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Role of the United Nations as a Global Law Enforcement Agency

Introduction

The United Nations (UN) was founded in the year 1945 and was preceded by the League of Nations (LON), an organization that was conceived at the time of World War I to resolve international disputes in an amicable manner. The League of Nations was set up under the Treaty of Versailles with the intention of promoting international cooperation among countries and helping them to achieve peace and security (Bertrand, 1997, p. 29). However, it proved to an ineffective organization during the First World War and was soon replaced with the United Nations. The United Nations borrowed all the key concepts and ideas from its predecessor - it too worked towards the resolution of conflicts between nations and the promotion of peace and security around the world. It aimed to establish concrete democratic, social, economic and political foundations (Bertrand, 1997, p. 29).

The United Nations has 15 member states and five among these, namely China, France, Great Britain, Russia and United States, possess the power to veto. The United Nations is a multi-dimensional organization that boasts six fundamental organs - United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Secretariat (SEC), General Assembly (GA), Trusteeship (TRU), Economic and Social Council (ESC), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Among these, the most powerful organs are the Security Council and the General Assembly (Bertrand, 1997, p. 29). This paper highlights some of the most significant successes and disappointing failures of the United Nations and attempts to establish whether the global peacekeeping and law enforcement organization has been successful in its noble endeavors or has been a disappointment.

Discussion

The United Nations was founded in the days that followed the end of the Second World War. The motto of the organization was to promote amicable conflict resolution, peace and security around the world. It also aimed to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes against humanity were brought to justice and held accountable for their actions (Kelsen, 2000, p. 33). However, the important question that has echoed in the minds of countless people over the past decade or more is: has the UN really proved to be a successful organization? Many countries around the world, particularly underdeveloped third world nations, hold popular sentiment that the UN is an instrument used by the powerful nations to further their international agenda (Boulden, 2003, p. 47). This leads many people to question whether the world needs the United Nations.

In order to answer the critical question of exactly how successful or unsuccessful the United Nations has been in maintaining peace and security around the world, it is imperative that the successes and failures of the organization are taken into account (Boulden, 2003, p. 47). Proponents of United Nations are quick to defend it by highlighting as its major achievement the prevention of another devastating world war which would inevitably be catastrophic for the entire world (Bertrand, 1997, p. 29). They also cite that the organization has been instrumental in ensuring ...