How The United Nations is Failing in Its Missions

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental global organization that works to promote international cooperation and peacekeeping among nations. It was established on the 24th of October in 1945 following the catastrophic effects of World War II, in order to prevent similar conflicts in the future. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states, but at present, there are 193 members, with only Palestine and Vatican City excluded. The main mission of the United Nations since it was founded has been to promote peace and international cooperation. However, now that the UN is much larger and better funded, with many individual organizations that focus on specific issues such as UNESCO and UNICEF, the mission of the UN has become a lot broader in relation to specific issues, such as poverty and women’s rights, among others. Despite these expansions, the primary objectives of the UN can be summed up by five general points: maintaining peace and international security, promoting sustainable development, protecting human rights, upholding international law, and providing humanitarian aid and peacekeeping support in areas of conflict or disaster. Personally, I believe that the UN has been relatively successful in working on these five main objectives. In comparison to the League of Nations, the UN’s predecessor, the UN’s impact has been significantly more successful and is much more well-established globally. It’s inevitable that conflicts will break out, and so it’s unrealistic for anyone to expect the UN to prevent all conflict around the world, even though that is their main goal. Nevertheless, the UN still plays a crucial role in shaping the world today, especially in developing countries.

How the United Nations is Falling Short in Its Objectives

One major aspect of the UN’s mission in the last few years was to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were set in 2000 following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These MDGs were eight international development goals that all 189 member states (at the time they were set) committed to working towards and achieving by 2015. Each goal had specific targets set to monitor progress over time. The eight goals were: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop global partnerships for development (United Nations, 2000). Clearly, not all of these goals were met worldwide as many of these issues are still prevalent in different parts of the globe today. However, many countries did make significant progress in those 15 years, such as China, whose poverty population dropped from 452 million to 278 million, and Brazil (World Bank, 2015). In reality, progress towards these goals has not been uniform across the world, as there are huge disparities across countries and continents. For example, in many parts of Africa and the Middle East, much work remains, and constant conflict in those areas has prevented potential progress towards the MDGs. In conclusion, while not all of the Millennium Development Goals were achieved in full globally, substantial progress has been made, contributing to a better world than it was 15 years ago. Today, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set at the end of 2015, have replaced the MDGs and contain 17 major objectives to be achieved globally by 2030 (United Nations, 2015).

The UN's Peacekeeping Efforts

While the MDGs were major objectives that the UN was working to achieve in tandem with the governments of many different countries globally, the main mission of the UN has always been to prevent conflict and wars. Logically, some may argue that they have been completely unsuccessful in doing so since 1945, as major conflicts such as the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Iraq War have occurred since then. However, I disagree because, as mentioned earlier, it’s inevitable that conflict will break out in the world. When it does, the main goal of the UN is to resolve these conflicts and prevent as many deaths and as much damage as possible. The UN runs numerous peacekeeping operations in countries or regions with ongoing conflict or political tension. Peacekeeping essentially involves deploying trained operatives into areas of conflict to prevent violence as much as possible in a peaceful manner, as well as providing humanitarian aid to those affected by violence. Peacekeepers also help facilitate political processes between conflicting parties, protect civilians and innocent people from being affected by the fighting, and strive to uphold and promote human rights despite ongoing conflict in the area. So far, the UN has deployed over 50 peacekeeping operations since its founding, with 16 currently ongoing, primarily in Africa and the Middle East (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2023). These peacekeeping operations have prevented many deaths, especially those of innocent civilians, and have made conflicts less reckless and chaotic.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I personally disagree with the statement that “The United Nations no longer fulfills its mission,” as the United Nations has done significant work since its founding to prevent conflict around the world and has had a substantial global impact. The UN has also engaged in extensive humanitarian work in developing countries, helping lift local communities out of poverty and standing up for those whose human rights have been violated, often where local governments fail to do so. The UN’s global unifying power promotes peace among all nations and is responsible for unique operations such as the MDGs and peacekeeping, which have had a significant positive impact for people regardless of their race, age, religion, etc., based on the foundation that every human deserves equal human rights. No organization has ever achieved what the UN has in its 70 years of activity, and it continues to fulfill its mission today and will likely continue to do so for many years to come.

References:

• United Nations. (2000). United Nations Millennium Declaration. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
• United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
• World Bank. (2015). Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY
• United Nations Peacekeeping. (2023). Peacekeeping operations. Retrieved from https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate