Part I of your final assignment is to visit the following site:
http://www.un.org/Overview/uninbrief/
Explore the site and tell me in a comment what you learned about the UN. Perhaps you might want to talk about the strengths and/or weaknesses of the UN. You might want to talk about the structure of the organization. Just be able to articulate something concrete you learned about the UN. This is due by Wednesday, June 10th at 11pm. This will count as a quiz grade!
Part II of your final assessment is to bring in your textbooks. All textbooks must be returned by Wednesday, June 10th. This will also count as a quiz grade!
-EB
Advertisement
barthc64 said,
June 8, 2009 at 5:54 pm
After reviewing the UN web page and learning about the UN in class, I am surprised that the amount of global issues continues to remain at an all time high. World hunger, poverty, natural disasters, nuclear weapons, global warming and ethnic tension are just a few of the obstacles that remain to exist. However, by the year 2015 the UN hopes to solve these problems and restore global peace.
It’s reassuring to know that this organization has goals to stop these worldwide issues. I am also glad to know the UN hopes to end genocide and child soldiers in Darfur. It’s significant that the UN educates people of different ethnicities to unite them under the same amount of peace and security.
After reading the web page I now know that the UN has 192 members, 4.171 billion dollars in budget, which does not include peacekeeping operations, and the UN’s official languages are English, Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese and Arabic. In conclusion the UN, has taught me the importance of unity and the joining of countries to work together to solve global conflicts.
mleplassmann said,
June 8, 2009 at 8:33 pm
The UN has to deal with so many global problems such as genocide, pollution, disease, poverty and hunger, nuclear weapons, who is a threat to who. and so much more.
Thankfully, the UN has estimated that they fix theyre problems by 2015.
I hope they will be able to do so because it would be nice living in a perfect, peaceful world. I also dont believe this is possible because of all the problems they have to solve, and the limited number of countries who would cooperate.
I deeply respect all the things they do to make peace with the whole world. Only about 190 members (compared to the billions in the world) try to help end hunger, end poverty, stop genocides, find cures for diseases, and carry out so many chores just to make the world a better place.
It is a good thing that all these global problems are advertised, because 190 people cannot do it alone. They need the whole world to promote peace, help end genocide, donate to charities, give food to the hungry and stop the making of nuclear weapons.
mattjapan1 said,
June 8, 2009 at 9:02 pm
From reading the UN website I learned that the UN is, or at least is attempting to cover every global problem that there is, including the trafficing of drugs which I was unaware of. The UN’s strength is issues that can be solved through charity like AIDS and other diseases, but until the UN is able to punish countries, their weakness has and always has been issues such as the production of nuclear weapons and human rights since they essentially possess no power to punish disobedient countries. I also learned from the link that the UN is made up of 192 countries which creates all the power, which is popularity from other countries on issues that third world or communist countries may be against.
aggieluvsgerm said,
June 8, 2009 at 9:32 pm
After reading the U.N website I learned that the UN has been involved in peace-keeping organizations in the Middle East issues. They aim at solving underlying political problems and have numerous peacekeeping operations in the region. The first observing group was set up in 1948 and it is still there to this day. I also learned that the UN first peacekeeping force was also set up there during the Suez crisis of 1956. As of right now there are two peacekeeping organizations set up in the Middle East. One was established in 1974 and it is located between Israeli and Syrian troops, and the second one was established in 1978 and it’s purpose is to keep stability in south Lebanon. This group has been monitoring the people in search of possible hostility and they help deliver humanitarian assistance.
cassandravukov said,
June 8, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Through viewing the UN website, class discussions and conversations with family, I have discovered may significant facts and accomplishments of the United Nations. Since it creation in 1945 by 51 countries, the United Nations has strived to bring peace to the world. Over the years the UN has grown and now consists of 192 members who try to resolve international conflicts through cooperation. They address issues such as nuclear weapons, disarmament, human rights, world hunger, global warming, and humanitarian relief. The UN is a place where all nations have a voice and a vote. It consists of six branches. The General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat are located at UN Headquarters in New York City and the International Court of Justice is located at The Hague in the Netherlands.
Since I am part Croatian, I was particularly interested in the UN efforts that helped resolve the 1992-1995 conflicts in former Yugoslavia. Genocide was stopped. Relief assistance, in the form of food, water, clothing and shelter was provided to millions of people. Peace and security were established in Croatia and the entire war-torn area. When my great grandmother, Mio, died in 1996, the United Nations efforts allowed my grandparents to return her body to her homeland.
I respect and praise the UN and all its members for their cooperation to bring peace and unity to the world.
daniellepoland said,
June 9, 2009 at 6:01 pm
After reading the United Nations website and listening in class discussions, I have learned that the Untied Nations has many jobs throughout the world. I major job is to try and make peace between all the countries. The UN tries to make peace because they don’t want any more conflicts or wars. If they create peace, then countries will be safer and have nothing to worry about. I have also learned that the UN has a goal to make peace and have no more global conflicts and problems by 2015. I hope they achieve this goal so there can be an end of wars.
I have also learned that the UN deals with many other problems other than peace. It is their job to stop the spread of diseases like AIDS. The UN helps a lot of suffering countries with many diseases. They provide medicine and try to find cures. The United Nations also educate many people about the diseases. Education is the cure for any disease because people need to be aware about it.
The United Nations also help with Human Rights. They try to make more rights for citizens in countries and help them have more freedom. Without the UN, many people would be suffering because they wouldn’t have as many rights today if it wasn’t for the United Nations.
It is also the United Nations job to reduce poverty and help struggling countries that are in debt. The UN provides any help and country needs and is there for them when there is a problem. I have learned that the UN can only help a country when they ask them. Some countries wait to long to ask and it turns into a bigger problem that the UN might not be able to fix. This is a problem because if the UN thinks it is necessary to help out a country, they should have the right to help them with no permission.
The UN is a positive aspect to the world that tries to make the world a better place today. I hope they do achieve their goal of global peace by 2015!
xkkaufmannx said,
June 9, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Based off the UN’s official website, and what we’ve been going over from the past few weeks in class I’ve learned quite a few things I didn’t know before.
One of those being, I was not aware that the UN’s departments work on differnt specific issues in history and in our current world. For one, when Mrs. Gonsalves came in, she said there were the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice. Before that I had just thought it was one place like a meeting point in which political leaders came to meet, discuss and solve problems with today’s world.
Another thing I didn’t know was that the UN is not actually allowed to go in and intervene, they had less power than I was aware they did. As Mrs. Gonsalves said the UN is only allowed to make suggestions to countries, they can not go and take control of a country and make them fix their problems (or problems as seen to some). Also they can not make/create laws to limit another countries power.
The UN is not only composed of just those six departments; within those six departments are multiple other functions, organizations, and benefit groups that contribute the UN’s decision about certain aspects in our world. Also those organizations help out most directly to the problems. For example, UNICEF directly helps with people in places that need food, shelter, water, and medicine. I had known they give out those orange boxes on halloween, but I had never known they worked with the UN.
As for the human rights aspect, the website says that the UN is helping out with human rights in about thirty countries. Personally I can’t even name twelve countries that need help with human rights, but the fact that thirty or more countries are struggling with human rights is eye opening to many people I’m sure. However I’m sure the fact that I don’t really watch much of the news contributes to this.
The UN I think is currently not drifting from their goal of acheiving peace and solving the world’s social, political, and economic problems today, from all the websites information and Mrs. Gonsalves’ presentation it sounds like the UN is doing a fairly good job.
chloeghillani said,
June 9, 2009 at 6:49 pm
After I read the website about the UN, I didn’t realize how many tough problems it has to face everyday. Some problems they have to deal with include helping the environment, fighting diseases, human rights and creating peace between countries. The UN has set up many programs to help fix the various problems like stopping world hunger, by expanding food production. By having a member of the UN come to class I learned that the UN consists of 6 branches that all help resolve the issues that it faces. They are the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat. I found out from the website that the UN has created reachable goals for themselves that they plan to achieve in 2015, called the Millennium Development Goals. Hopefully the UN would achieve their goals and the world would have less problems.
christiebrals said,
June 9, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Through out this project I have learned quite a bit about the UN, from the link you provided, class discussions and Mrs. Gonsalves who came into the class. I never realized that there are so many different issues in the world that are constantly trying to be solved. I never knew of all the different councils that existed in the UN, such as the Social council and the Security council, etc.
This is a strong organization and is doing so much for our world today, and for the future. They have many people working on all the different areas of the world like peace and security, friendly relations among other nations, respect for human rights and most importantly solving international problems Yet there are still some issues with this because not every country wants to be a part of this and not every world issue can be looked upon.
casey napoli said,
June 9, 2009 at 9:06 pm
from the website and our project that we have been working on I’ve learned that the United Nations is a very important in our world today. From maintain international peace to helping solve international problems the UN deals with all these problems consistently. Like trying to stop terrorism and preventing another world war, the aids epidemic, the nuclear war threats almost everything that is a problem for anyone is a problem for the UN. In our assignment we were asked to discuss which issue is the most important and how to figure out a way to stop it, As hard as it was to actually find a point that most people agreed on, it was impossible to solve and figure out a correct solution to all the problems that the people listed. However this is only the glimpse of the problem that the UN deals with, they must argue there points everyday as well as argue for the ways to solve them. Our project only gave us a small taste of what the real UN is like and if it was this hard to disagree and still not come up with a solution everyone is happy about the imagine the intensity of the real UN and how they take to solve problems>
So overall i learned that UN is a very hard thing to be apart of and difficult to get your point across i have also learned from Web site that there are four main goals of the UN that they try to everyday 1 to maintain peace and security. 2 to develop friendly relations among different nations. 3 to solve all global problems. and 4 to be the center of harmonizing nations. These four thing descibe the UN perfectly because based on our project it made us all as different nations come together to solve the global problems that exist in the world today either between nations, through diesels or through serious bombing threats.
brokerl said,
June 9, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Throughout this project, I learned many things about the U.N. I found the specialized agencies the most intriguing. I learned that there are certain agencies that deal with specific global issues. For example the World heath organization that is now dealing with the H1N1 flu. Also, I learned of the ILO which is the International labour Organization which deals with labour conditions and laws.
Also, i found out what the U.N. does for peace making in different areas in the world and how it tries to control certain aspects of what causes problems. I think the U.N. is very important for the world and it’s issues today. It is a key aspect of the solution of many global problems.
katiecrider said,
June 9, 2009 at 9:14 pm
After reading the UN website and the activities we did in class, I learned that the UN has various jobs. Maintaining peace through out the world is not the only issue they deal with. They also deal with ways of encouraging respect for human rights, protecting the environment, fighting widespread diseases and reducing poverty. It is a very good thing that the many countries involved in the UN all try to help to solve issues in all parts of the world. One example of this is the genocide occurring in Darfur; all the countries are working together and putting an effort towards ending the mass murdering. To aid in fixing these problems the UN is divided up into six different parts (the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat). The UN has also set up a set of goals that they would like to achieve by the year 2015. Each goal has specific plans and practical steps for action. Overall the UN is a very organized association with their goals and priorities set straight to help fix worldwide problems.
romejay said,
June 9, 2009 at 9:49 pm
During the couse of this project i have learned more about the UN system as a whole. I learned that there were different sections in the UN which worked together to make it all work. The UN is vital to the world to keep suggesting change and discisions which will harshly affect the worlds future. The UN does not have any political power which sometimes makes it hard for them to take care of certain conflicts such as hidden arms and contraband. Now although sometimes no actual power seems a problem– it keeps the UN at a good standpoint. The UN’s influence is very powerful despite the fact of not having any real political power. There are over 100 countries affiliated with the UN. As this system grows the world will come closer to solving altercations, sitiuations, and global issues.
kerrizbodula said,
June 9, 2009 at 9:52 pm
The UN affects our lives in many different ways, and some ways don’t meet the eye. I didn’t realize how many different things they try to do for our country. Besides trying to keep the peace between different countries, the UN promotes human rights, reduces poverty, fights disease, and protects the environment. They help other countries with diseases by providing medicine and trying to find new cures. The UN throughout the world helps expand food production and lead the fight against AIDS, they also lead international campaigns against drug trafficking and terrorism. The UN is divided into 6 different parts which include the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat. They have different organizations, such as the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN), IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), ect. I learned that the UN has 192 members, and 4.171 billion dollars in budget. Hopefully they will fix all of their problems by 2015, which is their set goal.
michaelalg said,
June 9, 2009 at 10:03 pm
After looking through the United Nation’s website and hearing Mrs. Gonsalves talk about the UN’s affairs and how its set up I can now see how it can prevent another world war. The UN deals with human rights, protecting the environment, fighting diseases and reducing poverty. I never knew that UN had these many problems they have to deal with. One major problem that stood out to me was their fight against AIDS. This stood out me because AIDS is a huge global problem and it is nice to see that they’re taking care of it and trying to fight it. UN is also coming together to help stop the killing going on in Darfur. And now the UN is working to stop the spread of H1N1, which I learned is the Swine Flu
I liked how Mrs. Gonsalves broke down how the UN works and the different parts of it. There is the General Assembly, which is when all the nations come together and talk about the recent issues. There is the Security Council, which is the part that keeps the international peace, in my opinion this is the most important part of the UN. There is the Economic and Social council, they talk about the world economy, this is probably to help prevent another world depression. Next there is a trusteeship council, which was made to provide international supervision to 11 trust territories. There is the international court of justice, which decides disputes between countries. There is a Secretariat, which carries out the substantive and administrative work of the U.N. And the UN System, which is like a world bank. The UN also sets up Goals for its self.
ljanellichina said,
June 9, 2009 at 10:28 pm
As I have been reading the UN website I have learned many different things, for instance one of the main things the UN is known for is creating peace even though this is not the easiest thing to do they maintain it very well but it is not the only thing that they deal with… it helps with Human Rights, International lax, Ending impunity and other justice acts. This helps many countries succeed. One of the main things the UN is known for is creating peace even though this is not the easiest thing to do they maintain it very well but it is not the only thing that they deal with. The UN also helps with the Humanitarian responses this is very important and something I didn’t know they did with out this we would still be suffering from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and many other disasters all over the world. With out the UN and what it does for the world there would be many conflicts and nothing helping human rights or even tragedy that happens everywhere.
alvarezk said,
June 9, 2009 at 10:52 pm
After reading the United Nations Website I learned that the U.N. is trying to reduce or eliminate problems that are found in the world today. The U.N. is involved in many organizations and programs trying to make people’s lives better by promoting respects to human rights and also protect the environment and fight diseases, and also reduce poverty. The U.N. also wants to make air travel more safe and efficient and also want to improve telecommunication, and also have campaigns against drug trafficking and terrorism. The U.N goal is to create peace and also, stop all the terrorism and destruction that we are doing to one another and come as one. The U.N has contributed a lot of time and money hoping to unify countries so that they may help each other, and one day become as one and be examples to other countries. The U.N is trying to reduce the spread of Aids by creating programs that will make people aware of the consequences and also the long term affects of aid so that people will think twice before doing things. I have also learned that there are 192 member state in the United Nations, and are currently trying to resolve problems globally so that one day we can all live in peace.
jdevivo said,
June 10, 2009 at 8:59 am
After reading the article on the U.N website i have learned that the U.N must deal with many problems such as genocide, reducing international tensions and keeping peace. I also leaned that the U.N may not have the power it needs in order to stop this, for example the U.N cannot send troops to a country unless the country itself requests it. This can be a problem when trying to stop genocide in places like Darfur. Since the country will not request aid since the government is backing the genocide, the U.N can do nothing but watch. I also learned that the U.N is actually a combonation of diferent U.N organizations called the U.N system.
evanfierstein said,
June 10, 2009 at 8:25 pm
After navigating the UN website, I now possess a greater understanding of what exactly the United Nations is and how the entire system operates. In my opinion the UN is the ultimate example of democracy. Six separate United Nation departments work in cooperation with fifteen other specialized agencies in order to deal with the conflicts around the world. The General Assembly, which is the branch of the UN most similar to the American Congress, makes decisions based on the votes of national delegates. Similar to other democratic, a two-thirds majority is the necessary vote for a final decision on appropriate action. Every country that belongs to the UN has only just one vote in the General Assembly. Powerhouses such as the United States of America and miniscule countries such as Tuvalu have the exact same influence on a vote which shows the extreme democratic nature of the UN.
Originally created to maintain peace and international security, the UN has become so much more significant. The UN deals with a countless number of issues including ethnic conflict, nuclear weaponry, poverty, environmental issues, equality, child labor, health issues (AIDS, Swine Flu) and so much more. The United Nations deals with domestic issues in countries all over the globe in an attempt to improve the quality of life for all citizens of the world. The many different specialized agencies of the UN are able to concentrate on specific issues and make strong effort to tend to individual problems.
People are often extremely critical of the UN claiming that the organization fails to utilize its immense power to solve conflict such as genocide. I can admit that prior to my studies this year I too was critical of the group which possessed all of the world’s super powers but could not stop ethnic conflicts in unstable and struggling countries. After learning more about the UN, I am more aware of the restrictions of the organization and the reason why UN intervention is impossible in certain situations.
dominiqueprudente said,
June 10, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Throughout this project i progressively learned more and more about the UN and its purpose and what it actually is. After reviewing the UN website i learned about all the UN’s systems and how it effects my life and life around me. I also had no idea that the UN’s concerns include human rights, greater opportunity, community health, and so much more that has a huge impact on me.
I learned that one of the UN’s main concern is peace among other nations as well as within a single nation. The UN analyzes conflict among all nations and develops a specific goal resolution to maintain peace. It is true that the way to maintain peace among different nations is made up of different methods in getting there. The UN’s peace goals include maintain peace in the Middle East, the Americas, Afghanistan, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The UN may be one big group but it is organized into specific smaller organizations which make up the goals for other specific needs of all nations. These smaller groups are broken down into smaller groups, organizations and unions. Each of these work on different tasks and work to achieve different goals.
nataliamannetta said,
June 10, 2009 at 9:28 pm
As the world became a smaller place and the effects that all nations had on each other became more apparent (after the two great world wars) the idea of a United body of the worlds nations having a forum where they could work together for the greater good, became overwhelming apparent. The United Nations was formed not only to solve conflicts that might lead to military encounters, but many other issues such as world economics, world wide health concerns (such as AIDS and Swine Flu), human rights, poverty, disease, and environmental issues. The United Nations can and does deal with all issues that can be brought forth that affect the quality of the human existence throughout the world. It has become over these many years that mechanism, framework and conclave for addressing all these many global concerns. Although it has been able to achieve some wonderful things over the years, sometimes from what I’ve read and seen, its ability to truly act or come to ultimate decisions is severely affected.The power and the fortitude of each individual member nations strengths and weaknesses, on a colaborative basis, to back their desired goals economically, politically or militarily has many times proved to be the “Achilles Heal” of this World wide body.
There are six individual Departments within The United Nations which consist of: The General Assembly, The Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, The Trusteeship Council, The International Court of Justice and The Secretariat. All member Nations are committed to preserving peace through international cooperation and collective security. Even today almost every nation belongs to the UN, 192 countries in total.
When they decide to become a part of the UN, they will accept the obligations of the UN Charter. The UN’s purposes are to:
…..to maintain international peace and security;
…..to develop friendly relations among nations;
…..to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights;
…..and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
As I read the United Nations is not a world government and is not in charge of making laws What it does do is try to help resolve all the international conflicts that are occuring. I’ve learned that everyone that is at the UN has a voice and a say.
Jake_Venditto_Russia/USSR said,
June 10, 2009 at 9:28 pm
After navigating the UN website, I gained more knowledge on how the UN operates. I always thought that the UN meetings were, representatives from each country siting at a desk in a big room, with a name plate with the countries name on it. However that is just the General Assembly, the UN is made up of different sections for example, the Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, and more. Mrs. Gonzalves also did a great job of explaining the various special agencies within the Councils. These target specific global issues. The UN has various roles globally which include, promote respect for human rights, protect the environment, fight disease and reduce poverty. UN agencies define the standards for safe and efficient air travel and help improve telecommunications and enhance consumer protection. The UN leads the international campaigns against drug trafficking and terrorism. Throughout the world, the UN and its agencies assist refugees, set up programs to clear landmines, help expand food production and lead the fight against AIDS. It is these duties which help make the world a better place.
rachelkperiod3 said,
June 11, 2009 at 7:31 am
After taking a look at the UN website, I learn that the UN strives to keep the peace between over 100 nations, andin general, the world. A specific example of how they attempt to reach this peace is disarment. By enforcing rules or laws that prohibit Countries from prodcing firearms and weapons of mass destruction, the UN has eased tensions between certain countries. For example, on the website is a paragraph under the topic “What the UN does For Peace” and here it states that by 2009, over 150 nations had become parties to a Convention called the 1997 Ottawa convention that outlawed Landmines. Effortslike this from the UN help keep peace throughout the nations of the world.