United Nations 101

The United Nations was formed in the wake of World War II in an effort to prevent another world war from occurring in the future.  The UN is commonly known for facilitating cooperation international law and security, economic development, social progress, and human rights.  Ultimately, the UN hopes to achieve world peace.

The structure of the UN is quite complex due to the size of the organization. The constituents of the UN are the countries of the world - 193 of them - and they all (literally) get a seat at the table.  Deemed "Member States", the General Assembly Hall at UNHQ in New York is where representatives from each nation meet to discuss myriad international issues.  The GA mostly handles economic and social topics including pursuing the Millennium Development Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.  You can check out what's happening on a day-to-day basis at the UN by visiting www.un.org then clicking on UN Journal on the lower left: http://www.un.org/en/documents/journal.asp

The UN General Assembly Hall

Despite the wonderful progress and positive impact the UN is having on the world from an economic and social perspective, the news media is much more likely to cover security, human rights and international law concerns.  These types of concerns are handled by the UN Security Council whose primary accountability is maintaining international peace and security (no sweat, right?!).

The UN Security Council

The Security Council has 15 total members: five permanent and ten non-permanent.  The permanent members are Russia, China, the UK, France and the US, and each holds veto power.  That means that if 14 members vote in favor of a resolution, it only takes one permanent member to vote against it and it won't be passed.  I imagine it must be difficult for members of the Security Council to balance what they think is best for the international community and the interests of their respective states.  The next time you see the headline, "The UN Security Council failed to act," dig a little deeper and discover why you think the Security Council members weren't able to reach consensus.


The seeming incongruity of state sovereignty and international peace is a topic that's on my mind a lot these days.  Think about your next-door neighbor: his property is conspicuously definitive from yours.  Can he do whatever he wants on his property?  "Sure", you may think, "it's his life and he's on his own property, who am I to interfere?"  You and your neighbor may likely think this of each other until some incident occurs that could negatively impact you.  Say, he's out sunbathing in the nude.  It may sound silly, but the same basic conflict dynamics are at play between you and your neighbor as they are between two neighboring countries (although it's much harder to see nude sunbathers across international lines).

So what do you do about your nude sunbathing neighbor?  You have some sort of recourse, don't you?  You can go talk to him and let him know what's bothering you.  He may be of the opinion that it's his property and he can do what he wants - his actions aren't harming anyone.  If you aren't able to reach a resolution via direct conversation, you could try enlisting help from a neutral third party by calling the experienced professionals at Community Mediation Services in Eugene, Oregon (*wink*).  Barring a solution from that, you can call the police and lodge a complaint.  You can check the law to ensure the appropriate regulations are in place to protect you, and appeal to your local government for change if they're not.  The point is, you can do something.

How does this conflict scenario play out at an international level?  Disputes between bordering countries are often made up of the same general ingredients: one group does something they perceive as benign and the other group perceives as offensive.  Frequently, a conversation between the two respective governments yields no resolution.  Then what?  Who do the leaders of these nations look to for help in resolving their dispute?  Who makes the laws that countries have to abide by?  And who enforces the law when its broken?  Although numerous organizations - governmental and non - work to provide answers to these questions, the truth is its very difficult to both make and enforce international laws.  The United Nations is viewed by many as the organization ultimately responsible for resolving all types of international conflict.

Despite this, the United Nations does not have any real policing power.  I frequently talk to people who see UN "troops" on the news flooding into a conflict area with guns on their hips, and they assume the UN has a well-trained and fortified army at their disposal.  That's not the case.  The UN does employ Peacekeepers who are sent to conflict areas to help maintain peace and security, especially in the aftermath of a war, but there are some important things to know about the limits of the UN Peacekeeping mandate.  First, UN Peacekeepers do not use force unless their lives are in danger.  In other words, they are not there to fight or perpetuate war; weapons, if carried, are for purposes of self-defense only.  Peacekeepers also must be invited in - the UN does not just send troops into areas without the informed consent of the authorities.  Peacekeepers are also impartial - they remain on the side of international peace and security and do not advocate for any one party.

My interest in international conflict and human rights is extrapolated from my curiosity about what you think is ok and what's not ok for your neighbor to do.  In other words, where is the line between your neighbor's sovereignty and your discomfort?  If you happened to glance out your window one time and see your nude sunbathing neighbor, would it cause you to take action?  What if your 6 year old daughter alerted you to the situation...would that change how you choose to respond?

What if you were to witness your neighbor acting in a drastically more heinous manner, like committing acts of rape or murder?  If you knew the person living at the end of your block was performing such a despicable act, would you do something to stop it?  What about someone in the next town?   A neighboring state?  Here's where confusion sets in for me - why we don't take action when people are beaten to death and raped in other countries.  This is happening in the world right now.  Is it that distance somehow softens our demand for justice, or do we default back to sovereignty?

Like most organizations, I believe the UN does the best it can with the tools its been given.  In the face of highly egregious human rights violations like rape and murder, a Security Council resolution can only go so far.  It is here that I believe the international community needs the most improvement.  Because no international police presence really exists, who is responsible for enforcing SC resolutions relating to human rights violations?

I'll leave you with a picture outside UNHQ at the famous non-violence artwork, aka "Knotted Gun".  Please contact me if you have any ideas for how to answer some of the questions posed in this post.  Thanks for reading.