Discuss the role of United Nations (UN) in safeguarding the interest of mankind?

The United Nations Organization (UNO) or simply the United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions. There are currently 192 member states, including nearly every sovereign state in the world. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. The organization has six principal organs: the General Assembly the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the United Nations Trusteeship Council. Other prominent UN System agencies include the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who attained the post in 2007. The organization is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, and has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish. WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on April 7, 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the League of Nations. WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986-1994).

IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the intergovernmental organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rate and the balance of payments. It is an organization formed with a stated objective of stabilizing international exchange rates and facilitating development through the enforcement of liberalising economic policies on other countries as a condition for loans, restructuring or aid. It also offers loans with varying levels of concessionality, mainly to poorer countries. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., United States. The IMF's relatively high influence in world affairs and development has drawn heavy criticism from some source. ILO

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat the people who are employed by it throughout the world is known as the International Labour Office. The organization received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights along with fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations' International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation. Through a unique system of specialized agencies with global reach, the UN system as a whole not only coordinates, but also plays an integral operational role in emergency relief efforts, working in close collaboration with national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and affected populations. The United Nations works to save lives and improve the economic and social condition of people around the world. In the face of disaster, the UN family of organizations supplies food, shelter, medicines and logistical support to those affected. Many of these are families uprooted by conflicts and disaster, or communities that host those displaced. The United Nations Organizations comprise the United Nations Secretariat, which includes the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the United Nations programmers and funds - such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programmer (UNDP), World Food Programmer (WFP), Office of the UN High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as well as specialized agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). When a large-scale emergency strikes, the various agencies of the UN assess the situation and develop a humanitarian strategy to tackle the emergency. The United Nations and its NGO partners create an interagency blueprint (Consolidated or Flash Appeals) that spells out the requirements for each appealing organization to meet their objectives in the affected regions. The UN appeals are not wish lists; they represent real and immediate needs, and usually reflect the bare minimum required. Funding made available by donor governments has not been sufficient to fund all requirements in the past years and the UN is increasingly appealing to the private sector to bridge the gap. In 2007, 330 organizations joined forces in common humanitarian action plans and consolidated appeals. They appealed for US$5 billion and received US$ 3.3 billion from donors and from the Central Emergency Response Fund. With these funds, they achieved enormous success in the world's most severe humanitarian crises. They provided food, shelter, health care, safe water and sanitation to millions of people affected by conflicts and natural disasters But 2008 has brought new challenges: climate change, population growth, mass migration, natural resources scarcity and conflicts continue to spur complex humanitarian emergencies. The UN and its partner NGOs have appealed for US$3.8 billion to assist 25 million people in 24 countries. US$930 million is required for the humanitarian programmers in Sudan only. As the most representative inter-governmental organization of the world today, the United Nations' role in world affairs is irreplaceable by any other international or regional organizations. The United Nations has made enormous positive contributions in maintaining international peace and security, promoting cooperation among states and international development. Today, people of the world still face the two major issues of peace and development. Only by international cooperation can mankind meet the challenges of the global and regional issues. The United Nations can play a pivotal and positive role in this regard. Strengthening the role of the United Nations in the new century and promoting the establishment of a just and reasonable international political and economic order goes along with the trend of history and is in the interest of all nations. In order to strengthen the role of the United Nations, efforts should be made to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The authority of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security must be preserved and role of the United

Nations in development area should be strengthened. To strengthen the role of the United Nations, it is essential to ensure to all Member States of the United Nations the right to equal participation in international affairs and the rights and interests of the developing countries should be safeguarded. Each agency within the UN takes on specific responsibilities before, during and after an emergency. Below is a diagrammed listing the areas each agency focuses, and followed by a series of links to the relevant agency website. This should help you decide which entity to pair up with.

UN successes and strengths If we take a positive outlook, the UN has certainly developed a large network of mechanisms and structures with a view to preventing conflicts and facilitating assistance to its member states through preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping and fact-finding missions. During the 1960s and 1970s, standard-setting in human rights as well as principles of protection for refugees were enacted and further developed during the subsequent decades. The UN was called to deal with the internally displaced persons, irregular migration and trafficking, the containment of national

and regional conflicts as well as disarmament issues and the regulation of nuclear armament. On many occasions, its member states have also been called on to make their armed forces available for missions of peacekeeping and its specialized agencies, responsible for social and economic order, have steadily grown and increased their activities. Humanitarian actions, such as those conducted by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have increased in an unprecedented manner not only for people crossing national borders but also for those displaced within a country. It is well known that the UN Refugee Convention of 1951, supplemented and strengthened by the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, gives legal authority to the international community, through the UNHCR, to protect and assist those who have crossed the borders of a state. These people receive emergency shelter, food, medical care and rehabilitation assistance. Ultimately, the aim is for these people to be able to return safely back home. At present, the UNHCR looks after hundreds of thousands of refugees around the world. No other international organization has a comparable authority and structure to intervene on behalf of these persons across all continents. It must be acknowledged that non-state actors, such as NGOs, have proven to be essential partners to the UN in this effort. As far as the internally displaced peoples (IDPs) are concerned, they represent an even more vulnerable group. Today, they are considered to be the largest population at risk in the world. When the UNHCR receives a mandate from the UN General Assembly, it can step in to assist those, who, within their own territory, have had to abandon everything, homes and villages, from fear of persecution. However, there is no automatic mandate of the UN to intervene on behalf of IDPs. A number of measures have nevertheless been undertaken to attempt to improve the terrible lot of this group of people. In 1994, the UN designated an Emergency Relief Coordinator as a focal point for assistance and protection, however with no effective operational force. Also, the Commission on Human Rights appointed a Special Representative of the Secretary General to deal with this matter and this person reports on an annual basis to the Commission and to the General Assembly. Furthermore, a body of Guiding Principles on Internal Displacements has been produced which addresses the specific needs of internally displaced persons worldwide. These principles identify rights and guarantees relevant to the protection and assistance during displacement as well as during return, resettlement and reintegration. They provide guidance to: the Representative of the Secretary General, member states when faced with the phenomenon of internal displacement, all other authorities, groups or persons in their relations with IDPs and NGOs when they deal with this matter. The UN has expanded its activities, throughout its specialized agencies, in the areas of education, health, labor, food, intellectual property, telecommunications, meteorology, world trade and financing. Under this large umbrella, it would appear that most issues regarding assistance, promotion, protection and prevention of conflicts have been addressed and put in place by member states, thus strengthening the overall envisaged purpose of the organization. However, the reality shows otherwise.

REFERENCES 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN

2. van den Heuvel, W.J. (2003), The United Nations and its Enemies, 30 October, Arthur Ross Lecture Series, . 3. Camp, S., Spiedel, J. (1987), The International Human Suffering Index, Population Crisis Committee, Washington, DC, .

4. UNDP (1997), "Governance for sustainable human development a UNDP policy document", United Nations Development Programme, available at: http://mirror.undp.org/magnet/policy/(accessed 1 June 2009), 5. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1990-2002), Human Development Report (HDR), UNDP, Oxford University Press, New York, NY

6. Streeten, P. (2000), "Looking ahead: areas of future research in human development", Journal of Human Development, Vol. 1 No.1, pp.25-48. 7. Adelman, I., Morris, C.T. (1967), Society, Politics and Economic Development, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, . 8. The World Today" (PDF). http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/world00.pdf. Retrieved 18 June 2009. "The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country" 9. FAQ: What are the official languages of the United Nations?". UN Department for General Assembly and Content Management. http://www.un.org/Depts/DGACM/faq_languages.htm. Retrieved 21 September 2008. 10. David, Wilton. "United Nations". Etymologies & Word Origins: Letter U. WordOrigins.org. http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/united_nations/. 11. "Membership of Principal United Nations Organs in 2005". United Nations. 15 March 2005. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/org1436.doc.htm.