The UN is a Force for Good

Thanks so much to Sitara for accepting! I'll do my best to affirm!I think that there are perhaps three key genres of activity that we can examine to evaluate the UN's impact on the world at large. Those genres are: poverty and development, health, and security. I will proceed to discuss each one of these individually as this round progresses. There are areas where the UN has had an important impact as well (e.g. the arts), but due to the character limitations, I'll be unable to address these other areas of benefit.I would, however, begin by noting that UN subsidiary organizations, like the WHO and UNESCO, should be considered part of the UN. These institutions are constituting bodies of the broader organization, and so are topical. With that out of the way, we can get into the nitty-gritty of the arguments.The UN has engaged in an extensive poverty reduction and economic development campaign that has had innumerable positive impacts on the world. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these endeavors is the Millenium Development Goals project, which aims to totally eradicate poverty. The UN has acted as a focal point and a forum for the negotiations and discussions needed to implement this vast, international project, helping to coordinate the efforts to meet them. "The UN is also working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda." [1] This program has met with myriad tangible successes, including [2]: - Halving extreme poverty across the globe- Averting 3.3 million malaria-related deaths- A 76% increase in access to drinkable water across the globe- A 15% decrease in severe malnutrition among children- A nearly 50% decline in Child mortality- Increase in antiretroviral treatments for victims of HIV/AIDS- 25% of the world has seen improved sanitation- 90% of children in the developing world now attend pre-school These are all advances that can be attributed in part to the UN, the large sums of money it invests in these projects, and its willingness and ability to coordinate international efforts towards these and other ends. One example of the UN's work with local governments to effect change is taking place in India, where "the UN’s Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council is working with the Indian government to change the curriculum in India, and change the future of girls." [3]Clearly, the UN has helped improve the lives of the poor and to cut back on the harsh, negative impacts of poverty. Moreover, the World Bank provides aid to countries' development programs, to local entrepreneurs and inventors seeking to contribute to their nations' economic growth, and to fight climate change, which can negatively impact economies as well. [4] All of this indicates that the UN is having a positive impact on the world.The UN's global health arm, the World Health Organization (WHO), as also been very efficacious in its mission. For instance, the WHO "contributed to a 40% fall in the number of deaths from tuberculosis between 1990 and 2010, and since 2005, it claims that over 46 million people have been treated and an estimated 7 million lives saved through practices advocated by WHO. These include engaging national governments and their financing, early diagnosis, standardising treatment, monitoring of the spread and impact of tuberculosis and stabilising the drug supply." [5] Other successes include a 99% eradication of polio in the world through the WHO's partnership with groups like UNICEF and the CDC; the "WHO Surgical Safety Checklist," which is used "worldwide in the effort to improve patient safety;" and conducting successful and massive research programs on health issues such as aging, to better inform individual countries about how to craft their health-related policies. [5] The WHO is also the main international body (others are Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross) that responds to disease outbreaks such as Ebola--their ability to respond quickly, with large amounts of ground personnel is vital when tackling deadly diseases.Here again we see the UN's positive impact--reducing disease and responding to disease outbreak is crucial in a world that is becoming more interconnected. The UN is helping to fill that important niche, and has, as its track record illustrates, done so well.Finally, we can discuss the UN's impact on security. We can do this from two perspectives: human security and collective security. Human security is, very simply, the idea that individual people are safe and that their rights are being respected. I could be under no threat to my physical safety, but my human security is still violated if my rights and liberties are under threat. The UN has improved the global human rights situation tremendously; namely, by getting passed a series of treaties that codify these rights into international law. Three of these treaties, the UDHR, ICCPR, and ICESCR, have gained the greatest repute, and the latter two's legally binding regulations are enforced in most nations in the world. [6, 7, 8] The UN treats human security has a high priority [9] and has developed a strategic plan to continue promoting it through 2017 and beyond. The UN also has 16 on-going peacekeeping missions designed to halt violence and promote human security in various regions, such as Syria or South Sudan. [10] While these missions are not offensive in nature, they do help manage refugee flows, provide safe base-camps within conflict zones for people in need of shelter, and provide medical supplies, foodstuffs, and other necessities to those in need. Speaking specifically about refugees, The UN, through the UNHCR, does a lot to help people in conflict-affected zones. "The agency has helped millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 7,600 people in over than 125 countries continues to help tens of millions of people." [11]In terms of real security, or simply physical safety and sovereign integrity, the UN is also an important actor. The Security Council is, perhaps, one of the ultimate realizations of the idea of global collective security. The doctrine of collective security suggests that when one nation threatens another nations, the whole collective, the whole global community, punishes the aggressor. [12] This deters conflict, because it is not usually feasible for one actor to take on the collective, and where conflict isn't deterred it is often blunted, reversed, or halted. And, where those things don't occur, the aggressor is still almost always ostracized from the broader worldwide community.The Security Council doesn't act in every case where it ought, but an imperfect means of collective security is better than no means at all. Regions like Kosovo, Bosnia, and Korea could have been vastly worse off had the Security Council not decided to intervene.The only conclusion I can draw is that the UN is a force for good in the world. It's reducing poverty, tackling disease, and making the world a safer place. These are critical, and wholly positive functions that speak very well for the UN. It certainly has my endorsement. Thus, I affirm. Over to Con...SOURCES1 - http://www.un.org...2 - http://www.un.org...3 - http://blogs.un.org...4 - http://en.wikipedia.org...5 - http://en.wikipedia.org...6 - http://www.un.org...7 - http://www.ohchr.org...8 - http://www.un-documents.net...9 - https://docs.unocha.org...10 - http://www.un.org...11 - http://www.unhcr.org...12 - http://en.wikipedia.org...