Role of The United Nations in Promoting Peace and Security in The World - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United Nations (UN) refers to the intergovernmental body that gets tasked with maintaining international peace and security, development of friendly relations among countries, achievement of international cooperation and also to be a point of harmonizing the actions of nations. The UN headquarters is located in Manhattan, New York City. The body gets financed by its member states from all over the globe. UN got established in October 1945, right at the end of World War II. As it stands now, there are 193 members up from 51 when the organization got formed. The UN has six organs: The General Assembly; the Security Council; the Economic and Social Council; the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice; and the UN Secretariat. The UN system has agencies including the World Bank Group, the World Food Program, UNESCO and UNICEF.

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The Security Council takes the lead in the determination of a threat to peace or act of violence, it then calls upon the involved parties to settle the dispute peacefully and may recommend the methods of adjustment or suggest on the terms of a settlement. Under Chapter 7of the Charter, the Security Council can enforce measures to maintain and restore peace and security. Some of the various methods applied by the UN in its endeavors to keep peace and security are:

Economic Sanctions

The economic sanctions are measures employed by the UN as a last resort after the employment of peaceful means has failed (McRae & Hubert, 2001). Economic sanctions include travel bans, freezing of assets, arms embargoes, ban on export of goods, commodity bans and ban on items, material, equipment technology and goods related to nuclear missiles and any other weapon of mass destruction(WMD). The sanctions get to be imposed as it stems from the UN Charter under Article 41 of chapter 7 which allows the organization to "complete or partial interruption of economic relations and rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations." Sometimes the sanctions on entire states do not work, and the Security Council decides to impose sanctions on individuals, entities or organizations that bear the responsibility for the violence. At this point, the Council adopts a resolution establishing a new sanctions regime, where precise sanction measures get to be imposed. In other cases, the relevant Sanction Committee can be formed usually made of 15 members whose role is to implement, monitor and provide recommendations to the Council on how best to proceed. The Council can also create an expert panel who work in hand with the Sanction Committee. The role of the expert panel is to monitor implementation of the sanctions measures and report its findings to the committee or in some instances directly to the Council. The expert panel usually comprises of between five to eight technical experts, all appointed by the Secretary-General. The Security Council can lift the sanctions once the situation improves (Ramcharan, 2002).

Countering Terrorism

The UN by consensus have adopted the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy; this strategy aims at enhancing national, regional and international efforts to combat terrorism. The strategy was adopted on 8 September 2006. The General Assembly reviews the Strategy every two years, making it a living document attuned to Member States' counter-terrorism priorities. The Sixth Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy took place on 1 July 2018. The Strategy has 4 pillars as per the last review namely : addressing the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; measures to prevent and combat terrorism; measures of building each states capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and the strengthening of UN's role in this regard; measure to maintain respect for human rights and rule of law as key component in fight against terrorism. UN have put much effort to counter terrorism, for example, the partnership of UN Counter-Terrorism and UNODC which promised to enhance cooperation and strengthen collaboration through information sharing and also increased support to requesting the Member States in the prevention of violent extremism and counter of terrorism.

Disarmament

United Nations Office of DISARMAMENT AFFAIRS (UNODA) a body under UN is in the front line to fight against weapons of mass destruction especially nuclear bombs. UNODA works to advance international peace and security by pursuing the elimination of atomic weapons and all other weapons mass of destruction and also regulate conventional arms; this has been ongoing since the establishment of the UN. Some treaties that have been signed with the aim of preventing nuclear proliferation, while promoting progress in nuclear disarmament. Some notable treaties include Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) , the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, In Outer Space and Under Water also referred to as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), signed in 1996 but has yet to be fully implemented, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) signed in 2017 but has yet to enter into force. The Secretariat has voiced support efforts aimed at the non-proliferation and total elimination of nuclear weapons saying "Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament "in this agenda the Secretary-General calls for resuming of dialogue and negotiations for nuclear arms control and disarmament. The agenda also proposes preparation of a nuclear-free world through some risk reduction measures, including totally transparency in atomic weapon programs, reductions in all types of nuclear weapons, commitments and promises not to introduce new and destabilizing of nuclear weapons.

Peace Keeping

Peacekeeping is the most effective tool available to the UN when it comes to the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security. This usually involves the deployment of security forces to warring areas (Gierycz, 2001). The peacekeeping process has adopted a multidimensional approach, instead of just maintaining peace and security ,the security personnel have been encouraged to facilitate political operations, assist in protection of civilians, assist in disarmament, demobilize and help reintegration of former combatants, support constitutional processes and organize free and fair election, promote and protect human rights and assist in restoration of the rule of law and also extend legitimate national authority. Peacekeeping operations get typically greenlit by the UN Council; the troops are usually contributed by the Member States, and the forces are managed by the Departmental of Peace Operations which is assisted by the Department of Operational Support at the UN headquarters. Peacekeeping initiatives have faced a lot of challenges that undermine its ability to deliver on its mandates, some of these challenges include: lack of political solutions and this makes the missions seem to lack focus and clear priorities, complex conditions in several environments that cause increased fatalities and injuries to peacekeepers and also lack of personnel and equipment to meet various arising threats (Claude, 1996).

Prevention, Diplomacy, and Mediation

These actions have been aimed at stopping conflict before it escalates to widespread violence. This approach is most suitable as the idea of devoting a modest amount of resources to preventing violent conflict rather than investing in drastically more costly humanitarian, peacekeeping, reconstruction or stabilization operations make practical sense. Some of these practices have been applied worldwide in various states for example de-escalation and supporting political transition in Burkina Faso in 2014, facilitating de-escalation and paving of a new way to national reconciliation in Kyrgyzstan in 2010,building of national capacities to promote social cohesion and inter-ethnic dialogue in Guyana between 2002-15,prevention of the recurring conflict while building peace in Liberia ,regional partnership; national and local mediation; and gender and inclusion in conflict prevention. Security Council explicitly linked women to peace and security, acknowledging that armed conflicts impacted women and girls differently and recognized the role of women in peacekeeping as well as to include them in peacebuilding decisions (Makinda, 1996).

Peace Building

Peacebuilding refers to efforts that help nations and regions transition from war and conflict to peace and to be able reduces a states' risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by building national capabilities for conflict management and laying of foundations for sustainability. Peacebuilding is the most challenging task as it requires a lot of invested effort. These efforts include international support across a broad range of activities such as ceasefires monitoring, demobilization and reintegration, assisting displaced people, finance and conduction of election, help in buildup and organization of new forms of government, support of justice and various vital reforms such as security reforms, encouraging human rights protection and fostering of reconciliation at all levels (Thakur, 2016). UN involve a lot of organizations when it comes to peacebuilding, for example, the World Bank , Regional Economic organizations, NGOs and the local citizens. UN has also built Peacebuilding Commission since it recognizes that it better anticipates and respond to the challenges of peacebuilding, the commission role is to marshal resources and predict possible financing for all peacebuilding initiatives and also advise on proposed integration of strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery (Spencer, 2005).

Demining

Landmines and other explosive devices which are remnants of war have been able to cause deaths of hundreds, decades after. The vision is a world free of threats of landmines and explosives. 12 UN Departments and Office of the Secretariat, specialized agencies, funds and program play a vital role in mine action across 30 countries in 3 territories just so that the residents of the affected areas could live in a safe, secure and peaceful environment. Joint operations of the Mine Action and Effective Coordination: the United Nations Inter-Agency Policy guides the division of labor within the United Nations. Any mine-related activities of the UN get coordinated by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), it ensures an effective, proactive and well-organized response to the problem of mines and explosive. It also assesses and monitor the threat posed by landmines and unexploded ordnance on an ongoing basis and develop policies and standards (Diehl & Frederking, 2001).

Peaceful Usage of Outer Space

The UN is working to ensure the outer space gets only used for peaceful operations and all nations share the benefits. The United nation also develops space laws and also promotes international cooperation in space science and technology.

Conclusion

UN peacekeeping operations have demonstrated creativity, innovation, and expertise in working to address complex, entrenched conflicts on the entire globe. UN has been to pioneer tools and puts policies that have positively impacted the various disputes. Recruitment and training of specialized skills have also been increased, well-coordinated units, partnership, and strategies have also been improved, so that much gets done. Budgeting and financial processes are now creatively and carefully conducted so that a lot more can get achieved.

References

Claude, I. L. (1996). Peace and security: Prospective roles for the two United Nations. Global Governance, 2(3), 289-298.Ramcharan, B. G. (2002)...