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Organizations of the United Nations
The
United Nations governs and mandates more than just its main organs, it
increases awareness about health and human rights too. Two organizations
that the United Nations help provide fore are UNICEF (United Nations
Children Fund) and WHO (World Health Organization).
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Foreign Relations Aren't Just About Diplomacy...They're About
Children Too.
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UNICEF: To enhance the living conditions of the world’s children,
the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) works with groups like Global
Movement for Children and the United Nations Special Session on
Children; additionally, the United Nations’ General Assembly instills
the goals of UNICEF. Wars and foreign affairs affect children, and the
UNICEF, in their mission statement, makes it clear that they wish to
protect the civil liberties of children in war-torn nations.
The
goals of UNICEF became initiated upon their permanent position in the
United Nations in 1953. The U.N. and UNICEF are indeed a strong force;
their mixtures of expertise allow things like involving children in wars
to be recognized and focused on. For instance, in January of 2003, Annan
listed twenty-three nations that involved children in armed conflict.
(Afghanistan, Burundi, Dominican Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Somalia
were a few on the list) Annan promised that it was a U.N. goal to
monitor these twenty-three nations carefully. Former UNICEF director,
Carol Bellamy, pleased by Annan’s list and decision to name the list of
nations, said that 300,000 children serve in wars. Carol Bellamy also
said that in acting assiduously about the matter required a constant
updating of the list. Speaking for UNICEF, Bellamy said that it would
use Annan’s list to focus the scope of its programs against children in
war.
Besides
Bellamy’s efforts and involvement, others inside UNICEF have worked on
the issues of children in war. Graca Machel, a diligent researcher on
children and the effects of armed conflict, spent two years preparing
UNICEF’s “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” report, the U.N. and
UNICEF delivered in 1996. In that report, it was estimated that two
million had been killed in armed conflict in that past decade. Three
times that two million, said the report, had been injured because of the
war atmosphere, often times the land mines. These numbers have reflected
largely reflected the change in armament making. With more and more
weapons less complex and less heavy, the report noted that a child of
ten years could operate most weaponry used in the listed regimes and
governments using children in wars.
What is
more, a child’s physical injuries are not the only result of putting
them in an armed conflict. Psychological effects are apparent too,
especially when children encounter sexual abuse, discrimination, and
loss of family members. When some armies cannot find enough uses in a
child because of his or her age, they shot them. When children cannot
carry ammunition and weaponry, the armies force to carry loads of
supplies up through steep, dense, or brutal terrain. In Uganda, the
Lord’s Resistance Army uses young girls as wives for the army’s leaders,
reported the document.
The
document also reported the obvious obstacle of reintegrating children
back into society. UNICEF insists that peace treaties need to address
the issue of demobilizing children after war, especially when an army
has exploited the rights of a child in an armed conflict. Sadly, no
treaty has touched on such issue. Furthermore, the reintegration
programs that exist through organizations like UNICEF cannot compensate
for the emotional and physical pain that has been imprinted in a child’s
memory.
The
most effective, humane alternative, then, is to outlaw children soldiers
eternally. According to the report, this starts with making all
communities aware of the laws that protect a child’s rights. Hope came
in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Paraguay when families protested against
implementing children into war. These family groups and even religious
coalitions can help sustain the rights of children. These protests
worked in Myanmar when an army camp returned the young boys it had taken
to train as soldiers. The best step in anti-recruitment begins with eth
Governments of nations accepting humanitarian treaties that become
international laws. For instance, the government of Sudan recently
accepted the terms of a humanitarian convention and outlawed the use of
children in armed conflicts.
UNICEF FACTS:
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Date
established: December 11, 1946
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Why
the acronym: UNICEF originally stood for United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund. However, it 1950, it's name
was shortened to United Nations Children's Fund
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UNICEF Offices: There are 8 regional offices and 126 country offices
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Current Executive Director of UNICEF: (Since May 1, 2005) Ann M.
Veneman
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Official web address:
http://www.unicef.org/index.html
...And Health Too:
WHO:
Yes, world health issues affect foreign policy. Deadly diseases can
influence political and economic instability. Policymakers and
organizations like the United Nations, in the last decade, have combined
foreign policy with foreign health issues. For instance, debt relief has
allowed room for health improvement since bad health is most common in
impoverished areas. Furthermore, countries are becoming less and less
isolated and today’s rapid communication and trade means that
intermingling with people from all over the world is more plausible.
Health, then, is a world concern. The United Nations’ World Health
Organization (WHO) monitors health. The World Health Assembly runs WHO.
This assembly is made up of representatives from the 192 member states.
If the
worst in diplomatic relations should erupt, war, then health is an
obvious concern. When related to war, health means injuries, diseases,
and death. In 2003, Liberia’s health was a huge concern for WHO and the
U.N. when war had plagued the area. After the civil war, WHO and UNICEF
brought vaccinations and immunizations to the children of Liberia. WHO
also assembled over 18 different emergency kits at its base in Monrovia.
WHO stayed there for three months.
Because
war is the scene of the highest form of world mobility, diseases are
bond to spread more rapidly. In it’s Resolution 1308, the U.N. stated
that member states should examine their soldiers for diseases like AIDS.
However, most nations resist the U.N.’s effort because it could decrease
their number of troops available to fight. Secondly, in some societies
like Africa, AIDS is most apparent in higher-ranking soldiers.
WHO Facts:
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Date
established: April 7, 1948
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Member States: 192 member states
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Director-General: (Since January 28, 2003) Lee Jong-Wook
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Official website:
http://www.who.int/en/
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Boy injured by land mine |
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