOC coordinates studies and recommends actions
on international topics such as medicine, education, economics, and social
needs. It promotes higher living standards, full employment, respect for human
rights, and economic and social progress. It oversees the work of a large number
of UN programs and agencies.
ECOSOC operates mainly through various
standing committees, functional commissions, and regional commissions. There are
five regional commissions that look at how the UN’s programs in a particular
region are working together. There are ten functional commissions that deal with
topics such as population growth, narcotics trafficking, human rights, and the
status of women. Other committees work on topics relevant to several UN
programs, such as crime prevention, public finance, natural resources, science
and technology, and geographical names.
ECOSOC coordinates the work of many
specialized agencies that provide a variety of social, economic, and related
services. The agencies operate independently but work with other programs in the
UN. Those agencies include the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). ECOSOC also works closely with the
private sector and with more than 2,000 nongovernmental organizations.
E |
|
International Court of
Justice |
The International Court of Justice, also
known as the World Court, is the judicial arm of the UN. It is located in The
Hague, Netherlands. The court hears cases brought by nations against each other.
It has 15 judges, elected by the Security Council and the General Assembly. A
country is not required to participate in the court’s proceedings, but if it
agrees to participate, it must abide by the court’s decisions.
The Trusteeship Council was established
to oversee the transition of a handful of colonies to independence. The last of
those colonies, the Palau Islands, gained independence in 1994, making the
Trusteeship Council obsolete.
The UN started in 1945 with 51 founding
members—including the 50 countries that had attended the San Francisco
conference, and Poland, which was not at the conference but signed the charter
later.
New members are admitted to the UN on the
recommendation of the Security Council, if approved by a two-thirds vote of the
General Assembly. Membership is open to any country that supports the UN’s
mission and is willing to follow the rules and responsibilities specified in the
charter.
In its early years, Western countries
dominated the UN and the General Assembly regularly sided with the United
States. The Soviet Union provided a balance to Western influence by using its
veto power in the Security Council.
The balance of power began to change in the
1950s and 1960s, as colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence and became
members of the UN. The UN’s membership more than doubled during that time and
the new members had different concerns than did the once-dominant Western
industrial nations. Many of the new members believed the United States was too
powerful and the UN too often gave in to American interests. As newly
independent developing nations began to predominate, they affected voting
patterns in the UN. The United States found itself in the minority on many
issues. By the end of the 1970s, the United States had become the primary user
of the veto.
Another change in UN membership involved
representation for China. In 1945 China joined the United Nations as a founding
member and was represented by the Nationalist government in Nanjing. In 1949 the
Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war against the Communists and retreated to
the island of Taiwan. Backed by the United States and other Western nations, the
Nationalist government on Taiwan claimed to be the legitimate government of all
China and continued to hold the China seat in the UN until 1971. That year the
General Assembly took the seat away from Taiwan and gave it to the Communist
government in Beijing, on the mainland. This action left Taiwan without
representation in the UN. Taiwan would like to be a member and has tried to win
a separate seat. But China regards Taiwan as a province and has opposed
independence for the island, despite the fact that Taiwan functions like an
independent nation in many international matters. China has vehemently objected
to UN membership for Taiwan because leaders there believe if the UN recognizes
Taiwan with a seat it would help that government’s bid for independence.
The UN is funded by dues paid by each of its
members. Each country’s dues are based upon its wealth and ability to pay. The
UN also requires countries to make financial contributions to its peacekeeping
efforts. In addition, many countries make voluntary contributions to support
various UN programs. The United States is the largest contributor to the
UN.
The UN cannot force member nations to pay
their dues. Many nations have failed to pay their full dues and have cut their
voluntary contributions, causing the organization to fall into considerable
debt.
The financial crisis began in the 1980s when
countries started falling behind in their payments. Yet as financial support
declined, the UN’s expenses grew. In 1996 the UN came perilously close to
bankruptcy. After Kofi Annan became UN secretary general in 1997, he pushed
through reforms to consolidate some major UN offices, in part to encourage the
United States to pay its back dues. In 1999 the U.S. Congress agreed to pay
nearly $1 billion of back dues, but only on the condition that the UN decrease
the U.S. share of the administrative budget from 25 to 22 percent and its share
of the peacekeeping budget from 31 to 25 percent.
In 2000 the General Assembly responded to
these terms by overhauling its system of financing. It set a ceiling of 22
percent as the maximum amount any country would pay toward the administrative
budget. It also replaced its ad hoc system of funding peacekeeping operations
with a sliding scale of dues based on a country’s per capita income. As a
result, the U.S. contribution to peacekeeping operations declined to about 27
percent by 2004, and more than two dozen countries accepted increases in their
peacekeeping contributions.
The UN also receives money from private
citizens. Individuals may donate to various UN programs, such as the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP). In 1997
American business executive Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to UN programs, the
largest single gift to the UN in its history.
The UN today has the same basic purpose and
structure as it did when it was founded in 1945. Its primary purpose—and
greatest benefit to its members—is to maintain world peace. That, in turn, helps
countries to develop and prosper, thereby improving the lives of their citizens.
In addition to that primary mission, the UN serves its member countries in a
variety of other ways. The UN provides a forum for countries to promote their
views and settle conflicts without violence. It allows countries to cooperate to
solve world problems, such as poverty, disease, and threats to the environment.
It serves as a symbol of international order and global identity. It works to
address economic and social problems in developing countries, with the idea that
such problems create sources of conflict that can lead to war. The UN helps
coordinate the work of hundreds of agencies and programs, both within its own
organization and outside it. It also collects and publishes global
statistics.
A |
|
Maintenance of International Peace and
Security |
The UN has three primary ways to maintain
international peace and security. All directly involve the Security Council.
Under chapter 6 of the UN charter, the UN can assist in the peaceful resolution
of international disputes. This authority has evolved into the use of UN
authorized peacekeeping forces. Under chapter 7 of the UN charter, the UN can
authorize military action to enforce its resolutions. Finally, the UN can serve
as a forum for international deliberations on long-term solutions to pressing
security issues, such as arms control and terrorism.
Peacekeeping is the nonaggressive use
of military force to help nations in conflict reach a settlement. The UN charter
does not mention peacekeeping forces, although chapter 6 of the charter does
establish guidelines for peaceful resolution of international conflicts.
The UN’s first peacekeeping effort took
place in the Middle East in 1948. The UN sent unarmed observers to help maintain
the truce negotiated after five Arab countries attacked Israel earlier in the
year. The UN first used armed peacekeepers during the Suez Crisis of 1956, when
England, France, and Israel fought Egypt for control of the Suez Canal. The
peacekeepers oversaw the withdrawal of French, British, and Israeli troops and
acted as a buffer between the warring parties.
Today, the UN’s peacekeeping forces play
a neutral role, working to calm regional conflicts in several ways. They can go
into an area of conflict as observers, making sure agreements reached between
opposing sides are being followed. They can provide a buffer between warring
parties by physically interposing themselves in the middle. They can negotiate
with military officers on both sides, providing a channel of communication. They
can also monitor ceasefires, supervise elections, and provide humanitarian
aid.
Peacekeepers are lightly armed. They
travel in armored vehicles with automatic rifles, but lack artillery, tanks, or
other heavy weapons. Their work can be hazardous, especially if one of the
warring sides doubts their neutrality. They are often caught in the middle when
ceasefires collapse and they sometimes have been deliberately attacked. By 2007
more than 2,300 peacekeepers had died in the line of duty.
The Security Council grants authority
for peacekeeping missions, usually for several months, although the Council can
reauthorize missions for many years. The UN does not have its own army, so the
Security Council borrows forces for each mission from the military and police
personnel of member countries. The Security Council also chooses a single
commander, and the forces operate under UN command. The forces operate only if
the parties in conflict agree to their presence. Thus, the success of a
peacekeeping mission depends upon the cooperation of the opposing parties.
Peacekeeping forces are funded by
special fees paid by UN members. The General Assembly must approve the funds.
Today, lack of funds is the single greatest constraint in the use of
peacekeeping forces. As peacekeeping operations have expanded, they have
required more and more money.
UN peacekeepers won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1988 in recognition of their successes. In the early 21st century the
UN had nearly 90,000 troops from 112 countries in almost 20 separate
peacekeeping missions in regions of the world including South Asia, the Middle
East, Eastern Europe, and Africa. In July 2007 the UN Security Council
authorized a peacekeeping force of 26,000 for the Darfur region of Sudan. It
became the UN’s largest peacekeeping force.
See also
United Nations Peacekeeping Forces.
In addition to peacekeeping missions,
the UN can also authorize peace enforcement operations. Unlike peacekeeping
missions, which help willing parties maintain an existing peace agreement, peace
enforcement operations seek to repel international aggression, using military
force if necessary. Under chapter 7 of the UN charter, the Security Council may
authorize member countries to take military action in response to international
breaches of the peace. The UN’s founders initially envisioned chapter 7 as the
teeth in the UN charter.
An early example of the UN’s role in
peace enforcement came in 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, starting
the Korean War. The UN Security Council condemned the invasion and authorized a
multinational force, led by the United States, to repel the attack. This
resolution was only possible because the USSR boycotted the Security Council
meeting to protest the UN’s refusal to recognize the communist government of
China. When the USSR returned to the Security Council, it used its veto to
protect its ally, North Korea. After the Korean War, the Cold War prevented
further UN peace enforcement operations.
The UN again authorized a peace
enforcement mission in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. After Iraq refused to
comply with UN demands to withdraw, the UN launched a military operation to
expel Iraq from Kuwait. This operation was again led by the United States, and
it included a vast coalition of forces from many UN member countries (see
Persian Gulf War). UN-sponsored peace enforcement operations remain rare,
however, because of the difficulty of getting all five of the veto-wielding
great powers to agree to military action.
The UN charter authorizes the Security
Council to plan for worldwide disarmament and arms control. To help achieve
those goals, the UN has sponsored arms control negotiations in Geneva,
Switzerland, for decades. The General Assembly also held a special session on
disarmament in June 1982. None of these UN activities have had much direct
effect on actual arsenals.
Instead, during the Cold War, the most
important arms control agreements were reached by countries negotiating directly
with each other, particularly by the United States and Soviet Union. At that
time, arms control was dominated by the nuclear arms race between the
superpowers. The United States and the Soviet Union reached several important
agreements, and then other countries signed on. Examples include the 1963
Limited Test Ban Treaty, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the 1968 Nonproliferation
Treaty, and the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. In some instances the
General Assembly ratified these agreements. But in none of these cases did the
UN play a major role.
After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, UN
agencies assumed a lead role in enforcing a Security Council resolution to
disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. IAEA inspectors uncovered and
dismantled Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons program, and other UN weapons
inspectors monitored the destruction of stockpiles of chemical and biological
weapons. However, in 1998 Iraq announced it would no longer cooperate with the
UN. In 2002, in response to renewed U.S. efforts to enforce Iraqi disarmament,
the Security Council approved a resolution warning of “serious consequences” if
Iraq did not disarm. Weapons inspections resumed, but U.S. authorities charged
that Iraq was not cooperating fully and was hiding banned weapons. In March
2003, after diplomatic talks broke down, the United States led a military
assault on Iraq. However, U.S. forces failed to find any evidence that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction, and subsequent investigations revealed that much of
the prewar intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs was flawed. See
U.S.-Iraq War.
B |
|
Economic and Social
Development |
The second major function of the UN is to
promote economic and social development worldwide. The UN engages in a myriad of
activities and sponsors a large number of agencies to meet this goal. The UN’s
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) oversees these activities.
The UN operates under the principle that
promoting economic and social development will help bring about lasting world
peace. The organization’s charter calls on the UN to promote full employment for
all, higher standards of living, and economic and social progress. As a result,
the UN devotes a major proportion of its staff and budget to economic
development programs worldwide. The General Assembly has recognized the need to
restructure international economic relations to help developing countries and
has recommended a series of steps aimed at reducing the gap between wealthy and
poor countries.
The UN operates many programs and
special agencies to promote economic development and provide assistance and
technical expertise to developing countries. One of those programs is the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Many developing nations
rely on income from trade to support their economic development efforts at home
and are especially vulnerable to price fluctuations on international markets and
other trade problems. UNCTAD was founded in the 1960s to help negotiate
international trade agreements that stabilize prices and promote trade with
developing countries. During the 1970s the General Assembly included those goals
in its call for a New International Economic Order to promote growth in
developing countries. But developing countries have little power in the
international economy, and as a result UNCTAD has been largely ineffective in
advancing their interests in international trade.
Other efforts include the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), which coordinates all UN efforts in developing
nations. It is funded through voluntary contributions and has thousands of
projects operating around the world. UNDP is the world’s largest international
agency providing development assistance on technical issues. Two related
agencies are the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the
United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
UN programs offer several advantages in
promoting economic development. Governments of developing nations see the UN as
a friend of the developing world, not as an outsider threatening their authority
or as a reminder of colonial rule. Many UN experts and volunteers are themselves
from other developing countries. UN workers who come from the developing world
may be more sensitive to local conditions and to the pitfalls of development
assistance than their counterparts from more wealthy countries. The UN can also
organize its assistance on an international scale, avoiding duplication of
efforts. Some issues, such as prevention and treatment of major diseases and
environmental protection, particularly benefit from the UN’s international
approach.
A major disadvantage of the UN
development programs is that their funding largely depends on voluntary
contributions from wealthy nations. Each program has to solicit contributions to
carry on its activities, and contributions can be abruptly cut off if the
program displeases a donor government. In addition, programs sometimes lack the
efficiency and resources that governments and businesses in wealthy countries
take for granted. This has given the programs a reputation for being inefficient
and bureaucratic.
The UN also helps finance development
through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, better known
as the World Bank. The World Bank was created in 1944 to help developing nations
get funding for projects. The bank grants loans to member countries to finance
specific projects and this in turn encourages foreign investing. A related
agency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was created at the same time to
promote international cooperation on monetary issues. It encourages a stable,
orderly pattern of monetary exchange rates between nations.
The UN has recognized that adequate
health and control of disease are essential to economic and social development.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the leading UN agency to address global
health concerns. Its goal is to improve the health of all people, and it does
this through a number of global health programs. WHO epidemiologists help track
outbreaks of new diseases and epidemics. For example, WHO was instrumental in
diagnosing and containing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
in 2003. WHO also helps deliver basic immunizations to underserved populations.
One of the greatest accomplishments of the WHO was the eradication of smallpox,
a viral disease that once devastated humans around the globe.
The UN has also taken action to combat
the worldwide epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In 1995 it
established the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to coordinate
the international response to the disease. In 2000, the United States led a
special session of the Security Council to address the global threat from AIDS,
and the General Assembly held a special session on AIDS the following year.
Sessions such as these focused global attention on the disease and helped to win
commitments of resources to the UNAIDS program.
The United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP) encourages and coordinates sound environmental practices throughout the
world. It grapples with ways to approach environmental problems on an
international level, provides expertise to member countries, monitors
environmental conditions worldwide, develops environmental standards, and
recommends alternative energy sources.
UNEP’s work is guided by principles
adopted at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as
the Earth Summit. The summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was
the largest such conference ever held, attracting with more than 100 national
leaders. It was the third international environmental conference hosted by the
UN.
The first UN environment conference took
place in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972. It adopted general environmental
principles, such as the idea that one country’s actions should not cause
environmental damage to another. It also raised awareness about the
international aspects of environmental damage. A second conference was held in
Nairobi, Kenya, in 1982. Nairobi is the headquarters of the UN Environment
Program.
The 1992 Earth Summit was larger and
more ambitious than its predecessors. Its major theme was sustainable economic
development, meaning development that does not use up or destroy so many of the
world’s natural resources that it cannot be sustained over time. The meeting
produced an overall plan, called Agenda 21, in which large developing countries
promised to develop their industries with an eye toward protecting the
environment. Industrialized countries pledged to help them do that. The Earth
Summit also produced major treaties on biodiversity and global warming, although
the latter treaty lacked enforcement provisions.
In 2002, UNEP sponsored the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. This conference
sought to help developing countries undergo industrialization without harming
the environment. But progress on environmental issues is slow because proposed
solutions continue to pit the interests of poorer developing countries against
those of richer industrialized nations. Most developing countries cannot afford
to build an environmentally sound industrial base, while industrialized
countries are unwilling to absorb the entire cost of environmental reform.
B4 |
|
Other Economic and Social
Programs |
The UN operates a host of other
economic and social programs. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
addresses the needs of children worldwide. The International Labor Organization
(ILO) advocates for workers’ rights. The United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) helps countries improve education and
literacy, promotes ethics in science, and works to preserve cultural diversity.
The United Nations Population Fund promotes family planning, safe pregnancies
and childbirths, and reproductive health in developing countries, and it helps
countries formulate population policies. The United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime helps countries fight illicit drugs, crime, and terrorism. The UN has an
organization, commission, or specialized agency to address nearly every social
issue on the global agenda.
One of the UN’s major goals under its
charter is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all people, regardless of race, sex, language, or religion. But
once again, the UN’s effectiveness in promoting its agenda is limited by its
lack of authority over member nations.
After the atrocities committed by the
Germans in the Holocaust, the slaughter of Jews that occurred during World War
II, the UN adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was
adopted on December 10, 1948, which is now celebrated annually as Human Rights
Day. It proclaims that “all human beings are born free and equal” and
establishes basic rights for all people and norms for the behavior of
governments in many areas. For example, it says that all people have the right
to liberty, religious and political freedom, education, and economic well-being.
It bans torture and states that all people have the right to participate in
their governments. The declaration does not have the force of law, however, and
seems to have had little visible effect on the UN’s member countries.
Governments with poor human rights records, such as China, criticize the UN’s
attempts to promote human rights, saying that such actions interfere with their
internal affairs.
Until 2006 the UN operated a Commission on
Human Rights. In 2006 this commission was replaced with a Human Rights Council.
The work of the previous commission had been largely discredited because
countries known to violate human rights had become members. As members they
often blocked the commission from censuring them for their human rights abuses.
The reformed Human Rights Council was created to address this problem. The UN
General Assembly now elects individual countries to the council by majority
vote. Previously, membership on the council was allocated by region. The council
also reviews the human rights records of member countries, and systematic
violators of human rights can be suspended from the council by a two-thirds vote
of the General Assembly. The council also meets more frequently than the
commission did. The council meets three times a year for a total of ten weeks,
compared with the commission’s single session of six weeks each year. The
council has the ability to meet quickly to address a human rights emergency. The
purpose of the council is to monitor human rights abuses in countries and
address complaints about human rights violations.
The UN also operates the office of High
Commissioner for Human Rights. The General Assembly created this position in
1993. The commissioner oversees all the UN’s human rights programs, works to
prevent human rights violations, and investigates human rights abuses. The
commissioner also has the power to publicize abuses taking place in any country,
but does not have the authority to stop them. However, most publicity about
human rights abuses does not come from the UN but from rival countries or from
nongovernmental organizations, such as Amnesty International.
The UN has also drawn up four
international conventions (treaties) on human rights, which are legally binding
but hard to enforce. The conventions address the problems of genocide, racial
discrimination, civil and political rights, and economic and social rights. The
treaties have been ratified by only about half of the world’s nations. The
United States has only ratified the convention on genocide and has declined to
ratify the others. Other countries have also refused to sign the conventions,
citing concerns about the specific terms of the conventions and the loss of
authority that such treaties imply.
During the Cold War, Western countries
continually criticized nations under Soviet rule for their lack of respect for
human rights, such as freedom of expression and fair elections. But the UN
played a small role in these arguments because of the Soviet Union’s veto power,
and because many other national governments did not guarantee human rights in
their own domestic politics. The most important Cold War pact regarding human
rights, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, a diplomatic agreement between 35 countries
that encouraged human rights, was negotiated outside the UN framework.
One of the UN’s most visible recent
activities regarding human rights has been the creation of special war crimes
tribunals to prosecute those responsible for atrocities committed during the
civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. These tribunals,
established by the Security Council in 1993, 1994, and 2002, respectively,
operate independently of the UN (see War Crimes Trials). The UN also
played an important role in the creation of the International Criminal Court
(ICC) to prosecute war criminals, although the ICC is not a UN organ.
D |
|
Humanitarian
Assistance |
Since the end of the Cold War the UN has
become increasingly involved in providing humanitarian assistance to people in
need. All too frequently, the humanitarian crises to which the UN responds are
caused by international conflict. The UN can also respond to humanitarian crises
caused by natural disasters such as floods or hurricanes. Conflicts and wars may
create refugee crises, as when people flee their homes for fear of persecution
or harm. Agencies such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP) can mobilize international
assistance in a short time frame to respond to a crisis.
Increasingly, UN agencies work with
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide relief and assistance, as well
as with the aid agencies of governments, to coordinate a global response to
humanitarian crises. For example, in 1999 members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) began to bomb the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (see
Serbia and Montenegro) to protest its treatment of ethnic Albanians in the
province of Kosovo. The conflict created a massive flow of refugees out of
Kosovo and into the neighboring province of Montenegro and the countries of
Albania and Macedonia. These governments were not able to absorb the large
number of refugees. International aid agencies, led and coordinated by the UN,
responded to the crisis and were able to house, feed, and care for the thousands
of refugees who had fled the fighting.
E |
|
Development of International
Law |
The UN plays an important role in the
development of international law. Formally, the UN can produce international law
in two ways. Security Council resolutions are binding on all UN members and have
the force of international law. Decisions by the World Court are also binding as
international law. Through these two bodies, the UN has been responsible for the
development of a significant body of international law. However, much of this
law deals with specific issues of peace and security—the Security Council’s main
focus—and becomes obsolete after the crisis in question has been resolved. For
example, Security Council resolutions prohibit Iraq from invading its neighbors
and possessing weapons of mass destruction. Following the U.S.-Iraq War,
however, much of this law became obsolete because it pertained to a regime no
longer in power.
Informally, the UN also has a large role
in the development of international law. The standing committees of the General
Assembly and the standing UN commissions and functional agencies routinely hold
global conferences on topics such as arms control, the environment, and human
rights. These large diplomatic sessions often produce the ideas and early
momentum for international treaties that are not formally part of the UN system
but owe their existence to UN discussion of an issue. Treaties such as the 1968
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the 1997 Kyōto Protocol on greenhouse gases,
and the 1998 Rome Statute approving the International Criminal Court were the
topic of UN deliberations before they became treaties in their own right.
Two UN commissions are specifically
charged with developing and codifying international law. The UN’s International
Law Commission, created in 1947, studies important questions of international
law and prepares drafts of treaties codifying these topics. Over the years,
topics have included the law of the sea, diplomatic relations and immunity,
treaties between nations, shared natural resources, nationality and
statelessness, relations between nations and international organizations, and
many other issues. The UN’s Commission on International Trade Law, created in
1966, drafts texts on laws concerning international commerce and economic
development. These commissions submit their texts and recommendations to the
General Assembly, which may then call an international diplomatic conference to
incorporate the texts into a treaty.
At the end of World War II (1939-1945),
the great powers held vast colonial empires in the developing world. One goal of
the UN charter was decolonization—ending the practice of colonialism. The
Trusteeship Council was established as the UN organ to aid in the decolonization
process. As colonies gained their independence in the mid-20th century, one of
their first steps was to join the UN. This act announced their arrival on the
international stage as a full-fledged member of the international community. The
Trusteeship Council served as a transitional authority to help a country make
the transition from colony to independent nation. In 1994 the last colony gained
its independence and the Trusteeship Council suspended its operations.
VII |
|
INFLUENCE AND
EFFECTIVENESS |
The UN’s influence on international
politics is significant and cannot be ignored. The main goal of the UN’s
founders was to avoid a third world war, and in that respect, the organization
has succeeded. The UN has peacefully resolved numerous international disputes
since its founding and has established a set of rules for the use of force in
the contemporary world. Although these rules are not always followed, the UN has
nevertheless established itself as a significant player on the world stage.
The UN has been involved in every major
war and international crisis since World War II in one fashion or another. It
authorized the international coalitions that fought the Korean War (1950-1953)
and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. A UN resolution created the state of Israel in
1948, and the UN has been both a forum for debate and an active mediator in the
Arab-Israeli conflict. In the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the United States
used the UN as a forum to challenge the Soviet Union in front of the whole
world.
Since the end of the Cold War, the UN has
asserted the right of the Security Council to be the sole body with the power to
declare international uses of military force legitimate. However, this claimed
authority does not always work. In some cases, the UN may fail to muster support
for a force to intervene in a violent conflict. For example, lacking support for
intervention from UN member nations, the UN failed to stop the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. In other cases, great
powers such as the United States take action on their own when they cannot get
the UN to grant the authority they wish. In 2003 the United States sought but
did not receive explicit Security Council approval of military action against
Iraq. The United States nevertheless led an invasion of Iraq, inviting the UN to
play a role in postwar humanitarian assistance and running elections for a new
government (see U.S.-Iraq War).
Certain tensions constrain the UN’s
influence and effectiveness. The first is the tension between the UN’s role as
an autonomous actor and its role as a collection of nations. The UN can call on
member nations for action, but it has a hard time enforcing its own resolutions
because it is also committed to the principle of sovereignty, which asserts each
country’s right to set its own policies. The UN requires member nations to
contribute to its peacekeeping operations and relief missions, but when no
nation wants to contribute, it is an impotent body. On the one hand, the UN has
a mandate to work on its own to promote the values of its charter. On the other
hand, the UN Charter is a treaty among nations. Thus, the UN cannot do anything
without the expressed approval of its members, particularly the great powers.
The UN’s authority comes from the countries that join the organization, sign the
charter, and provide the UN with the resources it needs to accomplish its
mission.
The UN also faces the tension of the gap
between the developed and developing world. The developing world represents the
majority of the UN’s members, both in terms of number of countries and global
population. The developed world, meanwhile, controls the majority of financial
and military resources available to the UN. Developing countries want the chance
to build their societies, but to do this they need help from the richer, already
developed countries, many of which are reluctant to spend their resources on
others. The struggle to set priorities and allocate scarce resources is a
constant tension within the UN.
There is a constant tension between the
International Law of the UN Charter and the diplomacy that the member nations
conduct on a daily basis. The UN Charter only has value to the extent that
members follow its provisions. Nations can ignore elements of the charter and
can also work outside the charter. Peacekeeping, for example, is never mentioned
in the Charter but has become a key UN diplomatic function. Trying to maintain
the integrity of international law while still playing effective diplomacy that
satisfies the needs of the member countries consumes much of the day-to-day
business of the UN.
Finally, a longstanding tension exists
between the UN and the United States, the world’s most powerful nation. The UN
constrains the United States by creating the one coalition that can rival U.S.
power—that of all other nations. In addition, the United States has a streak of
isolationism in its foreign policy that runs counter to the idea of the UN. But
the UN also benefits the United States in many ways. It amplifies U.S. power
because the United States usually leads the UN coalition. It helps keep world
peace, which the United States is not rich or strong enough to do by itself. And
it helps keeps the world stable, providing a good climate for global economic
growth.
VIII |
|
THE FUTURE OF THE UNITED
NATIONS |
Since its creation in 1945, the UN has
done much to promote international cooperation in economic and social goals, and
to a lesser extent, world peace. The end of the Cold War and new possibilities
for cooperation among the world’s major powers has given the UN an opportunity
to realize the original vision of its founders. The UN now has a chance to
become an international organization that can effectively maintain world peace
within the limits of a system where individual nations maintain their own
authority and independence.
Constantly challenged, the UN remains the
only forum where all the nations of the world can gather to discuss pressing
issues of peace and security. The UN’s greatest asset remains its ability to
speak as the world’s voice, offering legitimacy and guidance on the paths
nations follow to solve their problems. Despite the challenges it faces, the UN
will likely play an increasingly central role in international politics in the
coming decades.