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The United Nations: How it all started
It was on October 24, 1945 when the United Nations was formed, with the hope of efficient prevention of another world war. The organization was formed by the four nations that had waged war on the Axis Powers—the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (Russia), China, United States and Great Britain. The original United Nations Charter was written in June 1945, and 50 countries have agreed to it and gave their signatures. Promoting peace and human dignity—that’s what the organization is all about. It lives up to this principal aim so as to eliminate the problems that may lead to international conflict, and worse, to wars. As decades pass, the goals of the UN have been expanded. Today, other goals such as economic and social development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, peace and security, and international laws are also included in the UN Charter (Olson, Roux and Mesec 2005).
The strength and efficiency of the UN had been through different tests. The UN had been there when Israel established its independent state, and had been the mediator when the act stirred conflict with the Palestine. Peacekeepers of the organization also tried to hush the rage brought about by the Berlin Blockade. And it has proven its reliability in its involvement in the refugee relief during the Korean War. Just this past decade, the world witnessed how the UN had to intervene when terrorism expanded worldwide. There are also atrocities in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Bosnia, civil conflicts in El Salvador, Cambodia and Guatemala, and disputes within countries such as the Philippines and China that the UN had to deal with (Olson, Roux and Mesec 2005).
The organization found a way to increase cooperation among its member states, and that was through international conferences. Such conferences were sponsored by the organization in order to have wider awareness of the problems that the world might encounter in the future. Such conferences did not only involve participating states, but as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), citizens, members of the academe, and representatives of the business sector. These people helped produce environmental and financial treaties, reaffirmed security commitments, made declarations through these conferences. This resulted to increased international cooperation. The conferences covered various issues. It definitely stirred heated debates such as those on Human Rights, proposals for Social Development, researches about the Environment, recent problems on Human Settlements, and new laws regarding Women. One example of these conferences is the Millennium Summit, which was held in September 2000 (in New York) resulted in a declaration of aims and values for the new century. These so-called “millennium goals” include promotion of gender equality, reduction of child mortality, eradication of extreme poverty, and achievement of universal primary education (UN Website, n.d.). A follow-up Summit was held in New York, in September 2005 to check and evaluate the progress that were made toward attaining the mentioned goals (Olson, Roux and Mesec 2005).
Rwanda: Then and Now
In a matter of about a hundred days in the year 1994, there were more or less 800,000 people who were killed as a result of the civil war and genocide in Rwanda. Thousands of Rwandese were abused both physically and psychologically. More than two million citizens fled to neighboring countries and hundreds became displaced within Rwanda. The genocide had long been over, but the country continues to experience economic loss years after it.
The international community held hands and gave joint effort in finding solution to the Rwandan problems. About $1 Billion were collected from contributing countries, but only about one-third was spent in Rwanda. The rest was spent on asylum countries.
Today, Rwanda faces a lot of problems, and being a country with a really small income, it depends on the international security for special programs that will focus on:
- Problems on malnutrition-Thousands of Rwandese suffer from malnutrition.
- Problems on agriculture-A lot of lands were not being used wisely; either they are left for landlords who are absent from the country, or they are left as idle assets.
- Problems on education- Rwanda has a very low literacy rate. Primarily because the government don’t have much budget on education.
- Problems on security – More budget was given to food than on the countries armed forces.
The United Nations, being an authority on the international community becomes an instrument of welfare and peace. But just how efficient was the organization in dealing with the Problems of Rwanda?
United Nations and Rwanda
The Food and Agriculture Organization was founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations in the year 1945. The fundamental goal of this special agency of the UN is to lower the levels of malnutrition and raise the quality of living in the rural areas. This is to eventually cause improvement of the people.
FAO is currently the biggest of the UN specialized agencies. It is hailed the leader in the development of the agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and livestock. It also takes part in the overall development of the rural areas. The FAO currently has 187 member countries.
It was in 1985 when FAO opened its Representation in Rwanda. It aims to help the Rwandan Government in solving the problems of agriculture, especially in the rural areas. Having the mandate of supporting the country’s ongoing programs and developing new ones, the FAO lent its hand to the Rwandan Government. Through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAGRI), a National Document of a Special Program of Food Security (SPFS) was made. According to the FAO website, the organization is also supporting the Kigali Municipality in the same manner. They aided in making the Project of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture happen by having the Italian Government and Rome Municipality finance it. The organization also promoted Telefood projects in Rwanda by introducing one of the technologies of Micro-Garden throughout the city.
One of the cases which made serious setbacks on food security is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The FAO prepared on Assistance Program in Nutrition and Feeding of the HIV/AIDS infected areas. This was done to supplement other types of humanitarian aid that were being given throughout the country. The FAO searches for its own funds for maintaining the operations of the programs mentioned above.
The FAO also assisted Rwanda, when it prepared a National Investment to “pillars” that were believed to create difference in Rwanda’s situation. The Three reinforcing proposals are:
- “Extending the area covered by sustainable land development and management and water control systems that are reliable”.
- “Improving infrastructures in the rural areas, as well as the trade-related capacities for optimum market access”
- “Increasing the supply of food to reduce hunger”
Apart from that, the FAO also aided Rwanda in being a part of the National Forestry Programs’ support mechanisms. It is conducting a study on a participatory mechanism that will reintegrate demobilized soldiers. This program organizes income-generating activities to help these soldiers.
The organization also participates in the crop assessments that were done every season. It is also always present in the donor meetings to co-ordinate assistance in Rwanda. FAO also assists the Rwandan Government in reinforcing the National Alliance against Hunger.
Review of Related Literature
UN’s Inefficiency in Solving International Problems
An article that was written by Olson, Roux and Mesec in 2005 discussed the problems of the organization. According to the article The United Nations: What is not working?, the limitations of the UN had been more evident when the Cold War had ended. It has been accused of several failures:
- It committed failure in the enforcement of the 17 resolutions against Saddam. It allegedly neglected Saddam’s ejection of UN weapons inspectors, enabled him to stay in power by turning the other cheek as the dictator exploited Oil for Food.
- It also failed to utilize its peacekeepers already in place to halt the Rwanda genocide back in 1994.
- The organization also committed failure in stopping the massacre of African Muslims in the Sudan’s Darfur province.
- It has also failed to analyze or intervene in the Iranian and North Korean violations of nuclear non-proliferation agreements.
According to Olson, Roux and Mesec (1995), its own ideology and respect for national sovereignty as well as national boundaries complicate the UN’s human rights advocacy. Such respect is usually in conflict with the in-country tensions. The article also stated that the UN and Kofi Annan have been accused of mismanagement and incompetence.
Although the article may not be questioned by the facts it had presented, it can be seen that it lacks critical analysis. It has laid the accusations against the organization but did not include a comprehensive analysis of what exactly went wrong within the system. Because of this, another paper, which focused on the UN’s inefficiency in solving international security problems, had also been reviewed.
Russett and Sutterlin (1991) wrote “The UN in a New World Order”. It has stated that:
“…the lack of a standing force means that enforcement has always had to be improvised. However, in cases involving major commitment, such as the Gulf War, such an approach ‘is not likely to be viable unless the vital interests of one or more major military powers is at risk’…”(Russett and Sutterlin 1991).
According to the article, this is one of the limitations, which detracts from the worldwide security missions of the UN (Russett and Sutterlin 1991).
Not only did the latter article posed comprehensive analysis of the organization’s weakness when it comes to security, it also pinpointed a major mistake of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, that is, its refusal to “search for improved mechanisms and techniques”, thinking that this would be of little significance (United Nations Website 1995).
No work was found that evaluated the efficiency of the UN in dealing with the problems of Rwanda, specifically. Although it can be clearly seen, from the previous articles that the UN cannot just solve everything all at once. However, if some of the problems takes time and if indeed the UN took its time in solving it, another insurgency might happen.
A Critical Analysis
Like any other organization aimed to promote peace between countries, the United nations is obviously having a hard time compromising one member’s rights and another member’s responsibilities. It has been efficient in terms of preventing international wars, but as was stated in previously, it had displayed such efficiency in solving in-county conflicts. This probably happened because of the organization’s lack of provisions when it comes to insurgencies. And the cases of insurgencies actually depend on the economy, governance and tradition of every member country. The thing is, would the organization go as far as intervening in such cases?
A number of factors certainly made it difficult for the organization to handle in-country conflicts. First, the Charter provided the extent to which the organization should intervene, and such limitations are still bound to different interpretations. Second, each member country has its own security force, and policies that are directly addressed to this problem, and not every country would allow “outsiders” to play god in their own territory. The United Nations apparently have not yet learned how to combine and compromise.
One concrete example of the organization’s failure to efficiently handle security issues is its action after the cold war. After the cold war, the UN had doubled the number of its peacekeeping missions since 1989. However, despite such increase, the organization’s efforts to deliver humanitarian aid and to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the civil war in Bosnia were repeatedly hindered by the unwillingness of the parties to coordinate. Immediate failures at peacekeeping were very obvious. The conflict became violent, involving large amount of casualties—parties took arms, violated human rights, and took hostages. It had not been expected by the UN that their intervention might cause conflict between the protagonist countries in the long run (Diehl, Reifschneider and Hensel 1996).
Now what is lacking? Could there be a serious negligence on the part of the organization in terms of considering the needs of each party? Of course the UN made sure everything in the system is thoroughly evaluated. What might be missing is its understanding of the differences in the interpretation of its intervention. It might be very helpful internationally, but it might just worsen the case, if it tries to intervene in a local conflict. The context of a particular country must be well understood, not on the perspective of an outsider. An inner perspective is needed. Therefore, the UN lacks an understanding of each of its members states. It will never be efficient in solving in-country conflicts if it insists on acting as a global authority.
As for its efficiency in solving the problems of Rwanda, from an outsider’s point of view, nothing has changed. Nothing had improved. The claws of capitalism continue to grip the country as first world millionaires use “humanitarian aid” as an excuse to buy lands and establish industries in the country. Citizens were exploited continuously. It is not very evident to the organization how the same member country ‘helps’ while pinching off some of Rwanda’s treasures. The UN not only has to be more careful, it has to be more critical, especially in their programs concerning post-war countries like Rwanda.
Works Cited
Diehl, P. F., Reifschneider, J. & Hensel, P. (1996). United Nations Intervention and Recurrent Conflict. The MIT Press.
Olson, E., Roux, A. & Mesec P. (2005). The United Nations: What is not working? In The United Nations: A Short Review.
Russett, B. & Sutterlin, J.S. (1991). The UN in a New World Order. From Foreign Affairs.
The United Nations Website (1995). Supplement to an Agenda for peace: Position Paper of The Secretary-General on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations.
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