On the United Nations

     The United Nations (UN) is an international organization with the sole purpose of promoting peace and justice. I find it disappointing that the human race is capable of mucking up something with such good intentions so much. The UN is controlled mainly by the "big five," namely China, America, Russia, the UK, and France. Not much can happen in the organization without unanimous approval from them. You can imagine that's a problem.

United Nations Flag

     It's hard enough to get the U.S. and Russia to play nice together on the best of days. When you throw in three other nations and an entire planet to run, things get messy, and people get screwed over. Take Rwanda for instance. Twenty years ago, Rwanda had a massive genocide take place that costed the nation up to one million lives, or 20% of its entire population. This was the result of years worth of racial and political tensions and a massive failure of the international community.

     The United Nations mission in Rwanda during the conflict was led by Romeo Dallaire, a man who did everything in his power to prevent the deaths of thousands. When knowledge of a giant arms stash was uncovered, Dallaire urged the UN to take action and dispose of the weapons. We warned of the oncoming genocide long before it truly began. There were several opportunities in which the UN could have helped, but its members completely ignored the massacre. This was a grave crime against humanity that could very well have been prevented. It wasn't.

     North Korea is widely known for its oppressive government and its citizens' deprivation of basic human rights. Lucky for the leaders of its regime, however, they have China as an ally. Countless times, someone has tried to shed light on the grave situation in North Korea, only to have their findings swept under the rug at the UN. Thanks to China's incredible influence within the organization, it isn't able to defend the basic human rights it stands for in North Korea.

     The UN is broken. It can't govern itself, nor defend those in need. It's highly biased towards the "big five," and it has no proper military force of its own. It can't defend its principles, nor can it enforce its own laws. The highest international organization in the world has been reduced to a debate hall (and I'm being generous when I say that.) It needs some major reforms to ensure that it becomes a level playing field for all the nations of the world to work together towards peace. It needs to be able to protect human rights and those suffering all around the world.

The UN was meant to be a shining beacon of equality and hope in the vast darkness of international politics. That didn't happen, though it could still. We all need to work together to create a world where every person has the right to live, to free though and speech.  We're all part of one big global community in this super-connected age, and we all have to do our part to support it.

     What are your thoughts on the United Nations and human rights? Please share you ideas and feedback in the comments below, or contact me directly at contemplationsblog@gmail.com. And don't forget to check out Contemplations on Facebook and Google+.