Nowadays, the importance of international organizations cannot be ignored or misunderstood because all of them perform ubiquitous functions in international politics. They identify the promises and determine the quality of relations between different states and nations. Each organization has many obligations that cannot be neglected, and the history of each organization is the way of its development, improvement, and penetration to the lives of ordinary people. Hurd (2013) states that any international organization has to exist in “the conceptual and legal space between state sovereignty and legal obligation” in order to bind different states to the given commitments (p. 1). The list of international organizations in long indeed: the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, etc. In this paper, the attention is paid to the history of the United Nations, the establishments of UN agencies in the world, and the UN’s efforts to deter conflicts regarding its main objectives such as promoting peace, developing friendly relations between nations, and encouraging progress in different spheres of human life.
History of UN Establishment
1945 was the official year of the establishment of the United Nations. After the Second World War was over, many countries were in ruins, and millions of people lost their homes and hope. It was necessary for nations to believe that the idea of international peace was possible, and the development of friendly relations between countries was not just a plan or an obligation. Therefore, the representatives of 51 countries including the Republic of China, the USSR, the USA, the United Kingdom, and France gathered in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and signed a new treaty to make sure that peace could be kept throughout the world (About the UN n.d.). However, the history of the UN could be traced several years before the day when the document, called Charter, was signed and proved the creation of a new international organization.
One century ago, the world had already been in need of an organization that could promote harmony and understanding between nations. The League of Nations was created. However, it failed because it was not available to the colonial people, who constituted the major part of the world’s population. The failure of the League of Nations served as the reason for the development of a new idea that could promote the salvation of nations (Wellington Cordier & Harrelson, 2013). Adolf Hitler demonstrated his powers and destroyed nations to achieve the required recognition, gain new land, and make people accept his ideologies and beliefs.
The leaders of other countries did not want to accept his ultimatum and organized numerous meetings to discuss the creation of the Allies that could help to destroy the despotism and cruelty of Germany and its supporters. After the death of Roosevelt, Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States (Meisler, 2011). One of his first goals was the promotion and the official recognition of the United Nations as an opportunity to provide people with peace and support. Though Truman did not believe that a world organization could establish true peace in the world because the responsibilities for the order should lie upon the victorious governments, most Americans believed that hopes could drove out doubts (Meisler, 2011).
Unfortunately, some concerns and discontents occurred in the relations between some members of the United Nations even after it had been officially established. The leaders of the United States and the USSR had different opinions and attitudes to certain statements and ideas. To avoid the development of conflicts and make sure that the UN was able to fulfill its duties, specialized UN agencies were created.
Creation of UN Agencies
The work of the United Nations was based on the conditions and obligations defined in the UN Charter that was signed by the representatives of 51 countries (Hurd, 2013). All members of the UN had to take the steps to complete the main goals which were the establishment of peace in the world, the development of friendly relations, and the provision of help for the nations that tried to improve human lives and conquer the outcomes of the war (History of the UN, n.d.). However, it was difficult for the countries to complete all those functions without the possibility to divide their powers, analyze the situations, and make the decisions that could change the current state of affairs.
As soon as the organization was created, the Charter was used to identify the principal organs that played a core role in the system (Hurd, 2013). There was “the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, the Economic and Social Council, and the Secretariat” (Hurd, 2013, p. 99). Each organ has its function and place in the organization. Still, in addition to these main organs, a number of specialized agencies were created as autonomous organizations connected with one goal, to improve the life of every human on earth, for the first time in history (Meisler, 2011). The creation of such UN agencies made it possible to develop various types of work from different perspectives including vaccination programs, the protection of vulnerable people, humanitarian help, the eradication of famine, and the promotion of education in developing countries.
Each UN agency has its goal. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was organized in 1945 to defeat hunger a number of countries suffered from after the Second World War. Developed and developing countries were in need of humanitarian help, and FAO evaluated the situations and provided equal help for all nations in need. Food security, high-quality programs, and nutrition insurance are the main obligations of this UN agency. The World Bank Group was created in 1945 and aimed at providing developing countries with loans in order to support human development, protect the environment, and improve infrastructure (Meisler, 2011).
In 1947, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) was established as the possibility to promote educational and scientific reforms and contribute peace in the world. It was necessary to defend the idea of peace in human minds and encourage understanding, and UNESCO was the opportunity, a kind of intellectual steel for the UN (Meisler, 2011). The activities of UNESCO were accepted in all countries of the world as the standards according to which people should get knowledge, improve their scientific contributions, and be culturally developed.
The list of UN agencies is not full. There are also such organizations as the International Atomic Energy Organization, The International Maritime Organization, and the International Monetary Fund, etc. (Meisler, 2011). It is possible to learn their functions and objectives from their names and realize that the UN tried to cover all aspects of human life.
UN’s Efforts to Deter Conflicts and UN Agencies
Sometimes, it is possible to get confused with the existing UN agencies and the UN itself. In fact, the ways of how these organizations identify and deter conflicts vary considerably in regard to the goals and missions established. For example, the UN representatives try to deter conflicts by means of constant observations and possible evaluations of the events. It is not enough to consider the current situation but also to understand the decisions that could be made and the steps that could be taken. The effects of UN activities have a global nature and could be introduced in the form of sanctions or force implementation. The work of UN agencies in deterring conflicts and meeting their missions and goals could not have such global effects. As a rule, one sphere which the agency is responsible for could be improved or changed in terms of one particular country. For example, FAO could solve the conflicts by means of establishing several policies and programs in one country and demonstrating the way of how this country should treat other nations.
Conclusion
In general, the United Nations is a powerful organization with a number of goals and missions that have to be fulfilled. The promotion of peace in the world and the establishment of friendly relations between different nations is not an easy task, and the representatives of the UN take numerous steps to succeed in their work. The creation of UN agencies is one of the possible ways to categorize help that people could be in need of and define the methods the required portion of help could be developed to the nations. The Second World War was the reason why people were in need of an organization like the UN. Nowadays, the UN promotes hope that world wars could be avoided by means of steps taken by this organization.
References
About the UN. (n.d.). Web.
History of the UN. (n.d.). Web.
Hurd, I. (2013). International organizations: Politics, law, practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Meisler S. (2011). United nations: A history. New York, NY: Grove Press.
Wellington Cordier, A., & Harrelson, M. (2013). Public papers of the secretaries general of the United Nations: Volume 6. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.