The Role of United Nations in Development and its Impact on Uganda

The Role of United Nations in Development and its Impact on Uganda

Introduction
After studying this chapter, you will be able to understand the role of UN in pursuing peace and development of member states. You will learn how the UN has used its structures to create world peace and the role of the UN in maintaining world peace, development and promotion of human rights.
The Creation of the United Nations (UN)
The UN was created in 1945 after the Second World War. Its creation was a result of the failure of the League of Nations to maintain peace, in the 1930s that led to the start of World War II in 1939. The League of Nations failed to control powers from over punishing Germany, which resulted in 1939 outbreak of World War II. The war was devastating to the world and no nation was ready to have the repeat of the destruction and loss of lives in the world as was the case between 1939—1945. The
UN was created as a mechanism through which the threats to the world would be
resolved and to prevent future catastrophes from happening.
Since its creation, the United Nations has aimed at maintaining international peace and security. It has worked to develop friendly relations among nations to achieve international cooperation. It has become a centre for harmonising the actions of nations. The UN is made up of 193 countries known as member states through which the activities of the organisation are financed. Its headquarters are in New York. It is
headed by the Secretary-General.
The Mission of the UN
The UN brings all nations of the world together to work closely towards achieving world peace and solving international conflicts. It works with world nations to prevent wars, fight povemy, promote sustainable economic development and protect human rights.

The UN maintains international peace and security. It takes up effective collective measures in the prevention and removal of threats to the peace. It suppresses and pre-empts the acts of aggression or breaches of the peace in conformity with the principles of justice and international law. It is also actively involved in settlement of internat’onal disputes or situations likely to breach peace.
The UN works to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for equal
rights and sovereignty of nations to strengthen universal
The UN aims at achieving intemational co-operation and solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character. It has promoted and encouraged respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction on the basis of race, sex, language or religion,
The Structure of the UN
The main organs of the UN structure are the General Assembly. the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice. and the UN Secretariat.
The General Assembly is the and representative organ of the LIN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making d the only UN with universal representation.

Figure 5.2: The UN Genera/ Assembly in session
The Security Council has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Its primary responsibility is maintenance of International and security. All Member States are Obligated to comply with Council decisions.
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The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter. Its role is to provide international supervision of Trust Territories under the UN administration until they attain self-government and independence.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its role is to settle legal disputes in accordance with international law. It also gives advisory opinions on legal questions to UN organs and specialised agencies.

Figure 5.4: The International Court of Justice in session
The UN Secretariat’s role is to carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the organisation’s other principal organs.

Evaluating the structure of the UN
Activity 5.1
a) Using ICT or library, identify the permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.
b) Read articles from newspapers, magazines or any other source and explain the activities of the UN in Uganda. Present them to your class.
The Role of the UN and its Agencies
The UN is the main international body charged with maintaining peace in the world. Through the Security Council, the UN sanctions the use of any available means to stop, negotiate and resolve any conflict in the world. The UN has had severai peace-keeping missions around the world.
The IJN protects human rights and provides humanitarian assistance to areas in the world where there is need. This is done in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly as a standard for its human rights operations.
The UN provides technical assistance to nations involved in elections and helps to improve structures and systems that enforce justice and protect human rights. In so doing, it has helped improve judicial structures and contributed to the development of draft constitutions. It continues to develop capacity for those involved in human rights work. It has also continued to provide relief like food, drinking water, shelter, and other humanitarian services to peoples displaced by conflicts and natural disaster.

The UN has continued to provide development assistance to world nations through the UN Development Program. Through the World Bank developing countries have been supported with loans and grants to run some projects. The UN subsidiary agencies have also worked with world nations to provide
social and humanitarian assistance.

Figure 5.5: The UN has supported immunisation programmes
in Uganda
The UN agencies include: the World Health Organisation, UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund, and the World Bank Group. These agencies work on fundamental issues ranging from education, health, environment, democracy, human rights, humanitarian assistance and economic development.

Explaining the role of the UN
a)Using ICT or library, identify areas of ongoing crises/conflicts in East Africa today.
b)Explain the role of the UN and its agencies in the crises/conflicts identified in East Africa.
c)In groups, discuss mechanisms through which East African countries can avoid crises/conflicts from occurring.

The Contribution of the UN in Peace and Development in Uganda
Uganda is one of the members of the UN having joined the organisation in 1962. Since independence, Uganda has witnessed political and economic instability that saw the beginning of several UN development and humanitarian agencies operations in Uganda.
The presence of UN in Uganda has since expanded to include development programmes through financial and humanitarian support. The UN has provided capacity building and technical to address a wide range of development challenges including health, education, human rights and gender. The World Health Organisation has supported the immunisation campaigns and the fight against preventable diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS. UN agencies have also supported the economic and political empowerment of women to participate in development and human rights. UNICEF has asststed the
government in the areas of children’s rights, their survival and development with focus on
increased access to education.
The UN supported Uganda during the Northern insurgency. The UN agencies provided
humanitarian assistance and to the displaced people. After the insurgency, the UN
supported the recovery programmes for the people of Northem Uganda.

Figure 5.6: Humanitarian assistance by the UN World Food Programme (WFP)
The UN has continued to support Uganda which hosts a number of refugees from the neighbouring countries of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It has worked with government to develop and fund district development plans in refugee-hosting districts.
The UN has supported Uganda’s peace-keeping operations. Uganda has contributed to UN peace-keeping operations in Liberia, Somalia, Congo, South Sudan and others, by providing troops, police, prison officers and civilian experts. Uganda is hosting the UN’s Regional Service Centre Entebbe (RSCE) and a peace operation support hub at Entebbe.

Discussing the contribution of I-IN in peace and development
Activity 5.3
in Uganda
a) Using ICT or library, explain how the UN has contributed to the well- being of the people in Northern Uganda.
b) Discuss the challenges of the UN in peace operations in Uganda.
The UN and Human Rights in Uganda
The UN is the custodian of human rights in the world under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The UN human rights operations in Uganda are run by the UN Human Rights Office in Uganda. The office was established in 2005 to protect and promote human rights in the conflict affected areas of northern Uganda and Karamoja.
The UN office has advocated for human rights awareness and protection. Through this office, the UN has built capacity to monitor and report on human rights activities and provide information to authorities to take appropriate and timely action. It has also improved capacity to nationals, national human rights institutions and civil society and individuals to contribute to improved reporting mechanisms on human
rights related issues.

The UN office has supported the electoral process in Uganda by supporting all actions and intentions of widening the democratic space. Uganda’s electoral process has witnessed political tensions that often result in violence and loss of lives by people. The UN office has therefore continuously engaged the government before, during and after the elections. The Un has come in to train the law enforcement agencies on respecting public freedoms. It has also come in to train other stakeholders like the
civil society orgnisations and journalists to monitor and report human rights violations during elections.

The UN office has supported the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHR ) in fighting impunity and promoting accountability and the rule of law. The UHRC has been supported to come up with regulations on the prevention and prohibition of torture. It has supported the training of traditional elders, youth and women leaders on the prevention and prohibition of torture within their traditional institutions specifically
in the areas of West Nile region.

Figure 5.8: One of the activities of UHRC is to promote human rights
The office has supported government to address emerging issues of discrimination
and equality. It has supported Uganda in being commited to its international obligations
and commitments on human rights.
Activity 5.4
Identifying the human rights violations in Uganda
a)Using ICT or library, identify human rights violations that are common in Uganda.
B)Explain the causes of human rights violations you have identified.

In groups, discuss how the UN can help in overcoming human rights violations. Make a presentation to your class.

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, you have learnt that the United Nations is an international organisation created to address world conflicts and provide a solution to them after the devastating World War II. Since then, it has continued to work as the defender of human rights and to work for peace, development and human rights. Through its structure and agencies, the UN has actively promoted world peace and transformed the lives Of millions of people across the world. Uganda is one of the beneficiaries of the UN in
areas of peace and security, development and human rights.