A UN system-wide approach to early warning of conflict and of conflict prevention Question: What would a UN system-wide approach to early warning of conflict and of conflict prevention look like? Today, we have many conflicts in the world. After the Cold War, ethnic problems and religious antagonism caused a lot of terrorism and conflicts. It seems like that the UN is not working to reduce the number of conflicts but it is contributing to early warning of conflict and conflict prevention. Firstly, the Security Council in the UN works to prevent the great powers from ignoring the international order. Unlike the League of Nation, the great powers gather and talk in the UN because this organization reflects the will of them. This means that we at least prevent the big international conflicts like WW1 and WW2. Secondly, as a UN system–wide approach to early warning, the UN has many organizations under the Economic and Social Council. These organizations such as WFP and UNICEF are working to save people in poor areas economically and socially. Such activities reduce the factors which can cause conflicts in the long run. Lastly, The UN has taken such approaches against possible conflicts. Although they are not enough because of lack of money and the complete cooperation of the great powers, we must not forget its contribution to have prevented possible conflicts since the end of WW2. We must understand that there is a lot of room where we must work on for improving in these approaches.

How may the UN play a role in resolving conflicts within sovereign states? Conflicts within sovereign states are one of the most difficult matters in the international society. Some conflicts can be ended without the intervention of outer organizations. However, other conflicts like the case of Libya in 2011 might need the outer intervention. Also, it is hard to expect the UN to intervene in such sovereign states. This is because we can hardly get the full consensus of the great powers. Some of them tend to protect the dictatorship states for the sake of the survival of their own regimes, even if such states ignore the human right and crack down their people. In this situation, the UN at least can spread and make the public opinion understand the information of their wrongdoings. The members of the UN can also promote other organizations such as NATO to take measures to end the conflicts. This doesn’t mean the UN is not working correctly but the UN is taking advantage of the wide scale of its organization. Let us consider the case where we can get the full consensus of the great powers. In this case, we are able to decide the intervention in a certain conflicts within sovereign states. However, in general, we must respect the right of sovereign states in order to avoid political intervention. Thus, this case has difficulty resolving, too. Overall, there is a lot of limitation about resolving conflicts within sovereign states. We must consider this problem and try to make the UN take actions in any situations.

What is the role of the United Nations in regard to nuclear and radioactive materials? Wasted radioactive materials, which were thrown by many countries, are one of the serious environmental problems in the world. All living things are seriously affected by these materials. We, as members of the international society, should solve this problem for the sake of sustainable development of natural resources. In addition, we also must work on the nuclear disarmament for the sake of non-nuclear weapon international society. The United Nations has a great role of dealing with such problems. Under the support of IAEA, the members of the UN can watch some countries’ illegal throw of radioactive materials and pressure the nuclear development of unadmitted countries such as Iran and North Korea. By the leadership of the UN, we can make these materials safer to use mainly for industrial activities, point out how dangerous the illegal throw of wasted radioactive materials and ask countries to remove them with as a safer method. In this way, the UN can contribute to keeping the environmental of the earth clean and beautiful. The UN, especially the Security Council, is where the great powers with nuclear weapons can gather and talk, which means the UN can give them good opportunities to think about the nuclear disarmament. The great powers tend to put their national interest before the disarmament, but the UN can continuously make them understand the risk of nuclear weapons. In this way, the UN is playing its role in regard to nuclear and radioactive materials.