2.4 - UN

Question 1

What is the UN?

Answer 1

• IGO
• 130 members
• created in 1945

Question 2

What is the purpose and focus of the UN?

Answer 2

• created to prevent another global conflict
• focussed on establishing HR universally, pushing equality for all

Question 3

What initiatives has the UN pushed?

Answer 3

• Climate change: awareness and action on climate change through IPCC summits and reports
• Food security: UN FAO to help aid countries gain food security by stregthening their agricultural abilities
• Justice: formed ICC to bring war criminals in DRC and Serbia to justice for war crimes and genocide

Question 4

What does the effectiveness of the UN depend on?

Answer 4

• willingness of states to act on issues
• strong political will inside member nations to get things done
• money from member nations
• support of superpowers to give weight to actions

Question 5

What is the UN’s policy regarding military intervention?

Answer 5

• strikes may not be carried out as revenge or reprisal

Question 6

What is threatening the effectiveness of the UN?

Answer 6

• original leading countries (UK, US, France) do not enjoy unparalleled economic and military dominance any more
• international public consensus is no longer West dominated, majority of population is in Africa, Asia and S America
  
  • shift in world outlook could result in disagreements and reduced unity at UN

Question 7

What happened in the UN during the Syrian Civil War?

Answer 7

• Proposal to intervene in Syria was placed before UN General Assembly
  
  • was vetoed by Russia on UN Security Council
  • meant intervention would not be sanctioned by UN
• Competing proposals for fact finding missions by OPCW were vetoed by both Russia and US over the scope of each proposal
  
  • meant they could not establish facts on the ground

Question 8

Why did the UN consider intervening in Syria?

Answer 8

• 40 recorded cases of chemical weapon attacks since September 2014 by Syrian Government
  
  • after Syria had supposedly dismantled these weapons
  • suggested that only by intervening would these weapons actually be dismantled

Question 9

Why may have Russia vetoed the proposal to intervene?

Answer 9

• Russia has close links with President Assad
  
  • if intervention happened, Assad would be overthrown
  • loss of Russian influence

Question 10

Did strikes eventually occur in Syria?

Answer 10

• Yes, however not as a result of a UN directive
  
  • US, UK and France independently carried out in April 2018

Question 11

What affect did the strikes have on Syria?

Answer 11

• killed 70, mostly Syrian government soldiers
  
  • decimated Syrian government infrastructure
• effective

Question 12

What are the main agencies within the UN?

Answer 12

• Political: UN Security Council and UN peacekeeper forces
• Economic: IMF and WB
• Social: WHO, FAO and others
• Judicial: ICC and ICJ

Ensure global security together