Transcript Lecture 5 United Nations - Midlands State University

Lecture 5 United Nations
• The name United Nations was coined by US
president Franklin D Roosevelt and was first
used in January 1942 when representatives
of 26 nations pledged their government to
continue fighting together.
• It is the successor organization to the
League of Nations an organisation
conceived in similar circumstances with the
end of WW1 in 1919 under the treaty of
Versailles “to promote international cooperation and achieve peace and security)
Lecture 5.1
• In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met
in San Francisco at the UN conference on
International Organisation to draw up the UN
Charter. The delegates deliberated on the
basis of proposals worked out by the
representatives of China, Soviet Union,
United Kingdom and the US in 1944.
• The UN officially came into being on the 24th
of October 1945 when the charter had been
ratified by China, France, Soviet Union, UK,
US, and majority of the signatories.
Lecture 5.2
• By definition the UN is a voluntary
association of sovereign states which have
committed themselves through signing the
charter to ensure international peace and
security and further international cooperation
in solving economic social cultural and
human problems and in promoting respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Lecture 4.3
• Objectives of the UN
• These are clearly spelt out in the Charter.
Primarily the objectives as stated in the
charter relates:
• a)
To maintain international peace and
security through peaceful settlement of
disputes and collective security.
• b) To promote international economic and
social co-operation
• c) To promote the respect for human rights
Lecture 4.4
• Structurally the UN has six main
organs provide for in the UN charter:
Lecture 4.5
• The UN General Assembly
• The UNGA is the main deliberative organ of
the UN. It consists of all the members of the
UN. Chapter IV provides for the general
powers of the UNGA.
• In addition to the general powers provided
for in the charter the GA has specific powers,
it receives and considers reports from all
other principal organs of the UN.
Lecture 4.6
• It approves budget of the organisation and fixes
the amount of the budgetary contributions,
which each member state must pay.
• A member state which is in area inn payment of
its financial contribution to the org has no vote
in the GA if the amount in arrears equals or
exceeds the amount of the contributions due
from it for the preceding two full years. Bt the
GA MAY WAIVER THIS RILE IF IT CONSIDERS
that the failure to pay is caused by
circumstances beyond that state’s control.
Lecture 4.7
• The UN budget is in chronic problems which
has been exacerbated by the broader scope
of activities after the cold war especially the
increased peacekeeping activities around
the world.The GA ‘s regular sessions usually
begins each year in September.At the start
of each session the Assembly elects a new
president, 21 vice presidents and the
chairperson of the assembly’s 6 main
committees.
The
election
ensures
geographical representation.
Lecture 4.8
• The GA may meet in special session at the
request of the Security Council. Emergency
special sessions may be called within 24
hours of the request by the Security Council
on the vote of any 9 council members or by
a majority of United Nations members of by
any one member if the majority of members
concur. At the beginning of each session the
assembly holds a general debate often
addressed by heads of sates and
government in which member state express
their views on most pressing issues.
Lecture 4.9
• Security Council
• The Security Council consists of 15
MEMBERSTATES.
Five
are
permanent-china France UK, US and
Russia, which came in with the demise
of USSR.
Lecture 4.10
• The other 10 members of the Security
Council are non-permanent, elected for
two years by the GA. The number of
non
permanent
members
were
increased from 6 to 10 on 1 January
1966 as a result of the amendment of
the charter to give more states an
opportunity of sitting on the security
council.
Lecture 4.11
• The Security Council’s principal functions:
• Making recommendations for peaceful
settlement of disputes
• Taking enforcement action to deal with
threat to peace, breaches of peace and acts
of aggression.
• Also carrying out UN Peacekeeping
Operation
Lecture 4.12
• The UNSC has the power to take binding
decisions that member states are under
obligation to obey.The post of the President
of UNSC is held on rotational basis for a
period of one Month.The veto has often
been criticized for crippling limitation on the
us POWERS of Security Council. It has
infact undermined the role of security council
in armed conflicts in which the permanent
members was directly involved- Suez 1956,
Hungary 1956, Vietnam 1946-75.
Lecture 4.13
• The existences of veto recognizes the
realities of power politics, it is the price which
must be paid for unusually powers conferred
on Security Council.
• All the permanent members are the nuclear
powers and abolition of veto would add little
to the power of the UN, because it would be
virtually impossible for UN to take
enforcement action against a nuclear power.
Lecture 4.14
• Recently composition of the UNSC as well as
voting procedures has come under attack
because the system does not reflect the
changes in the international system since 1945.
The question of equitable representation and
increase in membership of the Security Council
had already been raised by NAM and developing
countries in 1979.The exist a claim that the SC
has now come under effective control of western
states, particularly with regards to action
undertaken under the leadership of US.
Lecture 4.14
• ECOSOC
• It consists of 54 countries from the UN , 18
are elected each year by UNGA to serve 3
years. It may arrange for consultation with
non-governmental organisation that deal
with matters within its competencies.
• : Such arrangement has been made with
hundreds of NGOs giving them the right to
send observers to the council meetings.
Lecture 4.16
• One of the main functions of ECOSOC
is to coordinate the activities of the
Specialized agencies which are
defined as organisations established
by intergovernmental agreement and
having
wide
international
responsibilities in economic social and
cultural, health and related fields.
Lecture 4.17
• Most specialized agencies have no
power to take decision binding on their
members, but their constituent treaties
often provide for interesting means of
putting pressure on member states to
act in a particular way.
Lecture 4.18
• Trusteeship Council
• Was established by charter in 1945 to
provide international supervision for all 11
Trust
territories
placed
under
the
administration of 7 member states and to
ensure that adequate steps were taken to
prepare the territory for self government or
independence.
Lecture 4.19
• By 1994 all Trust territories had
attained
self-government
or
independence either as separate
states or by joining neighboring
independent countries. The last to do
so was the Pacific Island, which
became the 185th Member state.
Lecture 4.20
• ICJ
• Located in The Hague, the Netherlands is
the principal judicial organ of the UN. It
settles disputes between states and gives
advisory opinion to the UN and is
Specialized agencies.The court is open to all
states that are part to the statute. Only
states may be parties in a contentious case
before the court and submit disputes to it.
The court is not open to private persons, and
entities and international org.
Lecture 4.21
• Other organisations like the UN and its
specialized agencies can when authorized
by the UNGA ask for an advisory opinion.
• The court consists of 15 judges elected by
the UNGA and UNSC voting separately and
independently. They are chosen on the basis
of their qualification and two judges can
come from one country. Often care is taken
to ensure that the principal legal systems of
the world are represented.
Lecture 4.22
• The Secretariat
• The UN employs about 14 000 people,
who are located at the UN
headquarters in New York and other
agencies in Geneva. In addition 17 000
people assigned to secretariats of
various UN subsidiary organisations.
Lecture 4.23
• It is headed by the Secretary General who is
appointed by the Security Council. This
means that the SG must secure support of
both the UNGA and UNSC in order to be
chosen. Since the matter is non procedural
the veto power applies in the Security
Council.The SG is the chief administrative
officer of the organisation and performs such
other functions as entrusted to him by the
GA, the Security Council, The ECOSOC and
trusteeship Council.
Lecture 4.24
• In addition may bring to attention any
matter, which in his opinion may
threaten
the
maintenance
of
international peace and security.
• Though being extended to take political
initiatives none of the great powers
have ever been interested in having
too independent secretary general.
Lecture 4.25
• The influence of the office of the SG
depends on person occupying it,
intellectual leadership the person can
exercise, the willingness to take hard
decisions without bending to much to
great powers, while at the same time
not falling out with realities of power
politics.
Lecture 4.26
• Boutros Ghali appointed in 1992
brought a number of issue to fore.
November 1996 US made it known that
it would veto the reappointment of
Ghali (who was inter alia being blamed
though wrongly for the death of
American soldiers in the UN sponsored
intervention in Somalia.
Lecture 4.27
• The secretariat has been under increasing
pressure especially from US which has
labeled it as disorganised and inefficient and
this has led to a cut in 14% of its staff.
However further reforms are required aiming
at a rationalisation of the bizarre structure of
the secretariat and at a more equitable and
transparent method of recruiting senior
officers.
Lecture 4.28
• UN
IN
ECONOMIC
AND
SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
•
• Many of the economic and social
transformation that have taken place globally
in the last five decades have significantly
affected in their direction and shape by the
work of the UN.
•
Lecture 4 29
• International debate on economic and social
issues
has
increasingly
reflected
the
commonality of interests between the rich and
the poor countries in solving the many problems
that transcend national boundaries. Issues such
as refugee, populations, organised crime drug
trafficking and AIDS are seen as global problems
requiring co-ordinated action. The impact of
persistent poverty and unemployment in one
region can quickly be felt in others, not least
through migration, social disruption and
conflict.
•
Lecture 4.30
• Economic development
• One of the founding principle of the UN is its
commitment to economic development for all
peoples as the surest way too achieve
political, economic and social security. It is a
cntral concern of the organization that nearly
half of the world’s population most of them in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the
Caribbean still has to make on less than $2
per day.
•
Lecture 4.31
• The UN programmes support/promote
poverty
reduction,
children
survival,
environmental protection, women’s progress
and human rights.
•
• The ODA, UNDP, WORLD BANK and IMF
offer loans and design policies too influence
economic development of developing
countries.
•
Lecture 32
• Through
IFC
GOVERNMENTS
ARE
ASSISTED in creating conditions that
stimulate both domestic and foreign private
savings and investment. Since its foundation
in 1956 it has committed more than 26,7
billion of its own funds and has arranged
17.9 billion in syndications and underwriting
for 2 2664 companies in 132 developing
countries.
•
Lecture 33
• Multilateral
investment
Guarantee
Agency MIGA FACILITATES THE
FLOW OF PRIVATE INVESTMET for
productive purposes to developing
member countries by offering investors
long term political risk insurancecovering risks against expropriations,
currency
transfer,
war
and
disobedience.
Lecture 34
• UNCTAD assists developing countries to
promote inward investment and improve
their investment climate. In matters of trade
its central role includes research and policy
analysis, intergovernmental deliberations
technical co-operation and interaction of civil
society and business sector. It has also
taken a lead in debate pertaining to debt
relief that saw 50 countries benefiting.
Lecture 35
• In the field of agric dev FAO has sought to
improve:
• -food production and security, conserving
and managing natural resources
• -land and water developmet
• -plant and animal production etc
• E.G in southern Africa 9 countries have
benefited were the programme helps rural
population to improve their living standards
and nutrition by fish farming.
Lecture 36
• International fund for Agric (IFAD) finances
agricultural development projects that
alleviate poverty and improve nutrition in the
developing world. Since its establishment in
1977 IFAD has financed 548 loans for
projects in 114 countries to which it has
committed over 6.8 billion in loans and
grants and these have benefited 250 million
people.
• Other org exist UNIDO,ILO, ICAO,ITU, UPU,
WIPO.
Lecture 38
• Social Development
• People centered approaches have been
adopted that places individuals, families and
countries at the center of development
strategies.
• Central problems pertain to: unemployment,
social fragmentation, persistent poverty,
forced migration, drug abuse, organised
crime, spread of diseases.
Lecture 39
• 1997-2006 has been declared decade poverty
Eradication.
• The central player in this field is UNDP, which
works
to
strengthen
the
capacity
of
governments and civil society organisation.
Addresses issue of: increase in food security,
improve the availabilty of shelter and basic
services, generate employment opportunities,
increase people’s access to land credit,
technology, training and markets and enable
people to participate in political process that
shape their lives.
Lecture 40
• International Development Association IDA is
the largest source of donor funds for basic
social services in poorest countries. The
funds have ensured that African pupils have
benefited:
• -received over 5 million text books
• -over 6 700 health care centers have been
built and staffed in Asia.
• - 9,5 million poor people in Latin America
have benefited in social investment.
Lecture 40
• In the field of heath WHO has played a
critical role:
• suppoting health services
• fighting infectios d iseases,
• delivering essential services,
• making cities healthier
• delivering essential drugs
• providiing heath assistance in
emegences.
Lecture 41
• UNICEF focuses on children health and
maternal health.
• UN population fund focuses on reproductive
heath and family planning
• The UN human settlement programme (UN
Habitant) is a lead agency in promoting
housing for all, improving urban governance,
reducing urban poverty, improving the living
environment, managing disaster and post
conflict rehabilitation.
Lecture 43
• Unesco has taken lead in ensuring that all
the children are enrolled in schools that are
child friendly and that have trained teachers
providing quality education.
•
• In the field of education and training the UN
University contribute through research and
capacity building to efforts to resove the
pressing global problems.
Lecture 44
•
•
•
•
•
Other org exist:
-UNFEM – UN development fund for women
-UN drug control programme
-UNEP –UN evironmment programme
-nuclear safety, natural resources and
energy
• maarine environment
• -climate and water, bio-diversity pollution
and overfishing
• -desetification, -ozone depletion
Lecture 5.44
• The UN and international peace and
security
• One of the primary tasks of the UN is
maintenance/preservation of international
peace and security
• Since its creation the UN has often been
called upon to prevent disputes from
escalating into war, to persuade opposing
parties to use the conference table rather
than force of arms or help to restore peace
when conflict does breakout.
Lecture 5.45
• During the 1990s, there have been major
changes in the patterns of conflict and in the
international community’s response to them.
Reason being that 90% of recent conflicts
have taken place within, rather than between
states.
• Civil conflicts have been raised conflicts of
the international community including the
dilemma of intervene to protect endangered
civilians.
Lecture 5.46
• To deal with civil conflicts, the Security
Council has authorised complex and
innovative peacekeeping operations. In El
Salvador and Guatemala, in Cambodia, and
in Mozambique, the UN played a major role
in ending conflict and fostering reconciliation.
• In Somalia, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia
often characterized by ethnic, violence
brought new challenges to the UN
peacekeeping challenge.
Lecture 5.47
• Continuing crises in the democratic
republic of the Congo, the central
African republic, East Timorese,
kosovo, sierra Leone, led the Council
to establish new missions in 1998-1992
with the 6th one being established for
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Lecture 5.48
• The experience in recent years led the
UN to focus as before or peace
building- actions to support structures
that will strengthen and consolidate
peace. Such security can only be
achieved by helping countries foster
economic development, social justice,
human rights protection, and good
governance and democratic.
Lecture 5.48
• Strategies
• The main strategies for preventing disputes
from escalating into conflicts are:
• a) preventative diplomacy
• b) preventative deployment
• c) preventative disarmament
• d) peace making
• e) peace building
Lecture 5.49
• The UN peace building consists of five main
activities:
military and security: disarmament,
demobilisation, reintergration of combatants
and destruction of arms. Humantarian
activities; repatriation of refugees, care for
children affected by conflict.
• -Political action: involves institution, building
and
fostering
good
governance,
constitutional reforms and elections.
Lecture 5.50
• Human rights- encompassing human rights
monitoring, reform of the judiciary and police
and investigation of abuses.
• Economic and social measuresreconstruction of infrastructure destroyed in
conflict, the alleviation of economic and
social injustice and the creation of conditions
for good governance
Lecture 5.51
• In Africa UN has played a critical role in
ending
apartheid
in
South
Africa,
achievement of independence of Namibia, in
Rwanda it set up UN assistance mission for
Rwanda (UNAMIR) to help parties
implement agreement to ethnic violence, it
also woke in Burundi and DRC were
MONUC was set up to assist in
implementing an agreement and monitor
security conditions.
Lecture 5.52
• In West Africa, it became involved since
Sierra Leone in 1995 where the UNSC
imposed arms and oil embargo and
authorised
ECOWAS to ensure its
implementation. The UNSC also established
the UN observer Mission in Sierra Leone
UNOMSIC, which monitored the security
situation, and efforts too disarm combatants
and structure the security forces.
Lecture 5.53
• A number of activities were also carried
out in Burundi, Congo, Central African
Republic, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia and
Eritrea.
Lecture 5.56
• The Americas
• The UN became involved in central
American states of GUTEMALA, COSTA
RICA, HONDURAS, EL SALVADOR AND
NICARAGUA WHEN THEY REQUESTED
ITS ASSISTANCE IN THEIR Collective
agreement to end the conflicts that were
disrupting the region, promote democratic
elections and pursue democratisation and
dialogue.
Lecture 5.57
• The Security Council established UN
observer group to central America
ONUCA which was deployed to all 5
countries to verify thee process.
Lecture 5.58
• In Asia the UN has been concerned with the
Middle East. It has assisted Palestinian
refugees since 1949.
• The Indian-Pakistan issue has also became
under spot light of the UN. The security
council recommended measures to stop
fighting including the use of observers and to
create conditions for plebicite. since 1949
the UN military observer Group to India and
Pakistan has been observing the cease fire
in Kashmir.
Lecture 5.59
• It has also worked in IRAQ, TAGIKISTAN.
• Europe
• The UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus
(UNFCYP) has been supervising a ceasefire and maintaining a buffer zone between
Greek Cypriot National Guard and Turkish
forces since 1974.
• In former Yugoslavia the Security Council
has established the UN protection Force
(UNPROFOR)
•
Lecture 5.60
• The UN has been involved in a number
of efforts to ensure peace and security
the world over, especially through
Disarmament conferences.
61 SUCCESS
• A large share of UN expenditures
addresses the core UN mission of peace
and security. The peacekeeping budget for
the 2005-2006 fiscal year is approximately
$5 billion (compared to approximately $1.5
billion for the UN core budget over the
same period), with some 70,000 troops
deployed in 17 missions around the world.
62
• largely unrecognized, decline in the
number of wars, genocides and human
rights abuses since the end of the Cold
War. Statistics include:
• A 40% drop in violent conflict.
• An 80% drop in the most deadly conflicts.
• An 80% drop in genocide and politicide.
63
• A six-fold increase in the number of UN missions mounted to
prevent wars, from 1990 to 2002.
• A four-fold increase in efforts to stop existing conflicts, from 1990
to 2002.
• A seven-fold increase in the number of ‘Friends of the SecretaryGeneral’, ‘Contact Groups’ and other government-initiated
mechanisms to support peacemaking and peace building
missions, from 1990 to 2003.
• An eleven-fold increase in the number of economic sanctions
against regimes around the world, from 1989 to 2001.
• A four-fold increase in the number of UN peacekeeping
operations, from 1987 to 1999.
64
• In the area of Peacekeeping, successes include:
• The US Government Accountability Office
concluded that UN Peacekeeping is eight times
less expensive than funding a U.S. force.
• A 2005 RAND Corp study found the U.N. to be
successful in two out of three peacekeeping
efforts. It also compared U.N. nation-building
efforts to those of the U.S., and found that of
eight U.N. cases, seven are at peace, whereas of
eight U.S. cases, four are at peace, and four are
not or not-yet-at peace.
65 FAILURES
• However, in many cases UN members have shown reluctance to
achieve or enforce Security Council resolutions. Iraq is said to
have broken 17 Security Council resolutions dating back to June
28, 1991 as well as trying to bypass the UN economic sanctions.
For nearly a decade, Israel defied resolutions calling for the
dismantling of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Such
failures stem from UN's intergovernmental nature — in many
respects it is an association of 192 member states who must reach
consensus, not an independent organization. Even when actions
are mandated by the 15-member Security Council, the
Secretariat is rarely given the full resources needed to carry out
the mandates.
66
• Failure to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which resulted in
the killings of nearly a million people, due to the refusal of
security council members to approve any military action.[24]
• Failure by MONUC (UNSC Resolution 1291) to effectively
intervene during the Second Congo War, which claimed nearly
five million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
1998-2002 (with fighting reportedly continuing), and in carrying
out and distributing humanitarian aid.
• Failure to intervene in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, despite the
fact that the UN designated Srebrenica a "safe haven" for
refugees and assigned 600 Dutch peacekeepers to protect it.
• Failure to successfully deliver food to starving people in Somalia;
the food was instead usually seized by local warlords. A U.S./UN
attempt to apprehend the warlords seizing these shipments
resulted in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.
67
• Failure to implement the provisions of UN Security Council
Resolutions 1559 and 1701 calling for disarmament of Lebanese
paramilitary groups such as Fatah and Hezbollah.
• Sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. Peacekeepers from several
nations have been repatriated from UN peacekeeping operations
for sexually abusing and exploiting girls as young as 8 in a
number of different peacekeeping missions. This abuse is ongoing
despite many revelations and probes by the UN Office of Internal
Oversight Services.[25][26] A 2005 internal UN investigation found
that sexual exploitation and abuse has been reported in at least
five countries where UN peacekeepers have been deployed,
including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Burundi,
Côte d'Ivoire, and Liberia. [25] The BBC carried a similar
report, and also cited a member of the World Food Programme
as an offender.[27]
68 CRITICISM
• The United Nations has been criticized as unable
to act in a clear and decisive way when
confronted with a crisis. Recent examples include
the Iranian nuclear program and the genocide in
Darfur, Sudan. 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.
69
• 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 IsraelLebanon Crisis, where no action has been taken
to enforce the provisions of Resolution 1559 and
Resolution 1701 to disarm non-governmental
militias such as Hezbollah. Critics question the
effectiveness and relevance of the Security
Council because there usually are no
consequences for violating a Security Council
resolution
70
• Inclusion on the old United Nations Commission
on Human Rights (UNCHR) of nations such as
Sudan and Libya, whose leaderships have
demonstrably abysmal records on human
rights,[28][29] and Libya's chairmanship of this
Commission, has been an issue. These countries
argued that Western countries, whom they
accused of colonialist aggression and brutality,
had no right to argue about membership of the
Commission.
71
• The U.N. has been accused of inefficiency and waste
due to its cumbersome and excessive bureaucracy.
During the 1990s the United States, currently the
largest contributor to the U.N., gave this inefficiency
as a reason for withholding their dues. The repayment
of the dues was made conditional on a major reforms
initiative. In 1994 the Office of Internal Oversight
Services (OIOS) was established by a ruling of the
General Assembly to serve as an efficiency watchdog.
A reform program has been proposed, but has not yet
approved by the General Assembly.[
72
• The United Nations has been accused of
ignoring 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[30], the
Chinese government's ethnic cleansing in
Tibet, and Israel in Palestinian territories.
73
• The Oil-for-Food Programme was established by
the UN in 1996. Its purpose was to allow Iraq to
sell oil on the world market in exchange for food,
medicine, and other humanitarian needs of
ordinary Iraqi citizens who were affected by
international economic sanctions, without
allowing the Iraqi government to rebuild its
military in the wake of the first Gulf War. It was
discontinued in late 2003 amidst allegations of
widespread abuse and corruption.
74
• The former director, Benon Sevan of Cyprus, first was
suspended, then resigned from the UN, as an interim progress
report of a UN-sponsored investigation led by Paul Volcker
concluded that Sevan had accepted bribes from the Iraqi regime,
and recommended that his UN immunity be lifted to allow for a
criminal investigation.[36]
• Under UN auspices, over $65 billion worth of Iraqi oil was sold
on the world market. Officially, about $46 billion was used for
humanitarian needs. Additional revenue paid for Gulf War
reparations through a Compensation Fund, UN administrative
and operational costs for the Programme (2.2%), and the
weapons inspection programme (0.8%).
75
• Also implicated in the scandal was Kofi
Annan's son Kojo Annan, alleged to have
illegally procured UN Oil-for-Food
contracts on behalf of the Swiss company
Cotecna. India's foreign minister, Natwar
Singh, was removed from office because of
his role in the scandal.
76
• In December 2004, during the UN peacekeeping mission in
Congo, at least 68 cases of alleged rape, prostitution and
pedophilia and more than 150 other allegations have been
uncovered by UN investigators, all perpetrated by UN
peacekeepers, specifically ones from Pakistan, Uruguay,
Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Nepal. Peacekeepers from 3
of those nations are also accused of obstructing the investigation
[31]. Also, A French UN logistics expert in Congo was also
charged of rape and child pornography in the same month
[32].The BBC reported that young girls were abducted and raped
by UN peacekeepers in Port-au-Prince.[33]. Similar accusations
have been made in Liberia.[34]
77
• An education activity called Model United Nations has
grown popular in schools worldwide. Model UN has
students simulate (usually) a body in the UN System to
help them develop skills in debate and diplomacy.
Conferences are held by both colleges and high
schools. Committees typically included are General
Assembly committees, ECOFIN committees, the
Security Council, and a large range of specialized
committees like a Historical Security Council or the
Senior Management Group. Students debate topics
that the UN addresses and try to represent their
country's views in order to reach a solution.
5.61
• CRITIQUE OF THE UN
• Despite the fact that all members of the UN body
belong to an international society with the
capacity to take collective decicions and subscibe
to a single set of principle problems continue to
exist.
• The world remains anarchical in the sense that
even though there is some kind of and a wide
range of international instituitions there is no
central authority to create a kind of government.
5.62
• According to Kingsbury and Roberts the
world is likely to remain devided into
separate sovereign states which have the
capacity to make war and many wch are
concious of their internal fragility and
external vulnerability.
5.63
• Characteristic of the state system continue
featuring:
• Intergration and disintergration
• Co-operation and competition
• Liberation and domination
• Understanding and incomprehension
5.64
• Because of the veto the security council could
contribute little to the amerioration of armed
conflicts in which permanent members are
involved.
• One need to take cogniscence of the fact that it is
difficult to evaluate the UN. Dfferent states and
groups see the needs differently and have formed
their expectations and evaluate the UN by
different stardards.
5.65
•
• its idealistic
• all talk no action
• an arena were governments proclain one
set of values and practice the opposite
• it is the vehicle for the pursuit of power
politics in disguise not for their replacement
•
5.66
• it aught to be borne in mind that
intergovernmental organistaion be it regional or
global cannot be evaluated in quite thhe same
way as governments.
• UN achievements cannot be neatly entered into a
profit and loss account columns, the attempt to do
so involves crude reductionism and misguided
search for for single attributions, causes and
characteristics.
5.67
• Official records often give limited information
about personal considerations informal
discussion which frequently precede formal
meetings and undelaying reasons why particular
actor took a particular time. Strategic and tactical
considerations, trade oofs, compromises and
misunderstanding, chance occurances and
personal agendas are seldom officially
documented. It can be especially difficult to
acertain from the documents why little or no
action was taken on a particular issue.
5.68
• It is not easy to evaluate the UN seperately from
member states. The UN is a political institution
whose members are pursuing their national
interests as they see them. It was created by
governments and it can do little without the
assertion of at least majority of them. The term
UN is a misnomer because it gives the
impression that there is unity both within and
between states, though it might be the aim the
truth is division has been the major feature of the
world since 1945 as the world before.
5.69
• The term “nation” is also misleading.
Nation denotes people holding in common
such atributes as ethenicity, history,
culture,religion, language and having
common perception of who their enermies
are, then there are few nations indeed
among the member states of the UN –
some are involved in nation building deep
division exist .
5.70
• In the final analysis the UN should be
judged, not just by what it does in
particular crisis but also by the way in
which through its existence, through the
influence of its charter, through the
questions it addresses and through its
diplomatic rituals, it proclaims certain
values and sets terms for international
debate.