Measures to Restructure the Un
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To restructure something: is to make a basic change, in an organization or a system, for example. The United Nations is an organization that needs a lot of restructuring. It has been accused of many things including corruption, fraud, and others, due to the way they handle -or do not handle-matters. When the UN does not respond to an issue right away, it creates bigger problems, and a lot of consequences; the UN has to learn to be quicker to be more effective. Corruption is a serious matter the UN is facing, especially after the recent scandals, this has got to change; if it does not, then the organization will be on the road to failure. Human rights is a very important factor in everyday life, the UN should start taking measures in making these rights be respected by all, no exceptions. As was mentioned, a few of the many reasons why the UN requires drastic changes is because they sometimes take too long in responding to issues, it has been charged of having corrupt organizations, and has not been able to promote human rights as well as they should have.
The best way to solve a problem is by acting fast, which is something the UN is not doing in some cases, and gives more reasons for why the UN should ameliorate. An example of the UN not reacting quickly enough is the former Yugoslavia incident. Between 1991 and 2001 there was a series of fierce conflicts, which affected all of the six former Yugoslav republics. It was due to ethnic conflicts between the peoples, but also political conflicts between these republics. These wars were both civil and international. This totaled to about a death of 300,000 people. (“Teaching about Conflict”). This was a horrible massacre, that may have been stopped, or prevented, if the UN would have acted on it earlier. Another example is the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, in which about 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in 100 days. The Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, “The events in Rwanda 10 years ago were especially shameful. The international community clearly had the capacity to prevent those events, but failed to summon the will. . . . We must ensure that we never again fail to summon the will.”(“The world reflects…”) What Annan was regretfully trying to say was that this racial extermination could have easily been prevented, but their lack of structure and agility created a disgraceful disaster. He states that there must be something done to prevent another disaster such as this from happening again.
Corruption would be the least thing you expect from an organization that was formed to promote peace, security and economic development; which is a reason the UN should restructure. A few of the UNs organizations have been accused of being corrupt. One of these is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have dropped out from it because of accusations of its immoral and dishonest actions. The US withdrew in 1984, because they discovered that their funds were being misused. They found out a large sum of the money was being used to support collectivists, or going to the pockets of the Director-General (“U.S. Should…”). This type of corruption should be unacceptable in the UN organization because the whole point of the UN is to make the world a better place, a task impossible if they keep on creating new problems by pulling these kinds of stunts. This is not the only thing the U.S. does not agree on with the UN. The U.S. Congress has recouped on many on its dues, due to their claim that the UN wastes the money, and does not take advantage of what it has, also due to its claims of corruption in the organization. The Oil-For-Food Programme is another corrupt desition the UN made. This programme traded Iraqi oil for humanitarian supplies. It turns out that corruption, covetousness, and bribes “took over”. Saddam Hussein was keeping millions and corrupting companies, while his people were famished; and the UN was making millions in kickback. In this scandal, Kojo Annan (Kofi Annan, the Secretary Generals son), was under investigation for being involved (“The Incompetent…”). These types of actions are intolerable, which creates a huge demand for restructure, and reform.
One of the most important objectives of the UN has been promoting human rights; a factor that continues to be violated by authorities worldwide, in a huge way, urging reform. First of all, all people are born free and equal, everyone has the right to live, and to not be put to any type of torture. Everyone has the right to freedom of thoughts and religion, and ideals; and the list goes on and on. These points of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are not always followed, which makes reform in the application of Human Rights even more necessary(“Universal Declaration…”). There are people around the world who will still capture innocent people to torture and rape them; which interferes with their rights. Unfortunately not everyone is treated equally, there are still many people who make judgments due to a persons race, ideals, nationality, etc, which is really sad because the world has advanced so much technologically and educationally, but there are still people living with that discriminative old-fashioned way of thinking. “Without human rights, no peace and no prosperity will ever last…Our mission is simple: to make every day matter in the