United Nations Education - PDF

EDUCAZIONE CIVICA THE UNITED NATIONS What is the UN and why was it created? The origins of the United Nations lie in the Second World War. During the war, 26 nations forged a coalition to fight the Axis powers. They agreed not to enter into any separate deals with Nazi Germany and its allies, and...

EDUCAZIONE CIVICA THE UNITED NATIONS What is the UN and why was it created? The origins of the United Nations lie in the Second World War. During the war, 26 nations forged a coalition to fight the Axis powers. They agreed not to enter into any separate deals with Nazi Germany and its allies, and adopted a set of principles to underpin their efforts: freedom, human rights and justice for all. The UN embodies these principles and represents the culmination of the Allies' efforts. Founded in 1945, in the aftermath of the war and the horrors of the Holocaust, they hoped that the UN would be able to prevent such catastrophes from happening in the future by stabilising international relations and giving peace a more secure foundation. What are the aims of the UN? The 'blue helmets' worn by UN peacekeepers are among the most common images associated with the UN, and conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding continue to be core activities of the organisation. But the UN does more than that. The primary aims of the UN are: AIM 1 Secure international peace AIM 2 Eliminate poverty AIM 3 Protect human rights The UN believes that peace, development and human rights are interdependent. They are mutually reinforcing objectives and are often called the 'three pillars' of the UN. Today, these 'pillars' cover a vast array of issues, including sustainable development, gender, population, health, education and trade, as well as issues that were not on the global agenda in 1945, such as climate change, international terrorism and cyber security. From its headquarters in New York City to its local offices around the world, the UN tackles all these issues and works to improve the lives of people everywhere. Who runs the UN? The UN is not a 'world government'. Its purpose is to bring all nations of the world together to work for peace and sustainable development, based on the principles of justice, human dignity and the wellbeing of all people. The UN is made up of 193 countries known as 'member states'. The member states finance the UN's work and govern its activities. To facilitate its role as an international forum for discussion, the UN has adopted six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. UN staff are international civil servants and answer to the United Nations alone for their activities. When joining the UN, staff members take an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any government or outside authority. The UN symbol -- a world map surrounded by olive branches on a blue background -- symbolises the tasks of the organisation: promoting peace and cooperation across the world. Does the UN have a constitution? The Charter of the United Nations is essentially the constitutional document of the UN. It sets out the structure and powers of the main bodies of the UN. The Charter came into force -- i.e. became legally-binding -- on 24 October 1945, and all member states of the UN must adhere to its provisions. This day is now celebrated as United Nations Day across the world. How is the UN structured? The UN is made up of many bodies, each with a different function and remit. Two of the most well-known bodies are: The General Assembly: the UN's 193 member states meet in the General Assembly, which is the closest thing there is to a world parliament. Each country, large or small, rich or poor, has a single vote. While the Assembly's decisions are not binding on member states, they carry the weight of world governmental opinion. The Security Council is responsible for maintaining peace, and tries to settle conflicts that threaten international security. All UN member states must respect and abide by its decisions. It can set up peacekeeping operations in countries. These operations protect civilians and help warring parties to resolve their differences peacefully. The Security Council has 15 members of which five are permanent: China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA. The permanent members can veto any major proposal in the Security Council. How does the UN work to achieve its aims? The work of the United Nations reaches every corner of the globe. Much of this work is carried out by UN funds, programmes and specialised agencies. These are part of the UN system but operate as independent bodies. They cover a vast range of areas including promoting democracy, human rights, good governance, economic and social development, international health, refugee protection and disaster relief. Examples include: the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Health Organization and the Universal Postal Union. The UN's aims are lofty. What are human rights? Human rights are the rights and freedoms to which every human being is entitled, regardless of any distinction. They are inalienable (i.e. can only be limited through appropriate judicial processes) and interdependent (e.g. the right to political participation cannot be fully exercised without the right to education). Human rights are based on the values of fairness, dignity, justice, equality and respect. These are values that everybody can understand, and that have existed for hundreds of years in different societies all over the world. Human rights were officially recognised as universal values when the UN was set up in 1945. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) In order to achieve its aim of promoting human rights, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights in 1946. The Commission's first task was to create a document expressing universal human rights. Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the Chairperson of the Commission. She led a team of seven other people from Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the Soviet Union and the UK. Agreement on what to include in the document was hard to achieve. Even after the Commission had finally agreed on a text, the UN's member states voted over 1,400 times on the contents of the draft before adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. This day is now celebrated each year across the world as Human Rights Day. The UDHR is the most famous expression of rights in the world. It serves as a common standard of values for all peoples and nations. It contains 30 rights, each of which corresponds to a particular human need. Although not binding on states, the UDHR has inspired over 80 legally-binding international and regional human rights treaties. One of these treaties is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) The CRC is the most important international human rights treaty for children and young people under 18. The fact that there is a dedicated treaty for children does not mean that their rights differ to those of adults. Instead, the CRC recognises that children can be more vulnerable than adults and that they sometimes require special protection. The Convention covers the whole spectrum of human rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural -- in 54 articles that spell out the basic rights and freedoms to which children everywhere are entitled: survival; developing to the fullest; protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and full participation in family, cultural and social life. One of the main principles of the CRC is that children should have a say in the decisions that affect them in order to ensure that their best interests are always taken into account. The treaty also has two 'optional protocols' (add-on agreements) on children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The CRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. By ratifying a treaty, governments commit to uphold its provisions and are accountable to the international community. As of April 2012, only three UN member states had not ratified the CRC: Somalia (which has not had a functioning government since 1991), South Sudan (which became an independent state in July 2011) and the United States. Although they have not ratified the treaty, which would involve approval by their legislative bodies, both Somalia and the US have indicated their support for the CRC by signing it -- a precursor to ratification. How are human rights protected by UN member states? Human rights are protected in the first instance by treaties such as the CRC and the commitments to them that governments make. By signing a treaty, a country indicates its support for its provisions. The government normally then takes steps to prepare itself for implementing them. This could entail enacting new legislation or policies, or ensuring that existing laws and programmes are compatible with treaty obligations. Once a country has completed this work, it can ratify the treaty. This signals that it is committed to upholding the treaty's provisions and that it has agreed to be accountable to its own citizens where implementing them is concerned. Governments therefore need to ensure that people whose rights have been violated can seek advice and help, if necessary, via the courts. How are human rights protected by the UN? There are times when states are unable or unwilling to guarantee the rights of their populations. If this occurs, the UN has a range of mechanisms to condemn those states and seek help for the victims. These mechanisms range from 'naming and shaming' countries by speaking out, to providing practical, on-the-ground assistance to people whose rights have been violated.