Our Global Neighborhood
The United Nations was formed to succeed the League of Nations after the body failed to avert the occurrence of the Second World War (Boutros-Ghali, 1993). The recommendations of the League of Nations regarding Germany was much blamed for fanning the Second World War. After its formation in 1945, the mission of the UN was to maintain international peace and security, attain international cooperation among nations, fostering friendly relations among countries as well as acting as the center where the actions of nations get harmonized (Boutros-Ghali, 1993). The motive behind these elaborate missions was to minimize global conflict, achieve cohesiveness among nations, and reduce contentious issues that could have resulted in disputes among the members.
Based on such elaborate missions, the UN has several agencies under it that perform several functions that go beyond maintaining global peace and stability alone. However, keeping the global peace and stability is the primary function of the UN. Through the intervention and cooperation with several countries through the UN Security Council, the UN has peace-keepers that are stationed in different conflict zones to protect the citizens from the warring factions (Daws & Bailey, 1998). Again, the UN also works towards protecting human rights around the world. Through the UN-led Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, several countries continue to uphold human rights as spelled in the charter (Arend & Beck, 2014). However, violation of human rights through crimes against humanity is dealt with through the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Again, the UN, through UNICEF or WFP, delivers humanitarian aid to various countries. The UN body also protects the international law as well as promote sustainable development and use of the environment (Arend & Beck, 2014).
The UN does not interfere with the sovereignty of any nation under its umbrella. However, when there is a crisis or conflict, the UN seeks the permission of the United Nations Security Council to vote on the resolutions to send the peace-keepers or any other needed intervention in such a country (Daws & Bailey, 1998). The same instance happens when the sovereignty of a nation gets infringed by the other. In that regard, the aggressor nation could be subject to sanctions by the world powers and the UN.