Parade of nations

CEBU, Philippines - Have you seen children your age don national costumes and carry replicas of flags of various nations?

This is called the Parade of Nations which has something to do with the establishment of the United Nations.

The UN was founded in 1945 after the Second World War. Before, its name was the League of Nations.

It is the objective of the organization to help stop wars between countries and to provide a platform for dialogue. That’s why it has many sub-organizations and system agencies to help carry out its mission like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Food Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, among many others.

It was reported that current member states already reached 192. This includes our country, the Philippines. Our history teaches us that in the wars we have engaged in, we have always ended up as the losers with our women abused and our children deprived of their rights to live in a peaceful society and to be educated.

Every October, the month the UN was founded, schools (and some malls here in Cebu) would come up with the Parade of Nations as a way of commemorating the establishment of the organization and also to remind the world that there is a better way of resolving crises and conflicts — that is through peace talks.

This is to avoid a Third World War.

By the way, the failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II (1939-1945) led to the realization that mankind cannot afford to witness another world war. Thus, UN was established to replace the flawed League of Nations in order to maintain international peace and promote cooperation in solving economic, social and humanitarian problems.

The UN is currently led by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of South Korea.