UN – United Nations
“ UN FOR THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE ”
AUTHOR : Giulia Turchetti
TRANSLATED BY : Matteo Aristei
How was born UN ? From the League of Nation to UN
Between the numerous international organisations, UN ( United Nations ) plays a key role and it is decisive on the world stage . It consists in the Union of States and its powers are supranational .
Today UN has finished its half century of life and it owes its existence to the numerous Member States which compose it ( states are increasing now ) and all this has the aim of obtaining independence from former colonies .
The UN organisation’s origin are based on the ash of the old League of Nation which was established after the First World War and lived only a quarter of a century . With the aim of ensuring peace and preventing the horrors that the Great War had created, it could resolve controversy through conciliation, intervening only where it was necessary the use of armed force .
It was able to encourage the international cooperation and for this it obtained great recognition. It obtained positive outcome that had the effect of making it known as the centre of European diplomacy between 1920 and 1932 ; but from the beginning of the half of the 1930 s , this Society started to have a slow but gradual decline . United States were sponsor of its creation but in those years, the President Wilson decreed the withdrawal of the Country from the League of Nation, weakening it significantly . In fact, consequences were the dominance of European nations such as France and England : the League of Nation was too Eurocentric and this caused its own end. Furthermore, a series of events ,such as the German occupation of Rhineland in 1936, made bode the outbreak of an imminent conflict : the one that will have been known as the Second World War .
However, although the League of Nation has proved to be failed, it denoted an important moment of growth for the international administrative system . Therefore UN represents the development of the League of Nation because, between many aspects, it shared the incurrence of peace and the prevention of conflicts of all kinds. Its Carta was signed in 1945 in San Francisco .
UN wants to encourage social progress, to suppress intolerance and to ensure the international security. Sometimes, in order to demand respect of its provisions, it makes use of “ blue berets ”, which are guarantee of the suspension of act of war . It supervise the respect and the violations of human rights in the UN States, informing public opinion on the state of human rights in the world .
However in its long story, although UN was promoter of important matters, such as the the maintenance of peace and security in the world, it didn’t equally prevent the occurrence of atrocious wars that are ongoing .
Specialised institutions
Today UN has numerous specialised institutions, each of which carries out a specific function . These are some examples: Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ), World Health Organization ( WHO ), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) and United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ).
UNICEF and UNHCR are also examples of NGOs, i.e. non-govermental organization, which are characterized by two aspects : the private character and the absence of profit . In fact, receiving an important part of their income from private sources, they undertake for the development of countries that are more back in social and economical point of view .
Day of Remembrance
In 2005 UN has established an international recurrence that is very important : the Day of Remembrance for the memorial of the holocaust’s victims. UN has decreed this, because 27th january 1945 is the date of the liberation of concentration camps . Furthermore, in this day, intolerance, hate and aggressiveness for people and communities for their religious and ethnic differences are condemned without qualification. Especially, it is important to remember because, in order to be aware citizen, the knowledge of the facts and events that are actually happened is a fundamental prerogative . The history tells about a rational and well – organised genocide that had technologies and efficient plants for the extermination of an entire population in the heart of Europe .
UN ’s member states have the duty to transmit to the new generations the “ Holocaust ’s lessons ”, and therefore historically significant places of Shoah that must be protected . UN openly refuses the denial .
For this, today, the Secretary-General of UN, Antonio Guterres addresses to an exhortation that will have a huge impact : “ be unite against standardisation of hate, because every time and everywhere human values are abandoned, we are all in risk . All of us have the responsibility to fight racism and violence with immediacy, clarity and decision . With education and comprehension, we can build our future made by dignity, human rights and pacific coexistence for everyone .