Preventing wars and climate change: UN must not be a one-eyed organisation

Preventing  wars and climate change-- the United Nations must not be a one-eyed and one-eared organisation. It must be a two-eyed and two-eared organisation to work impartially.  The United Nations was established after World War second with the aims of preventing future wars. Pursuant to the Charter, the United Nations's objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and upholding international law.  

It is the world's largest and most familiar international organisation. And a global diplomatic and political organisation dedicated to international peace and stability. It initially had 51 member states; today, the organisation, which is headquartered in America's New York City, has 193 members.

CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS: Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco in April-June 1945 to complete the Charter of the United Nations. The then American president Franklin D. Roosevelt  sought to convince the public that an international organisation was the best means to prevent future wars. The Senate approved the Charter on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2. The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, after 29 nations had ratified the Charter.
The Charter is the founding document. In accord with the Charter, the United Nations can take action on a wide variety of issues due to its unique international character and the powers vested in its Charter, which is considered an international treaty. As such, the Charter is an instrument of international law, and Member States are bound by it. United Nations's four our main goals/ purposes are to: Maintain international peace and security; Develop friendly relations among nations; Achieve international cooperation in solving international problems; and be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.The work of the United Nations must touch every corner of the globe and focus on a broad range of fundamental issues.

For example, preventing wars, promotion of peace and sustainable development, protection of the environment and refugees, disaster relief and mitigation, counter terrorism, as well as disarmament and non-proliferation. So considering all those issues, the logical question is: Does the United Nations play its roles / functions in accord with its Charter perfectly?  The answer is clear: No, it is not.

There are many issues that the United Nations failed to resolve, for example, preventing wars, conflicts, crises, climate change, and Myanmar's Rohingya Refugee repatriation from Bangladesh. Once, the United States of America (USA) and the Soviet Union took the initiatives to establish the United Nations.

But yet it is a matter of great regret that both America and Soviet Union have been helping and supporting different countries for continuing wars, conflicts, carbon and green house gas emission, to induce climate change. Both of the countries are involved in wars too and their dirty politics going on globally! What a shame indeed! The keepers have become the eaters! Due to the silence of the United Nations- both America and Soviet Union think: who cares?

They are providing with weapons to their obedient countries.  For example, America, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Iran among other war-torn countries were and are involved in wars! And even America and Soviet Union, the two super powers support some countries to be involved in wars so that America and Russia may earn billions of dollars selling weapons.

As the United Nations exists, so where is the peace? Why wars and conflicts? Why climate change and extreme weather events? Why the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are crying for their due rights and lands to survive? So the United Nations must play the necessary role immediately to stop wars, climate change, protect environment, save the earth, punish the warmongers, and those rich industrialized countries responsible for changing the climate.

 Establish peace ensure no more Hiroshima Nagasaki. Make sure Rohigya Refugees are repatriated to Myanmar from Bangladesh soon. Every life is countable.

Research shows that all the wars across the globe were avoidable and unexpected. Millions of people died and injured due to those illogical wars. So if the United Nations becomes strong enough, proactive to prevent, avoid and stop wars following its Charter-there would be no wars, crises and conflicts. But unfortunately the United Nations shamefully failed to take the required actions to accomplish our expectations, and to perform the role as a guardian of the member countries. Considering the failures, the United Nations seems to be one-eyed and one-eared global organization due to lack of neutrality; though that must never be.

Regarding SDGs, the United Nations has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the member States to reach by 2030. SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

SDG 13: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries. So as the global body, United Nations must achieve the Goals 16 and 13 and others of Sustainable Development instead of giving lip service to the member States.  The United Nations must not be a tiger without claws and teeth.

FAILURES OF THE UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has both success and failure. It has faced criticism for promoting globalization, not being effective enough, backing provocative policies, providing controversial health options, being too bureaucratic, giving certain countries more power than others and spending too much money. Some of the more well-known United Nations's efforts that ended in failure or a publicized scandal include: The 1994 Rwanda Mission; Cholera in Haiti; Oil for Food Program; Crisis in South Sudan among others. So we do not want any repetition of failures.

The United Nations must be impartial, unbiased, vocal, courageous, strict, and proactive instead of keeping silent to stop wars whoever and wherever it is. Fulfill the unfulfilled promises of collective security. Bring back a safer world bring back better lives and livelihoods for all the people of the world. It must be irrespective of race and religion, color, rich and poor, men and women. Everyone has equal rights of equality, equity, to live with peace and dignity without wars, to save their lives, protecting environment and climate change. Long live United Nations.
The writer is a radio storyteller,
poet, journalist, author and
activist in Bangladesh.