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United Nations

United NationsThe United Nations (UN) is an organisation whose main purpose is to see to it that international laws are binding in order to ensure global peace, stability and development. The United Nations was officially formed in the year 1945 during the drafting of the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco, California at the Conference on International Organisation even though the name United Nations had been in existence since the year 1942, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with that name at the Declaration of the United Nations after the second world war which was fought in 1939. On the 24th of October, 1945 the United Nations was officially launched with 50 member countries as at that time.

The United Nations is an organisation that came to replace the League of Nations which was formed in the year 1919 with a total number of 58 member countries. After some time, the League of Nations was seen as not being very effective and efficient in ensuring global stability, peace and development as its inability to deal with certain problems led to the start of WWII. The United Nations was therefore formed to help restore order and ensure that international laws are properly enforced. The United Nations now has a total of 193 member countries and boasts of so many humanitarian acts which has made it the organisation that is regarded by all as being able to help achieve a peaceful and sustainable environment for all.

In ensuring that the world is made a better place for all to live in, the United Nations performs some very vital functions. These functions include peace and security, development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and international law. By successfully performing the above mentioned functions, the United Nations makes the goal of having a very safe world for all very achievable.

Peace and Security

In trying to ensure peace and security within all its member countries, the United Nations from time to time do send peacekeepers to war torn areas within member states even though it does not have its own peacekeeping forces. However, with the consent of all member countries trained peacekeeping forces are sent on peacekeeping missions by the United Nations when the need arises. These peacekeepers are sent to restore law and order to conflict ridden regions and it was through such acts of valour that the Noble Peace Prize was awarded to the peacekeeping force of the United Nations.

Development

With regards to development, the United Nations plays a role that is second to none through its own organ known as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). They provide member countries with the needed requisite expertise and assistance to help them develop. Other developmental bodies found within the United Nations through which member countries are supported in terms of development include the UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund among other notable ones. All these organisations come together to help member countries chart the right developmental course through the provision of grants and technical knowledge by the United Nations.

 

Human Rights

One main area that the United Nations has never neglected is that of human rights protection. The United Nations seeks to ensure that the rights of all citizens within its member countries are protected and not trampled upon by any individual or organisation. The seriousness with which the United Nations ensures that citizen’s rights are protected can be seen by the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was made in the year 1948. This declaration ensures that a common basis is set for all things related to human rights in all member countries.

Humanitarian Affairs

The United Nations also sees to the training of personnel to handle various forms of unforeseen emergencies like the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in some West African Countries and the Malawi floods. It also sees to the provision of other vital human support needs like food, water, shelter and medicine to regions that have been hit by either natural disasters or wars.

International Law

International Law is the bedrock of the United Nations as it seeks to have a universal law that will bind all member countries and ensure that each country abides by the dictates of the law. Some of these international laws that bind all member countries include the environmental law, international criminal courts, international trade law, war crimes, law of the sea and other notable ones.

United Nations and Climate Control

The world has for some time now been exposed to some changes in the climate and its varying degrees of effects on both man and the environment. The environmental atmosphere has become poisoned with very dangerous gases which have made the attainment of a safe and sustainable environment difficult.

Through the unchecked and reckless activities of people all over the world, such harmful substances like carbon dioxide are introduced into the atmosphere and this has resulted in such gases having a major hand in the changing climatic conditions of the Earth. As man seeks for ways and means of making his or her work very easy to do, through the use of various kinds of machines which are known for their heavy reliance on the different types of fuels derived from fossilised materials, it has indirectly led to the destruction of the environment through global warming as the rate of release of very harmful gaseous substances has increased abnormally.

It has been the campaign for some years now from both individuals and organisations to find lasting ways and means of bringing such climatic changes under control. This has given rise to various policies being formulated by governments so as to restore some form of orderliness and sanity to how man treats the environment in order to achieve a sustainable environment for all.

In the year 1992, a consensus was reached by a number of countries to adopt the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in order to properly find solutions to the global warming issues that have been threatening the very survival of all living things on the Earth. Immediately after the adoption of the UNFCCC in 1992, the Kyoto Protocol was also initiated in the year 1997. These were all aimed at helping to keep the global warming problems under control. ‘’Addressing climate change in a timely and cost-effective manner is undoubtedly a remarkable challenge, but it is also the greatest opportunity we have ever had to design a safer, healthier and more sustainable world for all.’’ These are the exact words of Christiana Figueres, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary. Taking a critical look at the words of Christiana Figueres helps one to clearly understand how the United Nations view the global warming problems and how it keeps working tirelessly to find solutions to global warming so as to ensure that the environment becomes sustainable for now and later.

The Climate Summit

This is a Summit that was arranged by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon in September 2013 calling on governments and all civilians to join hands in the fight against global warming and the destruction of the environment and also to ensure that the world becomes free from the releasing of harmful gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This Summit also known as the Ban Ki-moon Summit took place on the 23rd day of September, 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Climate Summit was expected to usher in a year characterised by an increase in the policies and measures formulated to help tackle the problem of global warming. This meant that in addition to the number of policies formulated going up, actions to help achieve such targets were also going to be intensified.

Action Taken

The United Nations in its bid to help bring the changing climatic conditions and their associated effects under control convened a number of high level meetings where various policies were agreed upon by all member countries. Some of these policies agreed upon by leaders of member countries through the various United Nations meetings include;

  • The UNFCCC which is a treaty agreed upon by various governments to help protect and safeguard the environment. This treaty was at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which took place on the 3rd to the 14th of June, 1992.
  • The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 also sought to legalise the need for all developed countries to abide by laid down policies in ensuring that the release of harmful gases into the atmosphere is greatly reduced.

Other notable actions taken by the United Nations to check global warming are the Bali Action Plan, Copenhagen and Caricun among others.

Agreeing to Climate Control Contract

Currently, negotiations are on going for an agreement on climate control that will bind all member countries. This agreement is to be formally adopted in the year 2015 and enforced in the year 2020 and it will have the full backing of the law to ensure that all member countries adhere to the terms and conditions of the Climate Control Contract.

News – the United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme which is an organ found within the United Nations has been the main force behind all the most intense campaigns geared towards the attainment of an environment that is safe, secured and sustainable to allow for developmental projects to be carried out without any hindrances. The UNDP has been most vocal in almost all member countries up to date and continues to be the one organisation that has endeared itself to the entire global population as striving for whatever good cause that can be used to ensure that the world and its environment is made a better place today without risking the survival of latter generations. The activities of the United Nations Development Programme has made sure that it is always being mentioned in almost all news articles that has to do with development and sustainability of the environment.

Activities like training of community police personnel to help clamp down the spread of the Ebola virus disease in Guinea is one notable act that ensured that a lot of lives were protected from the Ebola Virus Disease which has swept through some West African countries like a raging forest fire during the dry season. The United Nations Development Programme helped in training more than 100 community-based police personnel who were then equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to be able to keep people from risking their lives by making bodily contacts with infected relatives and also helping to report any suspected Ebola case to the right authorities for proper quarantine and medical action to be taken. These trained community police have helped to bring the number of infected cases significantly down.

The Social Good Summit

The Social Good Summit is a convening of leaders of each and every country and other developmental organisations who all come together to deliberate on global issues and how to effectively deal with all identified global problems. This convening of world leaders otherwise called the Social Good Summit has been taking place at the United Nations General Assembly every September and this has been going on for five years now.

It has been realised that the fight against most global problems can be best won if all hands are called on board and this has seen the Social Good Summit being organised and live-streamed using state-of-the-art technologies in a lot of different languages so as to ensure that the message that is being sent will be well understood by all people.

Empowering each and everyone in the world to be able to contribute their ideas and knowledge before, during and after the United Nations Week is what the Social Good Summit seeks to achieve.

Humanitarian Effort in Malawi’s Flood Region

The United Nations Development Programme have also intensified their efforts in trying to bring much needed support like food, shelter, medicine and other essential things to the most of the regions in Malawi which have been affected by severe rainstorms. The rains have led to the death of about 62 people whilst around 153 others are also feared dead as they have still not been found. In the Southern districts of Chikwawa, Phalombe and Nsanje, there has been massive destruction of roads and bridges with about around 638,000 people being rendered homeless. By declaring a State of Disaster on the 13th of January in all the affected districts, the United Nations Development Programme saw it as a desperate call for help and therefore responded swiftly by sending the much needed aid to all the 13 affected districts out of a total of 28 districts in Malawi. The United Nations helped in evacuating people to safer places, and also providing the much needed technical know-how to the staff of the Malawi Disaster Management Team. This ensured that proper ways were adopted in providing both physical and emotional support to all the affected people.

The United Nations Development Programme has been working closely with other agencies like the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to continue the provision of humanitarian needs to all the victims of the torrential rains that has destroyed a lot of lives, properties and infrastructures.