General overview of the United Nations

The United Nations was created in 1946 at the end of WWII with headquarters in New York. It was created to replace the League of Nations that had failed to prevent two world wars with the hope that it would avert a third world war. The United Nations began with 51 countries with 5 members of the Security Council including Russia, USA, France, Britain and China. Currently, it consists of 192 countries with 15 members in the security council , with 5 countries that made up the council at its creation being permananent plus 10 temporary members. The main organs of the United Nations include the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the Secretariat. These bodies are to cater for peace and security, development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and International Law. It executes its activities through various bodies including the UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNCTAD, WHO, ICJ, FAO and UNEP. Today, 63 years after, the third world war has not occurred, but is this sufficient justification for the United Nations to continue to exist?

Why the United Nations should be dissolved

a. Conflict prevention and resolution

When one watches the news on various TV stations each day, violence from various kinds of conflicts dominate the news. Therefore, despite the fact that there is nothing that can be characterized as a third world war has occurred during the time of existence of the United Nations, conflicts are aplenty around the world. The abundance of conflicts around the world is a clear indication that times have changed and conflicts too, and the United Nations has simply failed to evolve with changing times. It is evident that conventional wars in which countries associated themselves and formed allied camps is long over and has been succeeded by tribal, regional, religious and political ideological conflicts with fighting tactics including the most unconventional that some qualify as guerilla warfare and terrorism. A conflict such as that in the Middle East has been around since the early years of the United Nations without a solution till date. Several other conflicts exist today with various ages including those in Columbia (S. America), Sri Lanka (Asia), and Sudan (Africa). Added to these are more complicated conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Over time, we have also witnessed the genocide in Rwanda and Kosovo. In the western world especially in N. America, conflict has evolved to include “terrorism”, suicide and murder. With all these, there is no way, a body such as the United Nations can be considered useful. We have now returned to the principle of evolution where only the fittest shall survive. The powerful continue to oppress and subjugate the weak with children partaking in conflicts as child soldiers. Instead of finding lasting solutions to these problems, we continue to see perpetrators of injustice meeting in New York and other places under the United Nations to continue to enjoy the wealth of the suffering masses. In fact the United Nations especially in relation to conflicts has become powerless and only watches the strong take action against the week while it resorts to issuing meaningful statements on which it continues to run. People around the world appreciate organizations that aim to provide solutions to their problems and unfortunately, the United Nations is not one of these organizations.

b. Failure to keep its own promises on development and related issues

To further explain why the United Nations should be dissolved is the inability for it to keep to its own promises. Several years ago, it was common to hear from the United Nations about health for all by the year 2000. Whether the spinners and politicians were simply playing for time or some thought the world was going to end in 2000 as some fanatics had suggested is unclear. However, what is apparent is the fact that diseases such as malaria, HIV-AIDS, and more recently various kinds of flu including bird and swine have emerged. While in the past, the WHO would make statements on health issues, of late no one even seems bothered by anything at all. After all, the suffering masses would always continue to make contributions to the United Nations while they remain in misery for eternity. Apart from failing to keep any bit of the promise of health for all by the year 2000, there has also been a clear failure related to climate change. The Kyoto protocol of 1992 was announced as usual with a lot of propaganda as if it was a magic wand that had come to save the Earth, by stopping climate change. Those who expressed doubts about it at the time were labeled with all sorts of names including illiterate by the spin masters. This is 17 years after and even member nations of the United Nations especially that hosting its headquarters has not ratified that protocol. So, what climate change remedies can we be talking about and who can still believe in such a scheme? A third world war should therefore not be what we are waiting for before a body that has outlived its usefulness is dissolved. Nations should take responsibility and fight to enable all their citizens live in dignity. Many Non Governmental Organizations set and achieve goals better than the United Nations and therefore, taxpayers around the world should provide money to bodies that work to help living organisms and the environment. A United Nations whose court of justice selects those it refers to as criminals especially when you are no longer a friend to those making the decisions does not uphold its own mission statement. Furthermore, a United Nations that recently failed to get its own members to attend a conference it organised, let alone reach a consensus statement on racism has certainly outlived its usefulness.