“Chief responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security lies with the Security Council. It is therefore essential to its legitimacy that its membership reflect the state of the world.”
– French President Chirac’s address to the United Nations General Assembly.
Objective
The focus of this paper is on the United Nations Security Council reform issue. It will start by giving some history on the United Nations charter and the Security Council. This background will set up a discussion on the past and present proposals to reform the Security Council. I will also offer analysis on the feasibility of these reform proposals. I will then discuss what the key countries think about Security Council reform.
Background
United Nations Background
The United Nations was born out of the turmoil of two devastating world wars. It was established in the hopes that a strong international organization could foster enough cooperation between nations in order to prevent future conflicts. In 1945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August and October of 1944. The Charter was signed on June, 26 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. Since then the United Nations has grown significantly. The United Nations General Assembly now consists of 191 Member States.
The predecessor of the United Nations was the ill-fated League of Nations, which was conceived under similar circumstances after World War I. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent World War II.
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.
Security Council Background
The Security Council of the United Nations has the primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.
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 illustrated the unsuccessful intent of the United Nations. The United Nations is pictured standing over many 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 misconception or dislike between peoples but ended in tragic and unnecessary murder. The Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide had many similarities and differences in their course of events. Unfortunately, genocides like the Jewish Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide still continue to happen today.
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...
56% of divorces in America, which translates to roughly 500,000 divorces each year, are caused by one party’s addiction to pornography. There are many consequences of pornography addiction that lead to divorce between couples. One of the main consequences of...
Ngai, Mae M., and Jon Gjerde. "A Cuban Flees to the United States, 1979." Major Problems in American Immigration History: Documents and Essays. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. 528-531. Print.
Gaucher’s disease is a rare childhood disease that has many effects on the patient and family including, financial, spiritual, physical, emotional, psychosocial, cultural, and community influences. Caring for a patient with Gauchers disease is complex and individualized. With no treatment available, managing symptoms of Gaucher disease is the only treatment. Creating a plan, identifying strategies to achieve the goals, and evaluating the outcome allows the patient, family and nurse to identify areas of improvement and what is working well already.
Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our environment, severely polluting oceans, beaches, forests, and even the towns and cities we live in. In the ocean alone, it is believed that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic pollutes the waters (“Plastic Statistics”, Ocean Crusaders).The majority of plastic pollution can be traced back to single-use items, such as grocery bags, bottles, and plastic packaging. According to United Nations Environment, “At the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish…” (“UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic”, UN Environment). This pollution is a major problem and endangers not only the environment, but human
In conclusion, it has been shown that pornography does indeed ruin relationships and is shown by the argument, which is much stronger, then the counterargument. There may be some good benefits to using pornography but more often than not it always seems to ruin more relationships. Pornography may be every where and available to almost everyone and it may never go away and relationships will continue to be ruined. In the future people should learn to accept life the way it should be without all of the superficial parts of it. In the end it will be able to help them, to have a much healthier relationships that last much longer. The government should make a law to ban all types of pornography in order to try and save more relationships. As a result of this the divorce when then be lowered.
...ractices of other branches of power that the UN cannot grasp upon. In contrast, the virtues of the UN remain undeniably consistent throughout history, but the powers and legislative action the organization fluctuates due to the constant uprising of conflict. However, throughout the history of the 20th century and post Cold – War conflict, the organization's extensiveness has increased, such through the actions of the Non-proliferation treaty of nuclear weapons, and the ongoing tasks of UN Peacekeeping missions. These actions reflected upon the UN fiasco of the Cold War, demonstrate the emerging “politico-economic” society, by laying a prodigious impact of the world via its numerous stretches of the organization.
Italy is mostly mountainous, but there are also plains, hills, and forests located in Italy. The main rivers in Italy are the Po, the Arno,and the Tiber. The main mountain ranges are the Apennines and the Alps. In northern Italy, temperatures can reach below freezing during the winters, with snow in the northernmost areas near Switzerland. The summers in northern Italy are very hot and humid. Central Italy has a mild climate throughout all of th...
1. As far as peace keeping methods go, the reputation of the United Nations is very pitiable. This is not only because they have not been doing their job to it’s fullest extent, but also because the member states on the security council haven’t given the UN the power it needs if it is to be a successful force in peace keeping methods.
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that was established to enhance international co-operation. One of its key principal organs is the Security Council that is mainly concerned with decisions and resolutions for peace and security. It is charged with maintaining peace and security among countries and has the power to make biding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out under the terms of charter article 25. The Security Council is made up of 15 member states; consisting 5 permanent members and 10 non members. It is only the permanent members who have the veto powers over UN resolutions. Australia, a temporally member, was elected to serve a two year term in the UN Security Council from 2013. Its election seemed to indicate a new era of international influence.
The process of reforming the United Nations (UN) has been a highly debatable issue among the international community. Since the initial signing of the UN Charter in 1945, the world has changed dramatically as the UN is trying to regulate a forum that assesses and deals with global issues while also struggling to unite all 193 member states of the UN when some states have been seen to have conflicting ideas and personal agendas (Teng, 2003, pp. 2-3). This essay is targeted to highlight what I feel are the most pressing arguments for UN reform amongst the international community. This will be done by highlighting the problems and ongoing issues surrounding the lack of representation and P5 power of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), arguing that the UNSC is out of date and controlled egotistically. This essay will also highlight the humanitarian aspect of the UN and the role it plays in meeting and solving complex global problems. This will be done by showing reform propositions in the aforementioned councils in the UN in hopes of showing how reform will be achieved.
Renee Cho, a journalist for the State if the Planet, studied what occurs to all the plastic after consumers throw their plastic products out, "It's estimated that there are also hundreds of millions of plastic debris floating around in the oceans threatening the health and safety of marine life." Landfills are increasingly gaining size because of the amount of plastic we use to create out products as it is not biodegradable. Plastic can take more than one thousand years to degrade and can only be recycled through a lengthy expensive process. There also are large islands of plastic waste currently in our oceans, collected together by ocean gyres. Marine wildlife mistake these plastic products as food and ingest them, either killing or injuring themselves. The plastic pollution causes harm and endangers our
United Nations (1945). Charter of the United nations. Retrieved from U.S. Govt. Print. Off. website: https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml
The United Nations has made many achievements since the agreement made in 1945. The efforts of the UN helped end the apartheid in South Africa allowing the citizens of South Africa equal participation in the Elections of April 1994 followed by a consensus in choosing a form of government. 90 percent of children in developing countries attend school and 60 percent of adults in these countries can read and write thanks to the UN and the struggle to improve education in developing countries. Over 300 international treaties have been created through United Nations efforts to strengthen international law. These achievements and many others encourage people like myself to promote and praise the United Nations.