Reema Shaukat
In the world of conflicts, there always remains a need for some platform where all can mediate about their conflicts, have difference of opinion and generate options for a solution. One such forum is United Nations Organization, which is a representative of almost all countries around the globe. The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission which is maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict, helping parties in conflict make peace, peacekeeping and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play an important role along with other UN offices and bodies.
This organization with its several adjacent branches is working day and night with focus on its respective agendas and assigned tasks throughout the continents. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law. Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities. Similarly one of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is “to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character.” The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild. The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone. Another concerned area by UN is promotion of sustainable development and improving people’s well-being. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development – development that promotes prosperity and economic opportunity, greater social well-being, and protection of the environment – offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere. Another attainment which UN attributes to its charter is being custodian of international law. The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective, “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”. Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization. This work is carried out in many ways like courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties or by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security and it seems necessary. These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty, an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound to abide it. The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of states to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.
With its headquarters in New York, USA, this organization was established on 24th of October 1945 and it is going to celebrate its 72 years of existence in year 2017. It consists of five organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice and the Secretariat. In addition, it has several specialized agencies like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNIDO, ILO, FAO, WHO, UPU, ITU, ICAO, IMF and the World Bank group. The two olive branches, which symbolizes peace, can be seen on the UN emblem, thus the world celebrates United Nations day every October 24 to honour the interstate organization promoting human rights, social progress, and world peace. Pakistan officially joined the United Nations on 30 September 1947 just over a month after its independence and today, it is a charter member and participates in all of the UN’s specialised agencies and organisations. Pakistan as a responsible member of United Nations also rendered its services to UN missions for peace. Pakistan’s commitment with the UN for promoting international peace and stability sprouts from the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan’s role in peacekeeping efforts began in 1960 when it deployed its first contingent in the UN operations in Congo. Over the past 56 years Pakistan has contributed unfailingly for peace efforts internationally. Pakistan’s efforts to serve humanity are visible from the fact that being largest giver over the years more than 160,000 troops in 41 missions are spreaded over 23 countries in almost all continents. Despite the fact that Pakistan Army is playing a vital role in the restoration of peace in its own country and face tough situation in the wake of war against terrorism, yet their services towards global peace efforts are highly commendable. They are fighting fearlessly against miscreants inside country though their large number is working overseas in peace missions too.
Many critiques consider UN as powerless organization thinking that it has not done much particularly in case of Palestine and Kashmir. The right of veto to power states generate troubles for rest of countries but at the same time this veto holds authority to prevent super powers going for an inclusive world war. Many of the continents are neglected and have low representation in UN forums. Likewise out of 193 countries as its members, 51 are Muslim countries among them. Although number is less than half, still some strong economies of Muslim world have much say in UN. Despite some challenges and shortcomings in its structure because of selective representation around the globe with some areas getting minor share, UN has remained a global platform for all countries. Therefore, certain improvements in its organizational structure and more influential powers can make this organization worthy of solving decades old disputes.
