United Nations
QUESTION 1
The United Nations is one of the international organizations responsible for maintaining peace and security all over the world. However, there are some challenges and changes faced by the United Nations. According to Weiss and Daws (2018), some of the challenges and changes are the emergence of new threats, the increasing role of non-state actors, the reformulation of state sovereignty and the rise of a single hyperpower.
The first change is the spread of new threats and opportunities. Weiss and Daws (2018) stated that this type of challenges brings risks to the states and its citizens. For instance, some of the issues like environmental degradation, population growth, urbanization and women’s right in 1970. Then, in 1980 and 1990, there is a pandemic called AIDS, and the need for human development and security appeared. Other issues that have not been solve in a long period like terrorism and self-determination have become the main issue with a rapid weapon creation that leads to mass destruction in some part of the world. Therefore, this showed that the UN had faced many threats like war and human right abuse and poverty in the last six decades. This leads the changes of the political violence patterns after the pledged members of the UN Charter to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war which makes the threat to endure.
Second is the increasing role of non-state actors. The rapid growth of non-state actor, which consist of belligerents, warlords and criminal is one of the factors that lead to the contemporary civil war and fragile states (Weiss and Daws,2018). However, the UN acts as an arena called Global Civil Society which enables them to interact with the rules, articulate demands and solutions and to pursue their interests according to the Charter 71. This gives a chance to the Non-Government Organization (NGO) to engage with the United Nations. Furthermore, there are a massive number of growths of NGO. According to The Union of International Associations cited by Weiss and Dewis (2018), there are about 25000 international NGOs that operate in more than two countries. Based on the estimation, one-quarter of it have been created since 1990. These rapid number of NGOs have brought positive outcome and changes to the United Nations. The international discussions now have become more pluralistic, and the global decisions are not based on the perspective of the states but in the broader area perspective, which is to state and non-state actors.
The third is the reformulation of sovereignty. Rationally, the freedom of the state has become the responsibility of the United Nations. According to Weiss and Dewis (2018), the idea of the sovereignty state has become virtually universal resonance after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the implosion of the former Yugoslavia in 1992. There are three factors in the reformulating the state sovereignty over the United Nations lifetime. One of the factors is the remoulding of the nature of the global economy by technology and communications. Some observers thought that this factor has occurred since the earlies trade expeditions like the Silk Road, and some suggested that it happened in this current era of globalization. The globalization has led to the reformulation of sovereignty. For instance, the growth of global markets in the European Union has seen to be a positive development which ensures the smooth and efficient functioning.
The second factor is to accommodate human rights. For instance, in the multilateral treaties, there are over 560 multilateral treaties functioned under the UN-Secretary General. However, this treaty brings threats to human rights in particular because it involved domestic and international jurisdiction over time. The sovereignty should act as a responsibility to protect which advocated by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Thus, sovereignty should be reformulated in line with human rights. Then the third factor is the explanation of UN contribution paradox in stretching and weakening the sovereignty. It means that all states should have equal sovereignty according to Charter Article 2 (1).
Last challenges and changes by the United Nations is the emergence of a single hyperpower. According to Weiss and Daws (2018), the United States has emerged as an only hyperpower state in the United Nation. It is because of the reputation of the country become the largest championed and contributors in the world organization. Besides, the United States military power which the expenditure more than 600 billion in 2016. Plus, China also has significant influence worldwide like the United States. Although their military is not the greatest like the United States, its economy has surpassed the United States in terms of its GDP. Therefore, this kind of superpower in the world organization has affected the change of global balance of power in the last ten years of the United Nations.
QUESTION 2
The Muslim Non-Governmental Organization can be defined as an independent organization with support and initiatives by the Muslims with an effort to the revitalization of Islam values (Agostino,n.d.). There are many activities conducted by the Islamic Relief-UK in Africa countries like South Africa, Chad, Ethiopia and Malawi.
In South Africa, one of the voluntary activities is to improve education and health programs. According to Cochrane (2012), Islamic Relief-UK implement these kinds of initiatives in 2003 mainly to help children affected by HIV/AIDS. This is because many people, especially children in South Africa, are having HIV and AIDS diseases due to poverty and lack of education among the children. Cochrane stated that 19 per cent of HIV patients from all over the world are among the South Africa people, which makes the country one of the highest people having diseases. To combat this issue, the organization introduced a project called ‘Positive Living” which aimed to prevent the spreading of HIV and AIDS. This project able to encourage the people of South Africa to go for HIV testing. Thus, early treatment and moral support can be given to them to ensure that the disease is not spreading and the number of people in South Africa can be controlled. Also, the organization offered sponsorship of food during Ramadhan and Eid Adha festival in supporting the children to combat the lack of food problem, which mainly because of poverty.
Secondly, the Islamic-Relief UK has also conducted a voluntary activity in Chad. Danawi, Deen and Hasbini (2016) stated Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. Due to the various conflict and on-going climate-related disaster on agriculture, it led to the food shortages among the people. Plus, the conflict in Darfur in 2006, which lead to thousands of refugees who came from Sudan, put pressure on the country which is already struggling with food shortage. Deen and Hasbini also stated the food poverty has led to high maternal mortality rates, and 12 per cent of children under the age of five are suffering from poor health and education issue. Thus, the Islamic Relief-UK began to work in Chad in 2006. They provided some immediate assistances to support not only the Sudan refugees but to the people of Chad. In this initiative made by the organization, they help the farmers to have a sustainable output by a better farming technique to cope with the climate changes. The new farming techniques able to boost their outcome. Plus, the organization increase the facilities of water access which can be enjoyed by the people. Therefore, this helps them to provide a sufficient source of food due to the good output from the new farming technique, which then reduces the risk of food poverty.
Other than that, for the voluntary activity in the Ethiopian, the Islamic Relief has done some initiatives during a severe drought in the country. Due to the climate change with poor rainfall and recurrent drought, it affects the people of Ethiopia, especially in terms of their health because of lack of water and food. The Islamic Relief-UK began to work out in the country in 2000, 2001 and 2002 which during the severe droughts. The organization has worked out with the people to increase their resilience of current climate changes and become financially self-sufficient. This led to some projects produced by the organization like improving water and sanitation access and working into having a portion of sufficient food. In increasing the resilience of the people, some initiatives were also being done like offering livelihood support and introducing satellite mapping technology. They also provide veterinary techniques to the local communities to keep their cattle safe and healthy during the disaster strike to make sure their source of food is adequate to all communities.
Lastly, for Malawi, Islamic Relief-UK was established in 2006 due to the request of their president for international humanitarian support. This is because most of Malawi people are experiencing poverty which leads to the high rates of HIV and illiterate issues. Isgandarova (2010) stated that some of the initiatives made by the organization are to distribute food and improve water, sanitation irrigation facilities. They also cooperate with the local people to improve their livelihoods like skill training and agriculture inputs. For instance, ponds for fish farming was built to increase their resilience from drought season. Other than that, the education has also improved by the organization by improving the school to increase the student attendance to the school to combat the illiterate’s problem among the children of Malawi. Plus, there is also food distribution from the organization in a district area that affected by drought during Ramadhan.
In conclusion, the Islamic Relief UK has done many voluntary positives in Africa countries mainly in Chad, South Africa, Malawi and Ethiopia countries. This kind of activities has brought positive lights to the people in Africa which mostly having poverty issue in their own country.
QUESTION 3
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be defined as a document created by the United General Assembly which established a set of principles to uphold the rights of human (Weiss and Daws,2018). In my opinion, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is truly universal in nature because of some reasons.
One of the reasons is that UDHR has proven to uphold human rights to all types of individuals especially the minority communities. There are many successes that was achieved by the international organization like United Nations High Commissioner Refugee in upholding the human rights based on UDHR. According to Chiusiwa (1999), the asylum process was easier to be granted during the Cold War period because of the influence of UDHR where all humans have the rights to flee from their state and seek protection from other states. For instance, during the Cold War period, there are many refugees especially the minority communities like African, Cubans, and Soviet Jews able to get the asylum and protection from the west countries like United States and European countries. This is because their rights of freedom in their own state has been taken away and flee to other countries to seek freedom and a better life. Although, the international organization does not have the power to uphold the individual rights in the oppressive state but they able to grant the freedom to those who flee from their oppressive state. The UNHCR had seek a responsibility for the safety of the refugee. For instance, they work out with the host government to make sure the safety of the refugee camp is secured. Therefore, this showed that the treatment of the UNHCR officials is not only applied to some community but all communities in all over the world especially the minority communities that was oppressed by their own state based on the UDHR law.
Second reasons why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is truly universal in nature is because the international peace able to maintain. Even though there are some major events like civil war in some states which could not be solved yet by the United Nations, but big event like the world war was not happened and repeated right now. This is because one of the reasons the world war happened because the leader of the state oppressed other weak states because of their own interests which lead to the world war to happen. In that time, UDHR is not yet created by the international organization to counter the oppression. Therefore, their individual rights have taken away and violated because of the oppression by other states to their own state. However, after the creation of the UDHR, the United Nations able to uphold international peace and prosperity of all states since the oppression of human rights able to be reduced in all over the world. If the UHCR is not universal in its nature, there will be some states of parties took a chance oppressing other states knowing that United Nations will never act on them. However, there is no major events that happened which could violate the international peace and human rights until today. Thus, most of the individual’s todays able to enjoy their rights despite of their state origin.
Third reason is there is no single type of human are left behind based on the article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Weiss and Daws (2018) state that all articles which is from Article 1 to 30 are based on the document stated that it applied to everyone. In general, every human deserved a human right which mainly a freedom in speech, education, thought conscience and religion and participation. This showed that the initiative of the United Nations to make the UDHR is universal in nature. Plus, they able to apply it to all type of communities regardless of race and religion. Therefore, this showed when creating the Article of UNHR, no single type of human is left behind, and the creation is not influenced by the politic environments or any parties.
The international organization able to act to all types of oppression human right actions in all states. For instance, most of the international issues that related to the violation of human rights, action has been taken by the international organization like the civil war in Syria, Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, Uyghurs ethnic group in China and others issues where their rights have been violated because of war or oppressed by their own government. Even though, some of the issues is not yet being solved but still better than being ignored because there are still some slight actions taken by the United Nations in order to solve the human rights issues in the particular states.
In conclusion, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still relevant because of some reasons like it has proven to uphold all type of humans right especially the minority communities, able to maintain the international peace and the Article from the UDHR is applied to all types of people which makes it universal in nature.
QUESTION 4
World Health Government is one of the important international organizations which responsible in dealing with the international public health. The organization currently dealing with a virus disease called COVID-19 which originated from Wuhan, China. According to WHO (2020), there are more than 700,000 deaths because of the virus. However, the number would be more serious without the initiative made by WHO. Therefore, there are some factor of effectiveness WHO in dealing with the virus.
One of it is the World Health Organization able to help the states to prepare and respond to the pandemic. According to Elombat (2020), WHO has prepared a guideline known as Preparedness and Response Plan to most countries in all over the world. It gives an updated guideline to the country on how to respond on the pandemic in order to break the chain of the virus from spreading. Plus, they also cooperate with the governments around the world to make sure that their health systems are ready for the virus and to respond effectively when cases started to rise. Instead of guideline, they also make sure that the patients have the treatment, front liners get sufficient supplies in dealing with the COVID-19 patients and some information in order to boost their research and development for the vaccine. Therefore, by this factor, the WHO able to reduce the risk of virus spreading because they government able to efficiently work out on this pandemic based on the guideline and supports given by WHO.
Second is WHO responsible in ensuring the health workers get the vital supplies in dealing with the pandemic. During the pandemic, most of the countries are having problems of lacking vital supplies which is personal protective equipment. This equipment is important for the health workers to treat the COVID-19 patients to ensure their safety from the virus. However, WHO able to combat the problem. Elombat (2020) stated that WHO has shipped to 133 countries more than two million items of personal protective equipment and a million of diagnostic tests to 126 countries in all regions. Elombat also stated that the WHO launched a “UN COVID -19 Supply Chain Task Force” aims to ensure the supply or production of essential protective equipment is sufficient. In addition, they also worked with International Chamber of Commerce, the World Economic Forum and other private sectors to boost the production and distribution of the supply. Thus, this initiative made by WHO able to reduce the problem of lacking vital supplies which experienced by some countries. The health workers are able to treat the patients which then increase their safety when treating the patients and increase the number of recoveries of patient from the virus as well.
Other than that, the WHO provided the health workers from various countries a form of training in dealing with the pandemic. Elombat (2020) stated that WHO has a platform known as ‘OpenWHO’ platform. This platform able to train million workers from their own respective country. The workers can access from online to seek knowledge when treating the patients from the organization as they can access social learning network, online courses and materials covering a variety of subjects. WHO also provided experts which deployed in all around the world by the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network or known as (GOARN). Thus, this is to make sure that the outbreak can be handle efficiently by the health workers with the presence of the experts around them. Therefore, this showed this initiative made by WHO gave the chance for the health workers in all around the world to perform efficiently with the pandemic which then able to reduce the number of cases.
Lastly, WHO is the international organization which responsible in making sure that fatal diseases must be eradicated. This is because the pandemic has caused thousand of deaths of people in all around the world. Thus, searching for a vaccine in order to stop the pandemic is vital. According to Elombat (2020), the WHO has already in process in searching for a vaccine for COVID-19 pandemic. The organization able to bring together more than 400 researchers in February. WHO also has launched “Solidarity Trial” an international clinical trial involves 90 countries in finding the effective treatment or vaccine. This trial is to discover an existing drug which could slow the progression of the disease and improve survival. These efforts made by WHO has showed a positive light in discovering a vaccine for the pandemic. According to Ma (2020), the vaccine is expected to be available in the early of 2021 if there is no problem arisen from the research development of the vaccine. This is due to the positive results showed by the candidates in testing the trial vaccines which is currently developed by the organization.
In conclusion, WHO has made many initiatives which gives positive outcomes in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This showed that the international organization has fulfilled their responsibility in maintaining the international public health.