The Reform Of The United Nations Essay

By mid-June 1945 there was yet another meeting where 51 nations came together and signed the Charter of United Nations this document laid out the obligations and rights of each country to keep peace in the world (Basic Facts About the United Nations). Each of those nations is responsible for trying to ensure that the generations to come will not have to bear witness to the horror, pain, and destruction from war like the ones their generation had to witness not once but twice. The United Nations is set up to smooth over any conflicts they encounter with peace unless they must defend themselves. These nations are to work together to maintain peace and security and to maintain friendly relations when solving international economic, humanitarian, social, and cultural issues. The home base for this operation is in New York City since 1942, and each year the 193 Member States meet. They call this the General Assembly where the head generals of the United Nations come together to go over budget, debate problems, and elect a new president of the UN that serves a sentence of one year. It has grown in these seventy plus years and now has multiple divisions that get sent out each for a different and particular problem. There is a Security Council which is the main group,

The United Nations was to be a place where there was peace between the countries, a place where they can dispute their differences, a place to support each other and benefit from the allies a country made by being in the United Nations. It was “designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members” (Document B). Not long after it was founded, it started falling apart. People had different idea of how it should have been ran but the people who got their way was the bigger and stronger countries. They came to an agreement that the bigger countries—the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China—would have veto power and the other countries that were a part of it would take smaller roles in the decisions

The goal of the United Nations, when formed was to “maintain international peace and security and commit to economic and social development. (Fomerand, Jacques)” As one

Since the end of the Cold War and the many failed attempts at peacekeeping, the United Nations has focused more on humanitarian efforts and defending human rights. After the Soviet Union fell, the mission of keeping peace between the

The process of reforming the United Nations (UN) has been a highly debatable issue among the international community. Since the initial signing of the UN Charter in 1945, the world has changed dramatically as the UN is trying to regulate a forum that assesses and deals with global issues while also struggling to unite all 193 member states of the UN when some states have been seen to have conflicting ideas and personal agendas (Teng, 2003, pp. 2-3). This essay is targeted to highlight what I feel are the most pressing arguments for UN reform amongst the international community. This will be done by highlighting the problems and ongoing issues surrounding the lack of representation and P5 power of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),

In this essay, I shall be discussing whether the UN Security Council (hereafter referred to as the Security Council) is fit for purpose in the 21st Century. The approach I will be taking is more of a generic outlook; examining which fragments of the Security Council requires reformation.

Even though, the original thought for the United Nations was to be a guarantee for the World’s peace, their role in today’s world seems to have changed. It is hard to believe that their founders had today’s United Nations on mind when discussed their creation sixty years ago.

The world has advanced over the centuries. To ensure progression and growth, society must embrace organizations which support improving the quality of human life. The United Nations is one such organization that has ensured the well-being of the human race by collaborating internationally on how to tactically approach conflicts. From combating terrorism to eradicating smallpox, the United Nations has resolved numerous foreign issues and international crises. The creation of the United Nations continues to be critical because the organization is a fundamental necessity for global peace, good relations, and development.

The United Nations has been effective to a certain extent in providing resolutions to threats of world order. Its structure and functioning was designed to curtail the negative effects of globalisation, such as the spread of transnational threats, and to grant peace and security. The Charter of the United Nations with a purpose to strive for peace and security and act in a manner that reduces threats established the UN in 1945. Specifically through the establishment of the UN refugee agency it has been effective in responding to the threat of increasing refugees in Syria by providing humanitarian assistance. Additionally, it is the strongest, wide reaching and well respected global peace initiative as it retains support and commitment from

In 2008, the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, affirmed “there is indeed a spirit of reform in the air, to make the conventions fit for purpose and adapt them to the reality on the ground that is considerably different to the time they were drafted. With the multilateral machinery to adapt the conventions already available, all we need is: first, a renewed commitment to the principles of multilateralism and shared responsibility; second, a commitment to base our reform on empirical evidence and not ideology; and thirdly, to put in place concrete actions that support the above, going beyond mere rhetoric and pronouncement”. (UNODC, 2008)

The UNSC, the main body in the UN that can pass lawfully tying resolutions to force on whatever is left of the world, is not really illustrative, authentic, or powerful. The principle explanations behind these all stem from two outline blemishes in the

The United Nations is a global organization that works to help governments solve problems by finding agreements. It was founded in 1945 on the idea of promoting peace and human rights. There are 193 member states of the United Nations today that all help to work towards the common goal of eliminating issues of humanity. The UN makes decisions through the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and more. The General Assembly is the only UN body that represents all member states. Each year a general debate is held where questions on security, peace, admission of new members, etc. are discussed to come to a solution or agreement. More complex situations such as questions on, peace and security, admission of new members and budget specificities must be a two-thirds majority vote to pass, but simpler questions pass by simple majority. The UN gives each member state a vote because of the universal representation that the General Assembly provides. Therefore, the topics voted on are a shared agreement as each of the member states understands that

“ Here is a task truly of, by and for the world, one that should rally nations. The nature of this task however, must be clearly understood; only then can suitable means for accomplishing it be formulated, only then can the role that the United Nations could and should play be appreciated” ( Wilcox/Haviland, 29). There are many international organizations that have been talked about throughout this semester. One of the most important ones is The United Nations. The United Nations was established October 24, 1945, and has since then been impacting the country. The United Nations main purpose according to the lecture notes is “ to provide a global additional structure through which states can sometimes settle conflicts with less reliance on the use of force , for whole purpose of the United Nations is to provide the globe a forum by which countries may settle disputes through this forum peacefully as opposed to relying on a force which has been the case historically” ( Kopalyan, Module 8). Thus meaning The United Nations was set up to handle problems peacefully rather than going to war to try and solve problems. “Powerful economic as well as political forces are at work to bring about a growing integration of the world community, and the United Nations and its related agencies are uniquely fitted to assist in the task” (Wilcox/Haviland,45). This was some of the reason that the United Nations was created.

Japan firmly believes we need to take action to reform the Security Council before it loses its legitimacy and efficiency as an essential tool for the maintenance of peace and security. Japan is ready to discuss, with a flexible and realistic viewpoint, different options, which will lead the way for the expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories. Japan is working proactively to increase both the permanent and non-permanent membership of the council. Japan is the second largest contributor to the UN, behind the United States and is the world's largest donor of official development assistance. Japan's commitment to the United Nations, supported by its national strength should allow the nation to assume greater global responsibility through the efforts of the Security Council.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the six chapters assigned for this week. First, in Weiss et al.’s first chapter entitled The Theory of UN Collective Security, the authors elaborate on the foundation and purpose of the United Nations serves on a global scale by means of collectivity. Second, chapter four entitled Evolving Security Operations: Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, and Syria, provides specific examples of relations between the United Nations and individual nation-states, the progress the UN has made in developing countries, and how the resistance the UN faces affect the organization as well as the population they serve. Third, chapter ten of Weiss et al.’s book, Sustainable Development as Process: UN Organizations and Norms focuses on the humanitarian efforts of the UN, especially in the focus of establishing self-sufficiency in developing countries. Then the three chapters in Pease’s book, Security, The Environment, and Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues, focus on three key issues facing the international organizations today.