‘To save future generations from the suffering caused by wars’ was the main purpose behind the formation of the United Nations. After suffering from the devastations caused by the two World Wars, United States of America, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China (all founders of the UN) finally replaced the inefficient League of Nations by a new organization called United Nations. From the day of its founding, the United Nations has been successful in establishing peace between countries during times of tensions conflict and war.
The United Nations has been successful in establishing peace in a number of countries. The major peace-establishing roles which the United Nations was play was mainly between the African countries experiencing either a civil war between its boundaries or the wars with other countries. Furthermore, the UN played major roles in Asia with the Soviet-Afghan War and the Tajikistan Civil War among others. The UN also played a vital role in Europe (e.g. Yugoslav wars, Abkhazian War etc), the Americas (e.g. Nicaraguan Civil War, El Salvador Civil War etc) and the Middle East (e.g. Suez Crisis, Iran-Iraq War etc).
On the other side of the page, the United Nations has not always been successful in maintaining peace in some areas around the globe. An example of such a case was the failure of UN to prevent the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The UN was also unable to prevent the Sri Lankan Civil war and was criticized for this. Moreover, the UN was also unable to stop the Khmer Rouge being practiced in Cambodia. Perhaps, the main failure of the United Nations was in completely ending the Cold War. Although the Cold War later came to an end, the UN was unable to find a solution to the problem of Cold War.
Global Perspectives:
Not only was the United Nations able to subdue a war in its early years but also continued to prove its worth in other conflicts. Despite its continuous work to keep peace, the UN has been unable to deal with some issues promptly and in a successful manner.
In mid-March 2011 protests emerged calling for the release of political prisoners. The National Security forces dealt with these protests with massive violence. Forth the summer of 2011, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad refused to halt the attacks and turned down the demand of the protesters. In August 2011, the United Nations mandated an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate human rights violations in Syria. On 2nd December 2013, UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, reported that a UN inquiry had found ‘massive evidence… [of] very serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity’ which were authorized “at the highest level of government, including the head of state’.
On May 27, 1990, after 28 years of authoritarian rule, the people of Burma finally got the right to elect a government. After the elections, however, the military regime, which was controlling Burma, renegade its promise of transferring power to the elected body. After adopting several resolutions, the United Nations General Assembly urged the regime to recognize the people’s desire:
As part of the whole Cold War scenario, the Korean War was a complicated issue that had to be dealt successfully by the United Nation or lose its cogency and reliability just 5 years after its creation.
At the end of World War II, South Korea was controlled by USA while North Korea was a USSR territory. The United Nations involved itself in the matters of Korea when it announced that elections for the government of the whole country will be held and these elections will be supervised by the UN itself. An attempt by the USSR to rig the elections and an attempt to occupy South Korea triggered the war. On the USA calling, United Nations was provided with troops by 16 member states under the United Nations Joint Command.
On 15th September 1950, UN troops attacked and landed at Inchon. The UN troops were able to cut the North Korean army in half and push them out of South Korea. UN troops advanced into North Korea which resulted in attacks from Chinese troops. The Chinese were able to push back the UN force but neither side was able to get an upper hand in the war.
In 1953, a ceasefire was agreed at Panmunjom which exists to this day.
The UN although being able to play a positive role in the Korean War, could not help in these issues. Although they passed resolutions and called upon the respective countries to stop civil wars/crimes against humanity, it was not able to suppress these mainly because of the stronghold of the government in their countries.
National Perspectives:
The Kashmir issue has been faced by Pakistan and India since partition in 1947. It has been a matter of great contention and conflict between the two countries. Both the countries have gone to war with each other over the issue for three times.
The United Nations arranged a plebiscite in Kashmir in order to reduce future tensions between the two countries. However, this significantly increased the tension between Pakistan and India. UN has passed a number of resolutions concerning the Kashmir issue.
The UN resolution of January 5, 1949 reads:
‘The question of accession of the State of Jammu & Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite’.
The UN Security Council emphasized on the right of self-determination of Kashmiris in various resolutions, including of 1951 and 1957, as reproduced below:-
‘Observing that the Governments of India and Pakistan have accepted the provisions of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan resolutions of 13 August, 1948, and 5 January, 1949, and have reaffirmed their desire that the future of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nation’.
Despite the United Nations adopting several other resolutions to solve the Kashmir issue, it has not been successful in solving the matter. Russia, one of the five permanent members in the UN have always vetoed the Kashmir issue whenever it has been brought to the United Nations.
India agreed to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir but was not sincere in this regard. At the end of each of the three wars, India promised to resolve the issue but did nothing to pursue this matter. India on many occasions has attempted to declare many UN resolutions void and dead especially after the Simla Agreement.
The Indian government holds the belief that the discussion over the Kashmir issue with Pakistan should be between the two countries independently and without the intervention of any other country or on any international forum. India also held a farcical election in the state to establish its authority over the Indian Occupied Kashmir. However, the United Nations has ruled out all such actions of India.
Pakistan on the other hand has played a positive approach towards the issue. Though Pakistan was the country which initiated the wars fought over Kashmir in 1965, 1971 and 1999, it has strictly adhered to the UN proposals over the Kashmir issue. Pakistan has also persuaded the UN a number of times to pass resolutions preventing the capture of Azad Kashmir by India.
I think that the UN has played an exceptionally well role on the issue of Kashmir. By passing its resolutions, the UN has shown a positive approach towards this issue. Not only has it replenished the democratic norms but has also made it clear that the actions of the Kashmiris were right and justified. However, failure to solve the issue has brought in criticism from the Pakistan government.
Personal Perspective:
From my own perspective, I can say that the United Nations has played a positive role in maintaining peace around the globe. It has also discouraged many nations from fighting wars and instead has pressurized on discussing the issues.
The issue of Kashmir remains one of the hottest and most talked about topics of the world. The matters between the two countries, Pakistan and India, still remain a source of discontentment between them. This could have lead to a major war involving nuclear weapons as both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. The use of nuclear weapons could have meant the destruction of both the countries. This could have taken killed a large number of people in both the countries and I myself could have either died in the nuclear explosion or affected by the radioactive materials released from the explosion.
Thus, UN has played a significant role in preventing a major nuclear war.
Possible Scenarios:
If the UN had not been established, there would have been utter chaos all over the world. With most of the world countries possessing nuclear weapons, it would have been inevitable for a nuclear war to take place. There would have been destruction. The countries would have been fighting among themselves. This combined with the internal problems could lead to the fall of most countries of the world.
Similarly, the presence of UN has not been able to completely end wars (international, civil etc). If the UN was the most efficient organization and dealt with all the matters successfully, there would have been no wars and peace would have been established all over the world.
Possible Courses of Action:
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force should be strong enough to deal with crisis. It should be composed of the best troops from USA, UK, USSR, France, Germany and Muslim countries. Moreover, sessions should be held on a regular basis to discuss issues related to any war or possibility of war. USA and USSR, the two super powers, should assist the UN in all issues and try to resolve matters by holding talks with the rulers the countries involved in a conflict.
Personal Response:
I can conclude that the United Nations has been successful in dealing with most of the matters but not all the matters have been dealt/ tackled successfully. The UN has played a positive role in establishing and maintaining peace all over the world. It has been the quality of the UN to receive and interpret cases in the most efficient manner.
It is mainly because of the UN that no major war has taken place. The invention of the nuclear bomb and bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by USA was seen as the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. If the United Nations had not passed laws limiting the use of nuclear weapons, the people would be fighting against each other and the survival would have become extremely difficult.
Thus, it can be said that the presence of United Nations has played a key role in the presence of peace around the globe.
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