Tomorrow, United Nations Day will be observed throughout the world. This started as a tradition since 1948. It became a public holiday starting in 1971. Fifty-one countries were the first members of the UN. Their representatives drew the proposals for the implementation of the United Nations Charter in October 1945 at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco.
The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the First World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles “to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security.” The International Labour Organization was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.
Then on the first day of the year 1942, during World War II, representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. Then US President Franklin Roosevelt first used the name “United Nations” for the World War II Allies in a document called the Declaration by the United Nations. He signed it with Winston Churchill and the Soviet and Chinese ambassadors to Washington on January 1, 1942, a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Two months before the ratification of the UN on April 12, 1945, its principal creator, Franklin Roosevelt, died of cerebral hemorrhage and never saw the successes or failures of his vision for the United Nations, a hope for the future based on the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. He believed that a peaceful and secure world was possible with this kind of international structure.
Previous wars that were waged were economic and conquest wars. At present, major conflicts stem from religious differences. As many efforts there are to keep global peace, so are there so many who relentlessly make war. To me, the worse that occurred after the devastations wrought by the Second World War was the 9/11 terrorist attack. This event in 2001 triggered the continuing worldwide War on Terrorism. Last week ended with news of bombings in the headlines here and abroad (in Pakistan) that called to mind the merciless murderous attacks done by terrorists to sow panic and terror. The explosion in Makati district’s Glorietta Mall, where 11 innocent civilians were killed, may be a major terrorist attack until finally proven otherwise by investigators. The fact is terrorists have become more calculated and insidious in their activities so that their next attack is undetected, premeditated harm and death inflicted to the hilt.
UN celebrates 62 years of peacekeeping efforts worldwide. Will the member countries keep the foundations for a global temple for peace or is it the other way around? Will they advance their selfish political agenda using a global structure to attain their ambitions for world power? It is difficult, for example, that even to this day, we have a United Nations, but some nations are not members. The perfect example is Taiwan.
The truth is, peacekeeping really begins within the heart. Unless this is so with all people and all nations, no organization can successfully prevent war.