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The United Nations was founded with great expectations to establish world peace, based on the principles of collective security and self-determination. Its ill-fated predecessor, the League of Nations, had not been able to secure peace and had fallen apart due to World War 2. As the war came to an end the UN was being setup and tensions between the USA and the USSR were quickly escalating into the conflict known as the Cold War. The UN’s effectiveness was going to be tested out very soon. Could the organization succeed in maintaining peace and enforce collective security or was it going to become a mere instrument of super power policy? United Nations Organization was planned in the Atlantic charter of 1941 by Roosevelt and Churchill and further developed in the wartime conferences. It was founded in 1945 under the treaty of San Francisco. The organization is based on a charter that outlines the main goals of this international organization. The two most important bodies in the United Nations are the General Assembly and the Security Council. The General Assembly is a forum for all member states to discuss and make decisions. However, the most powerful body is the Security Council that presides over the most important and critical issues. It is composed of five members, the USA, the UK, the USSR, China, and France. Each which hold veto power. During the late 1940’s, tensions between the USA and the USSR started to become more serious. This was a clear threat for the UN, as it drastically challenged its ability to pursue its charter in a wholesome and meaningful way. The USA and the USSR were at the core of the organization and these tensions meant they would not be willing to cooperate and thus it would hinder the ... ... middle of paper ... ...announced and expelled all Soviet in Eastern block diplomats from the capital. The Soviet’s thought the West was behind this. Mubutu, the AMC commander and Kasavubu, drew together to turn against Lumumba. They later turned for protection to the UN, who decided to support Mubutu and Kasavubu. Lumumba organized an attack on the regime, but this was quickly repressed and Lumumba was captured and murdered. The UN Security Council was called into session on 7 December 1960 to consider Soviet demands that the UN seek Lumumba's immediate release, the immediate restoration of Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarming of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo. Hammarskjöld, answering Soviet attacks against his Congo operations, said that if the UN forces were withdrawn from the Congo "I fear everything will crumble."
The United Nations was formed on October 24, 1945, after the Holocaust, to prevent genocide from ever happening again. A cartoon depicted by Michael Sutherland illustrates the unsuccessful intent of the United Nations. The United Nations is pictured standing over the graves of countries and groups that have suffered from genocide. However, many genocides have taken place since the formation of the United Nations (i.e. the Bosnian genocide). Both genocides began as simple misconceptions or dislikes between peoples but ended in tragic and unnecessary murder.
The United Nations was formed shortly before the end of World War II when the League of Nations was deemed useless when it failed to prevent the outbreak of the war. Canada was so obliged to helping UN because they were a part of it when it was formed. Canada alongside the "Big Five" and others, became one of the original members of the peacekeeping and peacemaking UN. It was stated that "Canada has always been a strong supporter of the United Nations and of peacekeeping, and has participated in almost every mission since its inc...
Wallerstein, Immanuel, and Dennis D. Cordell. "Patrice Lumumba (Congolese Politician)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. .
The UN was established on October 24, 1945 by 521 countries. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 by 12 independent nations. Membership is similar in that the members are countries. UN has 188 member countries, while NATO has 19. The Countries that belong to NATO are Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungry, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.
One can easily note the physical and sexual violence brought upon the people (black and white) of Congo after independence, but we must locate the other forms of violence in order to bring the entire story of Patrice Lumumba to light. The director’s attempt at bringing the story of Patrice Lumumba to the “silver screen” had political intentions.
Since the late 1800’s, almost all of Africa had been under European colonial rule, but this changed drastically in 1960. Sixteen African nations gained their independence that year, including the former Belgian Congo, which became the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 30. One of the key personalities that made this possible was Patrice Lumumba, who experienced widespread support in gaining independence and became the first Prime Minister of the DROC. However, he lost much of this support once he was in office, and lasted fewer than 200 days. Lumumba’s ability to communicate was a key reason for his success and failure.
These leaders as well as the rest of the world were glad to see that the Axis force that consisted of Germany, Japan, and Italy was stopped along with their diabolical leaders. To prevent a disaster like this of ever happening again leaders of countries from around the world decided to form the United Nations, which swore to protect humans and all living things alike from man made weapons that have caused so much chaos. At the first United Nations meeting held on January 10th, 1946 the leaders decided that atomic energy should only be used for peaceful, productive purposes and that all weapons of mass destruction or explosives shall be destroyed or locked away forever.
It is in this regard that Patrice Lumumba's determination to achieve genuine independence and to have full control over Congo's resources in order to utilise them to improve the living conditions of our people was perceived as a threat to western interests. To fight him, the US and Belgium used all the tools and resources at their disposal, including the United Nations secretariat, under Dag Hammarskjöld and Ralph Bunche, to buy the support of Lumumba's Congolese rivals , and hired
The League of Nations sounds like a superhero team and in a sense, the goal that The League was trying to achieve could have been something straight out of a comic book. Originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I, The League was born after some alterations. The League of Nations’ main intention was to bring an end to the war and prevent another one of the same atrocious proportions from happening in the future. Forty zealous countries joined this fight, but the most powerful country of all was not among them: The United States of America. While many Americans agreed with the goal of The League, many did not and those that did not were ones in power. The portion of the “mission statement” for The League that caused
every nation in the world belongs to the United Nations. The United Nations has four purposes: to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights; and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations.The United Nations is not a world government though,and it does not make laws.
All out war ensued to the point where the international community had to intervene. The United Nations, Belgium, the United States of America and many other countries all became involved for different reasons. The outcome was the death of countless civilians, leaders like Lumumba and even the untimely death of the United Nations secretary general, Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash en route to mediate the violence.
Fifty-eight years after the signing of the Charter, the world has changed dramatically. Its universal character and comprehensiveness make the United Nations a unique and indispensable forum for governments to work together to address global issues. At the same time, there remains a large gap between aspiration and real accomplishment. There have been many successes and many failures. The United Nations is a bureaucracy that struggles – understandably – in its attempt to bring together 191 countries. It must come at no surprise, therefore, that a consensus cannot always be reached with so many different competing voices.
2. The United Nation idea was first brought to head during World War II, when 26 nations of the world pledged to work together as one. The United Nations was officially operational as of the 24th of October 1951, with a minor 51 countries signing the UN charter. A stable base was set-up in New York.
The League of Nations was an Intergovernmental Organisation which persisted from 1919 up until 1946 where it was formally replaced with the United Nations towards the end of the Second World War. Many consider the League as one of the International Systems greatest failures due to it being widely regarded as an ‘ineffective instrument to tackle aggressors’ (Catterall, 1999, p. 52) and its inherent failure to prevent international conflict. However,
Fifty-one countries established the United Nations also known as the UN on October 24, 1945 with the intentions of preserving peace through international cooperation and collective security. Over the years the UN has grown in numbers to include 185 countries, thus making the organization and its family of agencies the largest in an effort to promote world stability. Since 1954 the UN and its organizations have received the Nobel Peace Prize on 5 separate occasions. The first in 1954 awarded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, for its assistance to refugees, and finally in 1988 to the United Nations Peace-keeping Forces, for its peace-keeping operations. As you can see, the United Nations efforts have not gone without notice.