ODVV Statement on the United Nations Day

It was the fruition of an international consensus among nations to put an end to great wars and as a replacement for positive dialogue and mutual respect in the international order. Some of the main goals in the establishment of the UN are great values such as the preservation of international peace and security, improvement of human rights, expansion of social and economic development, protection of the environment and facilitation of humanitarian aid during famine, natural disasters and war.
But the realisation of these goals in the life of the UN have had ups and downs. The UN’s mandate for the preservation of international peace created challenges from the initial decades after its founding, with the beginning of the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. Following the end of the Cold War, the UN managed to take important actions in the preservation of peace across the world, some of which were successful.
While the UN Charter has been deemed as a foundation stone for the coming together of nations expansion of interaction towards the preservation of peace,, but some of the unjustifiable actions of the UN in the recent years has caused the concern of supporters of peace and human rights over the fate of this important institution in the international order. Electing Israel as the head of the General Assembly’s 6th Committee, and Saudi Arabia pressuring the Secretary General to take back his report on children’s human rights situation, created doubts and question in the public’s minds as to, to what extent can there be hope for the UN to remain an institution that supports peace and human rights?
With a pathological glance at the UN we find out that in spite of amazing changes in the international order, the UN faces serious organizational problems. The UN structure is old and worn out, the existence of 5 permanent members with veto powers in the Security Council, the over expansion of the UN in a way that the UN has lost its ability for accurate and direct monitoring and scrutiny, the increasing demands of the international community and competition for acquiring seats, and the use of membership rights as leverage to influence some countries, are some of the great challenges that this international institution is faced with.
At a time when the world has more than ever before become more unsafe, and colossal human and human rights crisis have escalated in various parts of the world, strengthening and improvement of the performance of the UN towards the realisation of human goals have multiplied; because the UN is the product of universal efforts and determination to replace violence and conflict with cooperation and dialogue among nations.
In this crisis ridden world, nongovernmental organizations play an important role in the improvement of the performance of the UN. In conditions where the power seeking of some international players have caused confusion in the efforts of international organizations for disarmament and strengthening of international peace mechanisms providers, and also the provision of the economic interests of arms exporters have been prioritised over provision of humanitarian aid in crisis regions, the roles of national and international NGOs in increasing public awareness have become more important.
As an international NGO, with over three decades of continued activities in the field of human rights, while commemoration International United Nations Day, the ODVV invites all Iranian and non-Iranian international organizations to while presenting realistic reports on the human rights situation around the world, to concentrate their efforts to improve human rights and establish peace, which are two of the main goals of the UN. We believe that NGOs are UN’s ambassadors for peace.