United Nations

United Nations Past and Current History January 2008

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The United Nations started to put its name on the map during 1945. The first meeting of the United Nations happened in San Francisco between 50 delegates. This meeting happened before the United Nations was acclaimed an official organization.

When the representative of about 50 countries met in san fransisco it was call the united nation conference on international organization. Just like all other successful major organizations the United Nations had to draft a plan for structure. After many deliberations it was agreed that the best structure plan had come from the representative of china. Even though china had brought the best plan to the drawing table there were still improvements to be made. Finally on June 26, 1945 all 50 countries called to San Francisco were able to agree, the charter for the United Nations was in place and ready to be used. On October 24, 1945 the United Nations became official.

Still to this day the United Nations runs off the very fist charter drafted in 1945.

The charter for the United Nations is the equivalent of our constitution. The charter sets directs, implements the major principals, sets a moral standard, and states the purpose of the United Nations. The preamble of the charter to the United Nations is a perfect example of what it stands for.

Preamble to the Charter “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

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To establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and To promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, AND FOR THESE ENDS To practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and To unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and To ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and To employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.� (Basic facts about the United Nations, United Nations, pg 4-5) As I read in the Basic Facts of the United Nations purpose of the UN has always been the same despite some minor reform that come with the change in generation and global awareness. The United Nations has always worked to better struggling countries by bringing peace, security, improvement of government, and human right. Since 2001 it has become a much publicized what the problems in Iraq are. When the United Nations stepped into the situation to help the citizens of Iraq the United Nations positions and goal for the country have changed tremendously.

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We all know the United Nations is involved with Iraq but how? What goals & plans has the United Nations made to stabilize Iraq and how have they evolved since 2001. After the terrorist attacks on the world trade centers and the pentagon.

It was in 2001 that the world changed. Many of us were personally affected by the act of terrorism on the world trade centers and pentagon on September 11, 2001. On September 12, 2001 our country was morning the deaths and injures of people close to our hearts killed during the terrorist attacks. While the individuals were in pain the world’s wheels were already in motion on how to fix this new aged act of warfare.

Instantly alkida was number one on the hit list and any country thought to be involved with alkida or even in range of alkida was under close watch. In 2002 Iraq came up as an issue. The United Nations who has the majority of its delegates representing the United States thought Iraq to have been developing “weapons of mass Destruction.” Almost instantly Iraq became a source of evil to the rest of the world. The United Nations being the peace keeper that it always has been was willing to negotiate with the Iraqi government but at the same time took the dominate role in negotiations in fear for global safety. At this time in 2002 the United Nations was still hoping to be able to settle the conflict with Iraq of its detrimental intelligence peacefully but that soon changed in 2003.

The following year, 2003, was when the United Nations believed that the organization had, practiced enough patience with Iraq. The United Nations being a major source of influence along with the United States decided it was time to face the apparent problem in 2003; this is when the war in Iraq began.

March 20, 2003 Iraq the United Nations agreed that the best option was to invade Iraq. The United Nations felt Iraq was unwilling to negotiate with the United Nations

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after many opportunities to peacefully turn over intelligence. Iraq choosing to incorporative and not willing to negotiate was an immediate trigger for the western world, as we were all still living in fear of the Middle East. At the time there was controversy, was the United Nations making the right decision? After all the united nations states that a goal of theirs is to prevent war for future generation. Many people were afraid that the Untied Nations may be acting on their “emotions rater than rational” in the decision made. Was Invading Iraq the right choice for the United Nations? My parent's generation may never see the full consequence of invading Iraq and My generation may never know what the global population does know is that the United Nation’s interactions with Iraq have changed severely since the fist day of Invasion.

All of 2003 the United Nations worked to bring independence to Iraq through military influence. The United Nations wanted to better the lives of the people of Iraq via war. When the United Nations discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction it was a global embarrassment. The United Nations no longer was able to say that they were invading Iraq to save the world. The United Nations had to find other reasons to be stationed in Iraq. The new endeavor for the United Nations was to clean up the chaos that had been created by the war. In 2003 the Iraqi government was beginning to dissolve. Not only had the United Nations assisted in capturing they help to save the day by capturing Dictator Saddam Hussein. The capture of Saddam Hussein was a major accomplishment for the United Nations and the United States. Now that the united nations had fail to prove that there was detrimental intelligence in Iraq but had reestablished themselves by helping to capture Saddam Hussein there was not much more for the united nations to do. The new goal for the United Nations was to clean up the

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mess that had been created by the war. The United Nations ended on December 16, 2003 with the secretary general stating that “political financial and military assistance will be required for some time to come.” (Remarks to the Security Council on Iraq, Security Council, pg 3) After a long rocky year of being at war with many lives lost fighting, the United Nations was able to make its first major accomplishment; Iraq was now an independent country. The immediate next step in the right direction determined by the United Nations was to bring security to the country. The United Nations starts to work with Iraq to lay down a new foundation that Iraq will be able to grow from. Most of 2004 was spent stabilizing Iraq enough to be able to hold an election.

This is when the United Nations began to see opportunities opening for them in.

Now that the former government of Iraq had dissolved the United Nations saw this as a prime opportunity to install a democratic government in Iraq. The hardest part for the United Nations was not placing people in positions leadership but teaching the people of Iraq how a democratic government functions. Iraq held its first elections as a democratic country in 2005. This was an exciting year for the United Nations and people of Iraq, it was the first time that they would be able to have a say in there government. The United Nations had made it over one hurdle by helping Iraq to become an independent country but was now faced with a totally new hurdle. The United Nations in 2005 was adamantly working to get the populations of Iraq involved with its government. It was truly a struggle for the United Nations when the elections came about as it was a time that would set the future for Iraq, the only problem was is that the Iraqi people were not used to being involved in the government and need to be educated and prompted to get actively

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involved. The United Nations worked day and night recruiting people to the polls but that wasn’t all, there was also fear. It became clear to the United Nations that Iraq being a country struggling to get back on its feet with many groups fighting over different view that there was a possibility that someone or some group would attempt to sabotage the elections. The United Nations secretary general responded to the fear of Iraq’s people and the United Nations originations fear by making a statement of “…those who seek to disrupt the democratic process, let me say that there can never be justifications for murder and intimidations of voters, candidates and elections workers. Don’t deny Iraqis who choose to vote their right to do so in freedom and safety.” (Statement on elections, Security Council, pg 1) Changing the government in Iraq was not enough it became obvious to the United Nations that the democratic government was unstable because Iraqi people were not accustomed to it. The United Nations set out to teach the people in Iraq how a democratic government works. As part of teaching the people of Iraq it became clear that the citizens had to learn what new right they had. This was a difficult time for the United Nations in the Iraqi politics scene. Since a new government in Iraq was out into place many of the leading sources of power in the war felt that they had it under controls so this was the time that the United Nations really pushed to show they need to be in Iraq helping. Many other powers of the war such as the United States was trying to push the United Nations out of Iraq feeling that Iraq really needed many sources to learn from the United Nations put full force effort into reaching out to the people teaching how democratic government should work. Luckily the United Nations was able to stand strong and put there voice into the development of Iraq. The united nations complete 2005

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feeling hopeful and enthusiastic about Iraqis new future. Iraq now was independent and a brand new president.

Once the people of Iraq started to understand and learn the ins and outs of a democratic government works and started to understand that the majority group is the most heard. In 2006 many of the secular groups in Iraq started to quarrel with each other.

Despite the United Nations best efforts to make the everyday living of people in Iraq better its wasn’t getting better. The secular groups of Iraq had figured out that it was important to be the loudest voice and were willing to achieve that through violence.

Secular groups in Iraq had taken it over the top to the point where people of Iraq were living in a daily fear of secular violence. This caused a new problem for the United Nations Iraq had just become independent and now was on the verge of a civil war in 2006. The religious groups were fight to gain control of majority and things became violent to the point of almost breaking out in a civil war. Once again Iraq was in a state of despair. The United Nations thought that it would be best intervene with emergency steps to seize the violence. Earlier in 2006 the United Nations was afraid of being deemed useless by other organizations occupying Iraq. The violence was a blessing in disguise for the United Nations because who better to handle this problem than the peace keeper of the world; the United Nations. By intervening the conflict between the secular groups with the intent to stop the violence the United Nations once again to the role of peacekeeper. After the emergency actions were taken by the United Nations it had become clear that Iraq still needed a lot of help. The United Nations drafted a plan for unity between the Iraqi people. For the continuation of 2006 the United Nations focused on carrying out the plan of unity. The secular group needed to learn to live together. The

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United Nations worked on unifying the different secular groups learn to live together.

This is a conflict that will always need to be work on with or with out the help of the United Nations because as we all know religious conflict can go on for an eternity. As history has shown us not one religious war has come to a peaceful agreement still to this day. At the end of all this United Nations took an alternative look at the problems in Iraq.

The united nations started to realize once again that the lives of people in Iraq were still quite difficult and causing a lot of grief. The united nations came up with the idea that after the initial unity plan they would start to focus on improving the lives of the people in Iraq in hopes to lessen the violence happening. The view that the United Nations took is that if the everyday lives of people improve that there might not be so much violence, that it won’t matter who is the major but that the people of Iraq are comfortable.

In 2007 the United Nations decided it was time to start working hand in hand with the Iraq government in order to make improvement. The United Nations started to change its focus from peacekeeping after they felt that the basic stability of the country and government was in place. The United Nations became available to work on bigger better goals. The bigger better goal of 2007 was the International Compact. The inter nations compact is similar to the set up of the United Nations new millennium goals. The international compact was developed over a year span working with the Iraq government, World Bank and compact preparatory group. When it came down to it the international compact laid out a clear path to improvement. The international compact is a five year plan that the United Nations feels sets a vision for Iraq that will expedite reform in the security, politics, economics, and normalization of Iraq. When agreeing to the international compact the Iraq prime minister, niuri al-maliki gave his word to follow a

Adelita O’Dell-Morrow 10 legislative timetable proposed by the united nations to strengthen the Iraq unity, Through the international compact it would be able to hold the Iraq prime minister and government accountable for completing the goals set by the united nations, Iraq and many other countries when drafting the international compact. When giving a speech may 3 2007 the secretary general made and great motivational comment about the international compact that summarizes what it is all about “As I saw for myself during my recent visit to Baghdad, Iraq faces immense challenges. We cannot leave Iraq on its own to cope with them. It is essential that we do our utmost to help the Iraqi people build a secure, peaceful, unified, federal and democratic nation, founded on the principles of freedom and equality. It is in our collective interest to see Iraq at peace with itself, and fully integrated in the region and the wider international community. The International Compact lays out the road ahead, and I am confident that together, we can ensure the success of this important initiative.” (International compact, launch of international compact, pg3) Through the international compact participants would have to meet regularly to report on the progress and critique what is working about the compact and what is not. This was a time of trial and error for the United Nations and the first major step towards substantial progress.

The united nation now feeling confident in 2008 with the progress that IT has made with the international compact after one year decided to go back asses the actions that they have taken. The United Nations found that despite the progress there were still some alterations that need to be made to the international compact. Though taking a deeper look at how the international compact has work since 2007 the United Nations sees that they should “…look into expanding diplomatic and trade relations, promoting investments and undertaking joint project.” (Closing remarks, annual review, pg 2) the

Adelita O’Dell-Morrow 11 United Nations see that the lives of people in Iraq are not improving despite the efforts put forth by the United Nations. The general secretary of the united nations make a great point that Iraq is a resource rich country but still needs help that the united nations can provide until Iraq is able to stand on its own. The assessment of the international compact showed that some things needed to be added, at the annual review of the international compact it was voted on to add ways to expand diplomacy and joint projects and the final draft was renamed “Stockholm Declaration” and approved. Now in 2008 the United Nations is working on a new plan that would hopefully improve economical development in Iraq creating ideally a chain reaction of putting money and material need into the hands of the Iraqi people. Part of the plan for that is being developed this year is really tapping into the material sources that Iraq has since it has become obvious to the world that Iraq is a very material rich country and can benefit from that.

Since 2001 the United Nations goal with Iraq has changed severely. The organization went from believing that war would help to liberate the people of Iraq to almost causing a civil war between the Iraqi people. The one thing that the United Nations has done well is being solution oriented. Every setback that comes along the United Nations puts forward effort into fixing. The United Nations has gone full force into Iraq with the goal of helping the citizens. Overall the goals of the united nations has been able to feel that they have made the world safer now that they found out there is not weapons of mass destruction or safety jeopardizing intelligence, and help the people suffering in Iraq. As time has passed it shows that the more familiar the united nations becomes with Iraq’s problems the better they are able to make efficient plans to help.

Adelita O’Dell-Morrow 12 Works Cited Book Thomas, Cullen. U.S. national debate topic, 2004-2005 : the United Nations. 1. Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson, 2004.

Rittberger, Volker. Global governance and the United Nations system . 1. Tokyo ; New York : United Nations University Press, 2001.

Carment and Schnabel, David and Albrecht . Conflict prevention : path to peace or grand illusion?. Tokyo ; New York : United Nations University Press, 2003.

Cooper, English, and Thakur, Andrew, John, and Ramesh. Enhancing global governance : towards a new diplomacy?. Tokyo ; New York : United Nations University Press, 2002.

United Nations Editor, Basic Facts about the United Nations. New York: United Nations, 1998.

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Secretary General, "Iraq." High Level Meeting 18 Sep 2006 3. 12 Oct 2008 <http://wwww.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2208>.

Secretary General, "International Compact." Launch of International Compact 3 May 2007 3. 12 Oct 2008 <http://wwww.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2548>.

Secretary General, "Closing Remarks." Annual Review 29 May 2008 2. 12 Oct 2008 <http://wwww.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3192>.