It wants to help create world peace, end war and improve international communication, and for more than 60 years, the United Nations has had the power to do that.
Today is the United Nations' 61st birthday, and to celebrate, Ball State University's Model U.N. class is discussing the problems of North Korea's nuclear armament and other countries around the world.
The class is taking an academic approach to celebrating the work the U.N. does in discussing and solving the world's problems, Teh-Kuang Chang, a aprofessor of political science and faculty adviser to the International Studies Association, said. The U.S. plays a leadership role in the U.N. and gives its input on world issues, he said.
"The best accomplishment the U.N. has done is to prevent World War III," he said. "The goal is to prevent small wars from being bigger wars. Peacekeeping and human rights are the biggest achievements. As long as peace is maintained, they're doing their jobs."
Every day, students, United States citizens and people all over the world are surrounded by the results of U.N. decisions, Andreas Pergher, a senior international relations major, said. Security at airlines or checking e-mail are issues the U.N. discusses, he said.
"You see the wars or the humanity efforts being done, but it's more complex than that," he said. "I went to the U.N. this past summer and it was like being at an international airport, but 20 times more hectic. With each representative of the 192 countries speaking their own languages, it is just a wild experience."
Pergher said he got the opportunity to visit the U.N. headquarters through the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations program, a Seton Hall program that gives undergraduate and graduate students a chance to spend a week there. During the week, he and 41 students from around the world traveled with ambassadors from other countries who gave an in-depth look at how the U.N. works, he said.
In 1919, after World War I, the League of Nations was created under the Treaty of Versailles as a conglomeration of countries that wished to promote peace and security. In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt renamed the League of Nations the United Nations. At that time, 26 nations were members of the General Assembly, but after the U.N. officially came into existence in 1945, there were 51 members. Currently, 192 countries are members of the General Assembly.
Russia, China, France, England and the United States are the five permanent members of the Security Council with 10 other countries rotating in the council every two years. The Security Council must unanimously decide if rules become international law.
World problems happen if countries do not follow the U.N. charters, Chang said. People must learn why a conflict occurred in order to know what could be done to correct the problem, he said.
Pergher said there must be a way for countries to sit down and talk. The U.N. is important because it is a framework for peace, he said.
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