For this week's post you will go to the United Nations Website and take a look at the global issues they are working on.
Pick one topic from the left hand side bar and:
1) Give a brief recap or overview of the issue.
2) List and Explain some of the initiatives or goals or summits that have been held on this issue. What has been the result or action taken from this?
3) Research the effectiveness of the United Nations on this issue around the world. Do we need the UN for your Issue? Why or why not?
4) What does the future hold for your chosen issue? Will it get worse or better? Why?
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/index.shtml
FAMILY
ReplyDeletea) The United nations recognizes that the basic unit of society is family. Families have transformed to a higher degree in the past 50 years. Some of the dynamic social forces have had a manifest impact on the capacities of families to perform such functions as the socialization of children and caregiving. There are direct UN bodies that support family such as UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). Other UN bodies indirectly help families, such as FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization). 1994 is known to be the International Year of the Family, with the theme of "Family: Resources and Responsibilities in a Changing World." The United Nations also observes the annual worldwide of the International Day of Families on May 15. Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State."
b) Some programs that have been put in place for the Family 'issue' is the UNFPA, which is the United Nations Population Fund, which promotes safe motherhood, reproductive health, the needs of adolescents and youth and gender equality, and addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the family. There is also UNICEF, which is the United Nations Children's Fund. This fund supports the family through actions by promoting child survival, development and protection, gender equality, and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
c) We definitely need the UN for this issue around the world. It is hard to say specifically wether or not they are effective enough. 225 million women who do not want to be pregnant are not getting safe ways to do it. Many of these women live in 69 of the poorest countries of the world. In terms of UNICEF they work so hard to help all children around the world, and with how far they have gotten I feel they are becoming more and more successful as time moves forward. As a connection to myself, my grandma for christmas every year buys me and my sister a gift to give to children around the world, books for school, a school, animals, and so on. It makes me feel good that we can contribute in a little way, and it goes a long way. It is difficult to help every single child, but UN is doing their best to do so.
d) The future is good for family. The UN and people involved are pushing hard to make family a strong base around the world. When you have people you love and care for you around, that is when we are the strongest. It will get better, we can only move forward with families, strong stability, family planning, and so much more.
http://www.unfpa.org/family-planning
http://www.unicef.org
food
ReplyDelete1) since 2004 the price of food has gone up significantly. Before the crises there was roughly 854 million people undernourished. The United Nations expects this crises to bring that number closer to a billion.
2) The United Nations has eight Millennium Development Goals which range over education, health, poverty, etc. The rise in grain price really sets them back. Their immediate plan is to make sure people become better nourished. Long term they want to fund small farmers and regulate food markets. The UN is helping promote local productions to cut down on costs. Recently $1.2 billion has gone towards feeding children in schools and funding agricultural production. $59 million has gone towards farming tools to help reduce the loss of crops. A lot of money goes towards the assurance of food safety. $100 million towards an emergency fund.
3) The UN has a lot of research on the topic of world hunger, but I'm not sure we really need them. Allowing people who aren't living in these terrible situations to determine what is the best solution allows for a lot of corruption. In 1995 the UN was caught for corruption in their Oil for Food program. Iraq was allowed to trade their oil for food. Billions of dollars were made off the oil instead of feeding their population after they finished a war. There are plenty of NGO that can help solve this issue without having any other agendas.
4) Despite the still huge amount of malnourished people in this world, the issue has improved over the last couple of decades. I like to believe it will only get better. With more technology, we are able to educate more people which leads to more money which leads to more food.
http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/#hunger-number
http://www.cfr.org/iraq/iraq-oil-food-scandal/p7631
Oceans and the Law of The Sea:
ReplyDelete1. The oceans make up the majority of our planet, its a huge resource and therefore it has had to be protected by laws and agreements. Since the 50's many different treaties have been implemented to limit the amount of human pollution due to ships and oil. There have also been acts such as the one implemented in 1995 to keep the fish population healthy and therefore help maintain aquatic life. These efforts are to keep the oceans and seas peaceful and cooperative to benefit mankind.
2. The United Nations has been part of many laws and treaties that have been set to preserve the oceans beauty and health. In 1954 a law describing pollution due to oil was developed, in 1973 (later modified in 78) a treaty about ships pollution was implemented. 1995 a fishing law was created to preserve fish stocks. Each of these exampled agreements have worked cooperatively to limit human intervention in the oceans and keep the waters healthy and relatively clean.
3. The agreements and laws described have been modified over the 30+ years to include more limits. The laws and limits have worked to set a maximum of pollution and this law has been followed; because of the cooperation, shipping is one of the smallest contributor to ocean pollution. I feel that for everyday ocean use, the UN is not necessarily critical for keeping the ocean peaceful. Ships stay well within the limits of pollution and the international fishing agreement is not tested to frequently so I feel that there doesn't need to be such a tight watch on it. However, I feel the UN needs to be there making laws to save the ocean when it comes to oil companies drilling in the ocean. There have been several oil spills in the ocean and they are all clearly devastating to all forms of life. This is where I feel the UN should have laws protecting the ocean and general agreements toward companies that are drilling in the ocean, posing risks.
4. The future of oceans could become better or worse. Pollution is a hugely frowned upon issue and I believe that many companies are aware of this. Shipping is already one of the smallest contributors to ocean pollution and shipping stays well within the limits set. As the world is beginning to run into oil shortages though, I can see more drilling companies moving to underwater sources and posing hazards to our oceans. The future is uncertain for the ocean, but I hope the ocean pollution gets better in the future with less pollution.
http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_fish_stocks.htm
http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/Pages/Default.aspx
I dibs doing water so no one else do it
ReplyDeleteMark this one!!
DeleteWater:
According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2012, 783 million people remain without access to an improved source of drinking water. The United Nations has long been addressing the global crisis caused by insufficient water supply to satisfy basic human needs and growing demands on the world’s water resources to meet human, commercial and agricultural needs, helping 1.3 billion people in developing countries gain access to safe drinking water. This article specifically addresses the United Nations General Assembly of the human right to water and sanitation, recognizing the right of every human being to have access to sufficient water for personal and domestic uses, which must be safe, acceptable, affordable and physically accessible
The United Nations Water Conference (1977), the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990), the International Conference on Water and the Environment (1992) and the Earth Summit (1992) — all focused on this vital resource.The crucial importance of water to so many aspects of human health, development and well-being led to the inclusion of a specific water-related target in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To help raise public awareness on the importance of water for life, the General Assembly declared 2003 International Year of Freshwater. Also in 2003, the Chief Executives Board (CEB), the coordinating body for the entire UN system, established UN Water — a UN inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater and sanitation related issues. To further strengthen global action to meet the water-related MDG targets, the General Assembly proclaimed the 2005-2015 period International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”. The Decade began on 22 March 2005, which is observed annually as World Water Day.
The united nations has not been effective in solving this issue, despite the billions of people they claim to have given water too. To explain, the amount of people and countries in water scarcity are continuously increasing, and there is not a long term solution that the united nations can implement that would be effective. Instead, everybody must work collectively and reduce their water intake and consumption.
I believe that in the future, my chosen issue will worsen. To explain, humans are polluting and over consuming mass amounts of water. The fresh water supply as well as the access to fresh water continues to decrease. This issue is also closely related to climate change, and as climate change continues to worsen, so does water scarcity.
http://timeforchange.org/water-scarcity-and-global-warming
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/water/
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ReplyDeleteHUMAN RIGHTS
ReplyDelete1. The International Human Rights Law explains the obligations of Governments to act in certain ways in order to promote the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations works consistently to monitor Member States with the implementation of human rights standards. The Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights takes responsibility for the promotion and maintenance of human rights, and for implementing them within the UN. The United Nations security council takes full responsibility for international human rights violations (such as rape as a war weapon). The Human Rights Council meets and assesses the human rights situations in all 192 UN Member States.
2. There have been numerous treaties created in an attempt to resolve human rights issues. These include:
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide - This requires countries to prevent and punish actions of genocide, whether during times of war or peace.
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - This requires countries to outlaw hate speech and criminalize membership in racist organizations.
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - This focuses on non-discrimination, sex stereotypes, and sex trafficking. It also women’s economic and social equality rights.
- Convention on the Rights of the Child - This states the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of anyone under the age of eighteen.
- Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - This sets a standard for for the treatment of indigenous peoples.
The results of most of these treaties were positive. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has been quite successful and has only had 3 breeches. These breaches were dealt with and the offenders were convicted. The presence of discrimination in the forms of racial, gender based, or age based can still be seen today. Although not as prominent as before these treaties were put into place, indigenous and people of colour still suffer from much discrimination today. This can be seen in police shootings in the United States or even Attawapiskat in Canada. Women are still often underpaid and child in numerous countries are faced with slavery.
3. From my research, I have determined that the United Nations have been more effective than ineffective on this topic. Some people argue that by enabling authoritarian states to be elected as members, their effectiveness is diminished. I think that the UN has not always lived up to its potential, but, I think that without it, our world would ultimately be a mess of rights. Its effectiveness can be seen whenever it is faced with an issue. When Syria faced human rights violations, the UN forced it to withdraw its bid for a seat, and set an investigation into human rights violations there. The Council’s actions were seen as legitimate and effective because they were supported by a globally.
We definitely need the UN around this subject because they ultimately run the programs that protect our rights. Without a united group of countries, human rights would vary and the world would likely become very unsafe and unjust.
4. I think that the future is bright for human rights. With gender and race equality receiving even more attention in the last few years, I think that the future could only improve. Each day we see more and more bills being passed to promote equality - such as the new gay rights marriage laws in the United States. With the UN’s continuous efforts and with our progressive generation, I think that human rights will grow strong.
Citations:
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html
https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/syria
POPULATION
ReplyDeleteThe topic that I chose was population. The UN Population Division projects a world population of 9 billion in 2043 and 10 billion in 2083. Overpopulation creates issues relating to health and ageing, mass migrations and urbanization, demand for housing and inadequate food supplies, access to safe drinking water, and so much more. The UN Population Fund started operations in 1969 to assume a leading role within the UN system in promoting population programs, based on the human right of individuals and couples to freely determine the size of their families. At the International Conference on Population and Development, its mandate was fleshed out in greater detail, to give more emphasis to the gender and human rights dimensions of population issues, and UNFPA was given the lead role in helping countries carry out the Conference’s Programme of Action. They have attended many summits to support reproductive health, poverty reduction, gender equality, and population and development. The UN is taking a lot of initiative in controlling the population by looking at socio-economic development as well. They have put forward many programs and promoted many policies. The future for my chosen issue will get much worse. As our population continues to increase exponentially, our resources will become depleted and our world will struggle. It is more necessary, in my opinion, to prevent overpopulation rather than to wait for war, famine, and drought, however our governments are not taking enough action in order to prevent this issue.
citations:
Deletehttp://www.un.org/popin/icpd/conference/bkg/wppa.html
http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/millennium_summit.shtml
Mark this one:
ReplyDelete1.This article is basically talking about how the world is in the midst of a unique process of demographic transition that will result in older populations everywhere. Older persons are increasingly seen as contributors to development, whose abilities to act for the betterment of themselves and their societies should be woven into policies and programmes at all levels. It also talked about the amount of elderly people living in developing regions.
2.In 1991, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, enumerating 18 entitlements for older persons — relating to independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment and dignity. The following year, the International Conference on Ageing met to follow-up on the Plan of Action, adopting a Proclamation on Ageing. Following the Conference's recommendation, the UN General Assembly declared 1999 the International Year of Older Persons.
3.Based on my research I do not think that the UN is needed for this issue. The population changing is very unpredictable and the UN and general assembly can do as much as they can to help that population but I do not think that anything will be making a huge difference.
4.As fertility rates decline, the proportion of persons aged 60 and over is expected to double between 2007 and 2050, and their actual number will more than triple, reaching 2 billion by 2050. Currently, 64 per cent of all older persons live in the less developed regions — a number expected to approach 80 per cent by 2050. The amount of elderly people seems to be increasing as time goes on. In my opinion I think that it may be hard when there are too many elderly people and not enough young people to work.
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/ageing/index.shtml
Mark this one:
ReplyDeleteRefugees are people who are forced to leave their homes to begin a new life somewhere else. Natural disasters, war, and civil unrest are causes of people fleeing to protect their life or limb. In extremes they are only left with a few options: death by privation or assault/genocide, or life in exile. There are 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, which is the highest number since the mid-1990s.
The UNHCR has helped 26 million people—10.4 million refugees and 15.6 million IDPs receive protection or assistance at the end of 2009, one million more than in 2008. Although conflict and natural disasters are still affecting many people rendering them refugees, their lives are considerably better than they might have been, because of the commitment of the UN to help them return to their homes, and to protect and sustain them until their return becomes possible. When conflict is the cause of their homelessness, UN peacekeepers protect their camps and the UN family provides them with necessary food, water, and sanitation.
The UN is definitely needed for the refugee crisis. As the UN stated, their lives would have be considerably worse without their help. However, according to The Guardian the UN humanitarian agencies are going bankrupt and are unable to meet the basic needs of millions of people because of the size of the refugee crisis in the Middle East, Africa and Europe
Most news articles say that the refugee crisis will get worse. The majority of refugees are located in one country. Certain countries cannot sustain this may refugees, especially if they are facing their own problems. Although a lot of aid is being given and received, there are more and more refugees every day, as the situation in their home country worsens.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/06/refugee-crisis-un-agencies-broke-failing
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/refugees/
a) The main topic of sustainable development is the idea of being able to balance the needs of the current generation on the earth while thinking ahead to the needs of future generations and how we can make it easier for them to sustain.
ReplyDeleteb) In December 2015 Member States signed a historic universal climate agreement in Paris. The agreement provides a pathway forward to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees, maybe even 1.5. The new agreement is to enter into force in 2020. Without urgent action on climate change by the international community, humanity may face a grim future. The fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for significant reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions, which have recently increased to dangerous levels, due in part to an over-reliance on CO2-emitting fossil fuels and an under-reliance on renewable energy sources.
c) I think that the UN’s work in this field as they are leaders in the field of change. There are a lot of other organizations that look up to the UN and their actions. The UN meet often and the member countries talk and form ideas and plans to create a better and more sustainable future for the whole planet. The UN does some of the most important work in the world and they do a good job.
d) At this point there are options for a sustainable future but lots of them are expensive and hard to access. I think that with more focus and work on this topic sustainable choices will be made more readily available and more people will use them.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAids
ReplyDeletea) Since 1981 more than 60 million people have been infected with HIV. There have been millions of fatalities due to aids and for a very long period of time the treatment for HIV and Aids was almost non-existent. Many people all around the world still do not have access to proper medical care to treat the disease or proper birth control to prevent it. We have ways to prevent and treat it yet so many people around the world are still dying.
b) The United Nations created UNAIDS to help tackle the issue. The Programme is co-sponsored by 10 UN system agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, the ILO, UNESCO, WHO and theWorld Bank. In 2000, world leaders set goals to stop and reverse the spread of HIV at the GA millennium summit. In 2001 they dedicated a special session in the GA to set out targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic. The global fund to fight aids was created in 2002. World leaders gathered once again in 2011 to make a plan for their next steps. Since the United Nations actions More than 5 million people have had access to antiretroviral treatment in 2009, which has reduced AIDS-related deaths by more than 20% in the past 5 years. Also in the past ten years at least 56 countries have either stabilized or reduced new HIV infections by more than 25%.
c) I think the United Nations has done a lot in many different countries around the world in order to reverse the AIDS crisis. I think we do need the UN for this issue. It affects each country all over the world, so we need to work together as a global community to help and that is what the UN does.
d) I think has technology progresses the number of people with HIV and AIDS will drop. Already we have technology that can prolong a person who has HIV to have a full life. I think in the next couple decades there could potentially be a full cure for it. Right now the UN is just working to help the people who have it and try to reduce the numbers in general.
Mark this one
ReplyDelete1. Since the 1940’s the United Nations has had a large focus on the world agricultural industry. It is well known that we need to use many different tactics in order to provide enough food for people of all nations, especially those who live in countries which are less fertile. The UN focuses on exploring different types of technology in order to ensure that as few people go hungry as possible. They work very hard to ensure that after natural disasters, the impacted citizens have access to safe food and continue to help them afterwords with recovery efforts so that the industries of the developing countries are not destroyed.
2.The FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization, a system put into effect by the UN that works with the most poverty stricken countries, mainly those of the developing world, in order to ensure that the agricultural system is working smoothly and making as much food as possible. The International Fund for Agricultural Development is in charge of providing the financial aid necessary to help these cases. The World Food Programme also helps with disaster relief for countries affected by natural disasters to keep farming production up and ensure the citizens remain fed.
3.I firmly believe that the UN is important for this issue. Many countries do not have the water, soil, or climate necessary for proper food production. Having the UN’s involvement allows for food to be better distributed to those countries and allows for better trade between countries. Without the UN’s help, the developing countries may not have the opportunity for such trade and would be in a bad place in the case of natural disasters.
4.I think this issue is only going to grow with the overpopulation of the planet. The race to produce more food is going to be intense, and many countries, specifically those in Africa are going to be unable to produce the food required to feed their many citizens.
Women:
ReplyDelete1. Even though women's rights are becoming more prominent in today's society there are still gender related issues that need to be resolved in the world. One of the largest issues that women face world wide is violence, especially those in developing countries. Many women in developing countries face violent consequences when they seek an education. This is unacceptable that women are having their human rights violated just for trying to educate themselves. UN also acknowledges that some women are not empowered as others (in developed countries). To achieve this UN is trying to achieve gender equality.
2. United Nations has created many initiatives to achieve their goals of gender equality and ending violence against women. United Nations held an Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This contained “a clear and comprehensive definition of violence against women [and] a clear statement of the rights to be applied to ensure the elimination of violence against women in all its forms”. UN also merged four of its agencies. The reason for this was to accelerate the rate of achieving gender equality.
3. In order to empower women UN has been hiring women for higher up positions in third world countries. Such as Lucía del Socorro Basante, a delegate in Colombia. United Nations is also sharing the stories of women who don't often have their stories told. They share stories of women living in Nepal after a disastrous earthquake. With these initiatives it is absolutely necessary to have United Nations to help with women's rights.
4. I think that this issue will soon be resolved in the future with the help of United Nations
http://www.unwomen.org/en
Mark This One: Persons with Disabilities
ReplyDelete1) A disability can be physical or mental. Disabilities limit one's movements or activity. Approximately 10% of the world's population live with a disability. The disabled are very prone to harassment and physical violence, especially women and children. For three decades the United Nations has been dedicated to give rights and meet the needs of disabled persons.
2) The UN Enable is the Division of Social Policy and Development Disability, which vocalizes the UN's commitment to the rights of the disabled. In 2006, the UN Enable adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, which entered effect in 2008. The Convention in summary allows "Countries that join in the Convention to engage themselves to develop and carry out policies, laws and administrative measures for securing the rights recognized in the Convention and abolish laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination (Article 4)." The goal of this convention, as well the World Programme of Action (1982) and the Standard Rules (1994), is to promote the rights and advancement of persons with disabilities around the world. As a result, persons with disabilities are recognized and have legal rights specialized and centered around them to allow them to function equally in society.
3) The UN has been fairly effective regarding the rights and support of those with disabilities because they account for universal human rights. Due to their promotion of these rights at an 'international-level', media/social coverage of the issue as well as government support and promotion, has developed a social catalyst of awareness allowing for social change and law amendments.
I believe the UN should be supporting this issue because that is what the UN is. The United Nations supports the rights of the world and has made significant changes in society such as certain laws like all buildings need to be accessible (ramps or elevators).
4)I believe that my generations and the generations to come are very issue aware, meaning we give a damn about the environment and human rights and our generation is motivated to spread awareness and make changes whereas older generations are much more traditional and industrial oriented.
Sources:
Delete~https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/about-us.html
~http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1698&context=facpubs
~ http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/convention.shtml
~http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/disabilities/index.shtml
1. The water masses on this planet are large and shared therefore it is important to preserve it in a peaceful way. Over the years, the issue of pollution has been addressed in a wide range of treaties to reduce the amount of human population. Additional agreements were adopted later on to legalize a more regime governing of the sea’s and oceans including the conservation of the fish population.
ReplyDeleteIn 1981 the Law of the Sea Convention was set in place. This was a defining moment to define legal rules to our shared water resource.
2. In 1973 the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships was implemented to minimize pollution from ships and preserve the health of our water. In 1995 the United Nations Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks was created to preserve fish stock. All these laws and treaties were successful in limiting human intervention and kept the waters in good shape.
3. Many of the agreements/laws that have been set have been successful to some extent. As an example, shipping has one of the lowest pollution rates. I feel that its important for the UN to be involved in all water matters due to the shared mass. With the help of the UN everyone opinions will be heard leading to a peaceful solution.
4. My issue could go either way yet i believe that things are going in the right direction. Water issues are well known and would be fought against.
Mark this one:
ReplyDeleteAIDS
AIDS epidemic has spread to every corner of the world and more than 60 million people have been infected with HIV. HIV is found in the bodily fluids of a person who has been infected - blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk. It can be transmitted through unprotected sexual contact. It is also spread among people who inject drugs with non-sterile injecting needles, as well as through unscreened blood products. It can spread from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast feeding when the mother is HIV positive.
new antiretroviral treatment began to extend the lives of those who were infected. More than 5 million people had access to antiretroviral treatment in 2009, which has reduced AIDS-related deaths by more than 20% in the past 5 years. Also in the past ten years at least 56 countries have either stabilized or reduced new HIV infections by more than 25%. New HIV infections have been reduced by nearly 20% and new HIV infections among babies have dropped by 25%
The UN family has been in the vanguard of this progress. Since 1996, its efforts have been coordinated by UNAIDS — the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. I feel like the UN has not had a key role in the prevention of AIDS. This is because they did not create the antiretroviral treatment for AIDS patients. Also, they do not act on a lot of issues and are known to hold meetings but take no action. Therefore in my opinion the UN is useless on the topic of HIV/AIDS prevention.
The future for this issue looks bright. Our scientific knowledge is growing everyday and new treatments are being developed and tested all of the time. People are living semi-normal lives with the disease, for example Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr who has been living with AIDS since 1991.
Article the supports my answers: https://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/aids/treatment.html
Mark this one:
ReplyDeleteTerrorism
Terrorism has been raging around the world since September 1st 2001; the attack on the twin towers in New York. There have been many terror groups meaning to spread fear and violence across nations with the justification of religion, ethnicity, or race. AL Qaida, and ISIS are two of the major terror organizations, however there are many others which live to provoke fear such as Boko Haram, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, and the Haqqani Network. These organizations inflict fear upon a nation or race with strategical attacks on a people or place in order to send their message. Terrorism has risen greatly in the past 50 years, now that international terrorism is a problem. Many governments around the world are having difficulties putting a stop to this issue, since they are not sure where to start. There are many political issues of concern when dealing with international terrorism, such as foreign policies, and international laws and boarders. Many victims to terrorism in the past 20 years have been brutalized in the worst methods to promote fear across international borders.
There have been many resolutions, laws and acts against terrorism since 9-11. To give a few major ones; the Global Project against Terrorism- launched by the UNODC to prevent terrorism in all manners by giving legal technical assistance to countries in need to implement international anti-terrorism instruments, the UNODC also leads international effort to combat drug trafficking and abuse, organized crime and international terrorism. The UN general assembly has also set up the following conventions: the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages; the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel; the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings; the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism; and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. From these, airport securities have greatly increased, boarder checks have been fortified around the Middle East, European, and African countries, there are many UN peacekeeping missions around these parts, as well as new international laws to prevent these crimes from expanding, such as cutting off terrorism funding.
These actions have greatly helped to decrease the power many of these organizations possessed, however many of these organizations still do possess great power, and pose a great threat to the world. The UN has definitely helped put an end to terrorism, but there is still a long way to go. Perhaps they could have been more effective concerning the funding, and many political issues they’ve had to deal with, but they have without a doubt done lots of work to make the world a safer place. There is still a long way to go however, before terrorism can be put to an end, if it ever will.
It is hard to say whether terrorism will get better or worse in the future, due to the constant increase in population, and the world efforts to stop terrorism. There will be many times where terrorism becomes worse than its current situation, but over time, terrorism is bound to get smaller as continuous measurements to stop terrorism grow.
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/terrorism/
http://time.com/4270366/the-terrorist-threat-from-isis-may-be-about-to-get-worse-much-worse/
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/03/brussels-attacks-eu-terror-problem-worse-160323082251601.html
Mark this one
ReplyDeleteDEMOCRACY
1) Democracy is one of the core values of the United Nations. These values are demonstrated through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN strives to create democratic nations by assisting parliaments to enhance and better their systems and develop policies and legislation. The UN also looks to create support elections, especially in nations where women’s participation in political and public life is limited.
2) Democracy is a current and ongoing issue for the UN. Since the 1990s, the UN has world tirelessly to promote the system. The recent outcome of “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, works to promote democracy, in order to lead to sustainable development. In 2005 at the World Summit , the General Assembly stated that “democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives”. Since then, nations have committed to support democracy as well as the Democracy Fund ( UNDEF). The UNDEF funds are used to promote human rights, and the democratic processes. More specifically, the UN has worked to ensure women's political participation. The UN has created UN Women, with goals for gender equality and the empowerment of women in the political and public systems.
3) Democracies are on average richer than non-democratic nations. Democracies are less likely to go to war and have a better record of fighting corruption but allow citizens to shape their futures. This system is so valued throughout the world that the United Nations have had decent success. Although not successful in at risks regions, the United Nations have implemented Democracy into international law. Until all nations can abide by these and act as democratic nations I feel that the UN is needed
4) I hope that democracy will continue to grow worldwide. With so many authoritarian governments this will be a massive struggle, however I believe that we are capable.
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/democracy/index.shtml
http://www.economist.com/news/essays/21596796-democracy-was-most-successful-political-idea-20th-century-why-has-it-run-trouble-and-what-can-be-do
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/democracy/democracy_and_un.shtml
Mark This One: Human Rights
ReplyDeleteHuman rights are rights inherent to all human beings, despite race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. It was written by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was mandated by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10th 1948 by the General Assembly resolution 217 A (III), a common example of achievements for all people and all nations. For the first time, fundamental human rights are to be universally protected. Since its adoption in 1948 the UDHR has been translated into more than 360 languages! (the most translated document in the world) It has also inspired the foundations of many newly independent States and new democracies. The UDHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and its two Optional Protocols (complaints procedure and on the death penalty) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol, form the so-called International Bill of Human Rights. Clearly this document has been one followed by for many years- (most developed countries abide by these rights). Though some regions do not accept these rights, the UN Security Council whose main responsibility is for the maintenance of international peace and security, also deals with severe human rights violations, such as the use of child soldiers (Resolution 1612, 2005) and the use of rape as a weapon of war (Resolution 1820, 2008).
Every year the General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee examines a variety of issues including human rights questions. The Committee are made aware of these reports by human rights experts. It also talks about the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination and the promotion of the right to self- determination.
They are aware that not everywhere follows these rules so they take action and do everything they can to try and enforce these human rights. “Special Procedures” are either an individual or a working group. They are prominent independent experts working on a voluntary basis chosen by the Human Rights Council. They examine, monitor, recommend and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories, or on major human rights violations worldwide, such as arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions, torture, child prostitution, or denial of rights such as the rights to food, adequate housing, safe water, freedom of expression, education and others.
DeleteThe UN is definitely needed for my issue. Without it, people all around the world would suffer more than they do now from the lack of their basic human rights. The UN have special teams who travel to these countries and grant people their rights. They penalize those who have stripped the rights of the people as best they can- their main goal is to achieve equality and peace. If the UN were not to exist do you think that those in charge in places such as the Congo, India, and Somalia would take the women and children's rights into consideration? 100% not. Unfortunately this still happens all around the world because the UN has not yet been able to reach that particular area. So far the UN has allowed millions of people to access their human rights by coming into an area of inequality and taking the measures needed to ensure the safety and rights of the people. Some places they have had a positive outcome have been in some places in India, certain parts of Africa, Afghanistan and many more. With the growing amount of success they’ve had over the years they still have a long way to go in order to ensure that this problem will be solved worldwide.
I have hope in the UN to be able to minimize this ridiculous issue within the next decade or two. This is a huge task considering how many countries, and regions experience the lack of basic human rights. This issue is bound to happen in many places around the world, but with more support and acknowledgment/participation from as many people as we can, I believe that things will get better because of all of the attention this is raising.
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/humanrights/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/DocumentsSystem.aspx
Volunteerism
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about the volunteers within the organization and everything they do to help each country. They have volunteers spread out in 140 different countries. What's different about the UNV is that often times their volunteers are trained in the area that they're helping in. This is important because you'd rather have someone knowledgable in building houses than someone who just showed up and is doing the best with what they have.
The UNV has many initiatives and take such as community clean-up activities and hygiene awareness campaigns, sport events, agricultural extension work, teaching in local schools, and blood-donation drives.
The UNV is not always as effective as they set out to be, but with the committed efforts of long term volunteers and the support and donations from citizens they have been successful in many areas.
I believe the UN has potential to keep doing good and as long as the volunteers are not just short term and uneducated, they can be very useful. The people involved with peacekeeping I think have the most success.
HEALTH
ReplyDelete1) The UN has been an active participant in promoting and protecting good health globally for many years. Their pursuit of global health cam be tracked back to 1948 with the world health organization coming into force and acting as a system within the UN. They took over the international classification of diseases. The top priorities during that time were malaria, Women’s and children’s health, tuberculosis, venereal disease, nutrition and environmental sanitation. This continues to be relevant today along with the addition of HIV and AIDS. They have struggled with epidemics and outbreaks, finding success in eliminating smallpox through vaccination. They even managed to reduce cases of polio by more than 99 percent.
2) WHO is an initiative in its own right but it is also the driving force for the UN’s mission on health. They have participated in such efforts as the Global Polio Eradication initiative, the Decade to Roll Back Malaria, Water for Life. They also participate in annual international observances relating to health as proclaimed by the general assembly: World water day, World Autism Awareness Day, World Health Day, World No Tobacco Day, the International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, world mental health day, world diabetes day, world aids day. Global health is a great concern of the UN family as a whole. It is a topic discussed in the general assemblies and watched closely by other governing bodies.
3) An article that discusses the reform and updating of the WHO says that after 65 years it was a program plagued by ossified structures that prevent it from exercising the flexibility it needs to become an efficient and effective organization. It does however say that it remains the undoubted leader in global health and there is no substitute for this organization. Holding expertise, global influence, and normative powers. I think that it is an effective organization that needs some mild updating and that it is definitely necessary in todays society. http://theconversation.com/truth-to-power-reforming-the-world-health-organization-2584
4) The future of global health heavily depends on how we handle our population growth and if we implement proper sustainable development. Whenever there is a large population that is in the midst of poverty disease and epidemic will follow. There will always be a need for this organization but with their past success in eliminating smallpox and the constantly improving technology and medication then hopefully it will not be as desperately in demand.
mark this one:
ReplyDeletewomen
1) This article talks about the supporting rights of women from 1970 (the first feminist movement) until today. The reader learns about respect for freedoms despite race, sex, religion ect.
2) In 1948 (the UN's first year) changed the status of women “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and that “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, … birth or other status.”
1975 was named international women's year and the world conference was held on women for the first time. Five years later in 1980 a second conference was again held on women. 1979 International Bill of Rights for Women was passed. This means all forms of discrimination towards women have been eliminated. By 1985 gender equality finally gain world recognition. This being named the decade for women, Nairobi hosted the world conference to praise the UN on there achievements for equality, peace, and development. Soon after Nairobi the decade for women became the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, now part of UN Women) 2007 international women's day (march 8th) focused on “Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”
That theme was so successful, November 25th is now an International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
3) The UN has been extremely successful. The tables have completely turned since 1948. It has been a lengthy process and there is still more work to be done, but I believe patents is key.
4) We have come so far as a nation and I know there is more great things in store for women. It is simply impossible to get worse from here. There are so many inspiring powerful women today it could not be taken away from us. I believe in the future we will truly know what gender equality means and experience it.
Environment
ReplyDelete1) The issue on examining and caring for the environment began as a result of industrialization. The environmental motion gained new speed in 1962 with Rachel Carson’s, scientist and writer, book “The Silent Spring”, warning about the agricultural use of synthetic chemical pesticides and the necessity to respect the ecosystem in order to protect human health and additionally the environment.
2) As global concern about the health and sustainable use of the planet and its resources continued to grow, the UN, in 1972, convened the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm. The need “to inspire and guide the peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment”, laid out the preparations for the new environmental plan of the UN system. The UN’s current priorities are environmental aspects of disasters and conflicts, ecosystem management, environmental governance, harmful substances, resource efficiency, and climate change. In 1992, the “Earth Summit”, adopted its “Agenda 21”, which began with the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Based on its conclusions, the UNEP was created. By 1992, the connection between environment and development, and the imperative need for sustainable development was seen and recognized worldwide. The principles of sustainable development have since been implicit in many UN conferences, including the 2005 World Summit.
3) In my opinion, I think we do need the UN for this issue because while the spreading of awareness on the issue is immense and fantastic, nobody cares. Not many people are so serious about caring for the earth because 1. They believe everything will take of itself in the end, or 2. They choose to believe there’s nothing wrong. In order to change both of these mindsets this is an issue that needs to continuously be talked about and while the summits held didn’t do much in terms of actual ACTION, the UN helped a lot in spreading knowledge on the issue because I believe in the future this issue will most likely get worse and that’s why it still needs to be talked about. We have a responsibility to protect the health and well-being of this Earth. Our Earth.
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/climatechange/
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/environment/
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/environment/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/15/earth-environment-wwf-rio20
The UN has been emistating and tracking the world population. July 1987 the world his 5 billion people, October 1999 we hit 6 billion and by 2043 we are estimated to hit 9 billion people living on the earth. The UN, form their continuous research has concluded that our rapid population growth has many implications on all aspects of life. Some issues relate to health, urbanization demand for housing and access to safe drinking water and many more.
ReplyDelete2)"implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (IPCD) In the context of the UN Millennium Development Goals, it produces threeindicators under the target of universal access to reproductive health –– namely the contraceptive prevalence rate, the adolescent birth rate and the unmet need for family planning (the latter with UNFPA)"
4) As predicted by the UN this issue is going to get worse. We will continue to grow as a population. It is said that by 2043 we will hit 9 billion. It is due to our advanced health care that we are beginning to live for longer. The number of people aged 60 and older is to double by the time we hit 2050. I believe from my own research that this issue will need to get worse before it gets better. I feel as if by the tie 2050 reaches and we hit the 9,10 billion mark we will form there begin to decline in population. This may be because this is the total amount of people the earth is able to sustain or it may be due to the fact that the developing countries are becoming developed and both their birth and death rates have plateaued (as Canada’s are right now).