preview

The United Nations A Success Or A Failure?

Better Essays

The United Nations…a success or a failure? The United Nations is a widely controversial issue, with many people regarding it as a failure, and many others regarding it as a success. This essay will discuss the United Nations, viewing it as a success, with arguments supporting it. The United Nations promotes world peace and security. On the subject of matters the United Nations promotes, another one is human rights. An example of the United Nations promoting human rights is when they created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The United Nations also provides humanitarian action. The time United Nations lent a helping hand towards the victims of the earthquake/tsunami of the Indian Ocean in 2004 is a good example of …show more content…

The United Nations also works on conflict prevention. “The main strategies for preventing disputes from escalating into conflict, and for preventing the recurrence of conflict, are preventive diplomacy and preventive disarmament.” (Basic Facts About the United Nations 62). Preventive diplomacy means an action that prevents disagreements from arising parties, and to prevent and make sure that existing disagreements don’t eventually transform into conflicts. Preventive disarmament is the action of minimizing the use of firearms and weapons. The United Nations uses preventive diplomacy and preventive disarmament as a tactic to prevent conflict and maintain peace. The UN has used this tactic in Liberia, and the result was largely positive. “Established in September 2003, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was charged with assisting in the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation of all armed parties. The process was launched in December. Within 12 months, nearly 100,000 Liberians had turned in guns, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.” (“Global Issues: Disarmament”). "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities." -Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952-1960)

Get Access