Human history is full of wars, invasions, disasters, injustice and biases among human beings. However the World War I and II are the major disasters for human kind. But there was always a desire for peace, justice, equality and mutual respect. To achieve such goals, many efforts have been witnessed in the history such as the creation of “International Committee of the Red Cross” and “The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907”. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, “the Paris Peace Conference” established the “League of Nations” to maintain harmony between countries. But all efforts were in vain and peace could not be achieved. World War II, was a major catastrophe and number of loss of human life crossed all the records.
United nation was established on 24 October 1945, with its headquarters at New York, USA and further main offices in Nairobi and Geneva and Vienna. It has following six principal organs : the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; for promoting international economic and social co-operation and development); the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the UN Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994). UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
UN charter was drafted very well, it covers almost all possible aspect of human protection and was based on mutual consultation. It was agreed upon and accepted by all major powers of that time.
The UN is led by Secretary-General, which is tenure post and keep on rotation among the member states based on merit and vote. Currently the post is held by Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres since 2017.
UN has few success stories and major achievements in its credit like the role of UN in providing Food Aid to famine hit area, looking after the refugees, protection of children, peace keeping among the warring factions & nations, running free & fair elections, re-productive health & population management, war crimes prosecution, fighting AID, and bringing invisible ignored issues in forefront. No doubt, these are big achievements and UN performed very well.
However, there are so many issues not solved yet. UN failed to narrow down the gap between the rich and poor, small and big nations. It failed to stop wars and invasion by strong countries like: Iraq War, Libya War, and Afghanistan and Syrian issues. UN also failed to implement its resolution of Palestine and Kashmir yet. Although Millennium development goals were defined very well, but still not achieved as per scheduled.
With the changes occurred in the 7 decades, the nature of issues and complication of problems has also changed to a large extent. With creation of new knowledge and new technologies, the world has become more complex. The awareness among human kind has enhanced and they are demanding much more. It might be appropriate that the UN may under-go a comprehensive revision and reforms. There may an open debate and news ideas to make UN more effective should be encouraged. Any reforms backed by masses and intellectuals may be welcomed. Especially the five permanent members of the Security Council may under-goes major structural reforms. As it does not represent Africa, the major continent by population as well as resources. Middle East was ignored, it may be compensated by providing a permanent seat in Security Council. European Union is already very well developed and very strong, but enjoying 2 seats in Security Council permanently. I am not biased and may not give any specific suggestion and do not want to offend any country or nation. But, rather recommend to open a debate and try to find the ways and means to strengthen UN and make it so powerful that, no single country or nation dare to violate its Charter. The objective is to make our world more peaceful and protected.
However, we are elder generation and have a moral obligation to hand-over the world to our young generation, where they can live respectfully, peacefully and fearlessly. Let’s celebrate the UN Day with a wish to make UN more powerful and fruitful.
