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Question
Though the UN has failed in preventing wars and related miseries, nations prefer its continuation. What makes the UN an indispensable organisation?
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Solution
The UN was formed to maintain international peace and security and to ensure cooperation among the nation states. Today, the role of the UN has been severely questioned, thereby challenging its credibility.
a. An important criticism that has raised questions on the role of the UN is that the US has been influencing its decisions. The US is the military and economic superpower and the biggest donor in terms of finance. So, the critics believe that the UN has become a puppet in the hands of the US administration.
b. The veto power gives the US and other members an additional advantage of taking crucial decisions related to war and peace.
c. Smaller nations have little or no say in the UN’s policy decisions.
d. Even though member states of the UN have cooperated on agendas like environment protection, human rights and child rights, they have always preferred to take independent stand when it comes to conflict and security matters.
e. The US-led Iraq invasion in 2003 eroded the credibility of the UN. The United States went ahead with its operation ‘Iraqi freedom’ despite the differences displayed by France and Russia in the Security Council.
f. Further, it is believed that the UN has failed to resolve the Kashmir problem and the Arab-Israel conflict. It also failed to counter the human rights violation in Syria, even though it dispatched unarmed military observers in the country and collectively condemned human rights violation in Damascus. However, there were some differences in the Syrian issue as Russia and China maintained different stands. Thus, the UN has become more of an arena of disagreement rather than consensus.
g. Likewise, the UN’s role regarding the present clashes in Iraq is also being questioned as it has not been able to take effective actions on the ongoing sectarian clash between the Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Despite of the above criticisms, the underlined importance of the United Nations cannot be ignored:
a. The UN can be credited for being an international organisation responsible for bringing all the member states under one roof for discussing the matters of global interest.
b. It is still an arena which, by and large, can modify and influence a country’s action and behaviour and influence it to adopt a particular path.
c. In this era of globalisation, the UN, as an international body, has been able to hold the citizens of the world together.
d. The UN has been effectively dealing with problems like poverty, environmental degradation, unemployment and human rights violation which are confronting the world today. It has passed many treaties and resolutions concerning such problems, and has compelled the member states to work towards achieving global solutions to such problems.
e. Time to time, the UN and its agencies have kept themselves involved in offering humanitarian and financial assistance and rehabilitation in war-prone zones like Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Burundi.
f. The UN is still an effective forum for consultations and discussions on global problems in order to find proper solutions.
a. An important criticism that has raised questions on the role of the UN is that the US has been influencing its decisions. The US is the military and economic superpower and the biggest donor in terms of finance. So, the critics believe that the UN has become a puppet in the hands of the US administration.
b. The veto power gives the US and other members an additional advantage of taking crucial decisions related to war and peace.
c. Smaller nations have little or no say in the UN’s policy decisions.
d. Even though member states of the UN have cooperated on agendas like environment protection, human rights and child rights, they have always preferred to take independent stand when it comes to conflict and security matters.
e. The US-led Iraq invasion in 2003 eroded the credibility of the UN. The United States went ahead with its operation ‘Iraqi freedom’ despite the differences displayed by France and Russia in the Security Council.
f. Further, it is believed that the UN has failed to resolve the Kashmir problem and the Arab-Israel conflict. It also failed to counter the human rights violation in Syria, even though it dispatched unarmed military observers in the country and collectively condemned human rights violation in Damascus. However, there were some differences in the Syrian issue as Russia and China maintained different stands. Thus, the UN has become more of an arena of disagreement rather than consensus.
g. Likewise, the UN’s role regarding the present clashes in Iraq is also being questioned as it has not been able to take effective actions on the ongoing sectarian clash between the Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Despite of the above criticisms, the underlined importance of the United Nations cannot be ignored:
b. The veto power gives the US and other members an additional advantage of taking crucial decisions related to war and peace.
c. Smaller nations have little or no say in the UN’s policy decisions.
d. Even though member states of the UN have cooperated on agendas like environment protection, human rights and child rights, they have always preferred to take independent stand when it comes to conflict and security matters.
e. The US-led Iraq invasion in 2003 eroded the credibility of the UN. The United States went ahead with its operation ‘Iraqi freedom’ despite the differences displayed by France and Russia in the Security Council.
f. Further, it is believed that the UN has failed to resolve the Kashmir problem and the Arab-Israel conflict. It also failed to counter the human rights violation in Syria, even though it dispatched unarmed military observers in the country and collectively condemned human rights violation in Damascus. However, there were some differences in the Syrian issue as Russia and China maintained different stands. Thus, the UN has become more of an arena of disagreement rather than consensus.
g. Likewise, the UN’s role regarding the present clashes in Iraq is also being questioned as it has not been able to take effective actions on the ongoing sectarian clash between the Shia and Sunni Muslims.
a. The UN can be credited for being an international organisation responsible for bringing all the member states under one roof for discussing the matters of global interest.
b. It is still an arena which, by and large, can modify and influence a country’s action and behaviour and influence it to adopt a particular path.
c. In this era of globalisation, the UN, as an international body, has been able to hold the citizens of the world together.
d. The UN has been effectively dealing with problems like poverty, environmental degradation, unemployment and human rights violation which are confronting the world today. It has passed many treaties and resolutions concerning such problems, and has compelled the member states to work towards achieving global solutions to such problems.
e. Time to time, the UN and its agencies have kept themselves involved in offering humanitarian and financial assistance and rehabilitation in war-prone zones like Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Burundi.
f. The UN is still an effective forum for consultations and discussions on global problems in order to find proper solutions.
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