How Effective Is The Un? What Are The Constraints On Its Power.

How Effective Is The UN? What Are The Constraints On Its Power?

The United Nations, (UN) was originally established in 1945 for the purpose to “maintain international peace and security…to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems…and to be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations in attaining these ends.” In assessing whether or not the UN is an effective organisation, it is essential to acknowledge several important features of the establishment. The UN and its organs, to what extent it has failed or succeeded, how heavily the organisation relies upon funding and cooperation of member states, the importance of the Security Council, and constraints that all these factors put on the establishment.

The United Nations is made up of 5 separate organs that each have different responsibilities. These include the Security Council, General Assembly, the Economical and Social Council, International Court of Justice and the Secretariat. The Security Council has the primary responsibility under the Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. Made up of five permanent members (US, Russia, China, UK and France) who each have veto-power over any resolution and ten temporary members, this council makes decisions on whether or not the UN will intervene in a conflict. The General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberatator, policy-making and representative organ of the UN. Comprising of all 192 members, the General Assembly acts as the discussion forum for any issues, having the ability to make comments or suggestions on any concerns in maintaining international peace and security. The Economc and Social Council acts as the centre for all discussions relating to the international economy or social issues. Its focuses on issues involving education, employment, international culture, living standards and health care. The International Court of Justice is the primary judicary organ of the UN, with its main purpose being to settle legal disputes brought upon by member states and give legal advice to international organs, agencies and the UN General Assembly. The Secretariat involves the caring for UN staff who do the day to day work of the organisation in all different countries. It is the administrative side of the UN with the Secreatry-General at its head. Understanding the organs of the UN will assit in identifying whether or not the UN, with its different sections is an effective organistion and what constraints are limiting its authority, if any.

As a whole, it is difficult to assess whether the UN is a success or failure. Under the five principle organs, there are dozens of minor bodies that each face different objectives, and experience varied degrees of success and failure. For instance, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is currently assisting in restoring fisheries and aquaculture in tsunami affected areas, having granted 7.5 million dollars towards the cause , this being seen as a potentially effective mission. However, on the other end of the spectrum, problems have arised with the UN organisation, CARE International, due to the lack of electoral workers sent into Iraq to assist with the Iraqi election in January. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that “It is unfortunate that the contribution and participation of the UN employeers in this process is not up to expectations.” This could be perceived as an ineffective decision by the UN and a potential failure. These examples demonstrate how the UN as one organisation can experience both successes and failures, as its individual bodies control the outcome.

The UN has been accused of being ineffective, however to identify whether or not this has any fact to it involves recognising the failures, successes and the consequences of both. According to the Human Security Report 2005, peace keeping organisations such as the UN and Amnesty International have led to a 40% drop in violent conflicts and an 80% drop in deadly conflicts such as genocides and politicides . In emphasises to the success of the UN it is important to show that their efforts have been successful. The 2005 RAND Corp study, found that 2 out of 3 UN peace-keeping efforts were successful and also demostrated that peace was better created and maintained when achieved by the UN rather than a single state going at it alone . Issues such as social and economical development and humanitarian assistance are areas to which the UN has generally proven to be successful. In conjunction with other voluntary organisations, the UN provides shelter, food, water and aid to those who have been affected by violence or war. The World Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian agency, provides food on average each year to 90 million people in 80 different countries, including 58 million children. Through the Millennium Development Goals established by the UN in 2000, a list of 8 social and economic goals were noted to be achieved by 2015. These included humanitarian efforts such as to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. This would indicate that the UN in essences has been an effective force in enhancing international peace, reducing conflicts and assisting to humanitarian aid.

In contrast to the successes of the UN there have been many instances where the UN to a certain extent have not been successful and as an indirect result the conditions in these particular areas have worsened. Conflicts such as the Second Congo War saw a massive destruction of life and little response from the United Nations. UN peace-keeping force MONUC (Mission de l' Organisation des Nations Unies en RÐ"©publique dÐ"©mocratique du Congo) failed to effectively intervene with the crisis and carry out humaniatrain aid, resulting in the death of 3.8 million people . The Srebrenica massacre, the largest mass murder in Europe since WWII, witnessed the failure of UN forces to intervene again, despite the fact Resolution 819 declared Srebrenica a вЂ?safe area’. Consequently, this in-decision left over 8,106 people missing or dead . Failure in humanitarian aid is directly related to the failure in obtaining peace and secuirty. Genocide is a clear example of when humanitarian aid has not been achieved and the violation of human rights is ignored. The Somalian Civil War is an obvious example were humanitarian relief was not obtained. The establishment of UNOSOM1 (United Nation Operation in Somalia 1) failed in supplying food, water and other necessities to the Somalian people, due to interference by Somalian