International Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Organizations - Essay Example The lack of transparency in its procedures and the tendency for some or all of the permanent five to caucus in private are cause for concern. A more serious concern is the composition of the Council. It is not reasonable to suggest that the five winners of the Second World War, with the assistance of ten additional rotating member states, comprise a representative, legitimate or authoritative voice for a UN membership of 185. While certainly it would be good to have more representation where decision-making and policy-crafting in the UN is concerned, so as to accommodate the interests of developing countries, such moves might smack of tokenism if the single biggest roadblock is removed: the veto power. Historically, the veto power has been wielded to promote the partisan interests of superpower nations. It is obsolete and should be phased out. Second, more political will is needed on this issue of human rights. When the United Nations was created in 1948 by a world still reeling from the ravages of the Second World War and intent on healing the wounds wrought by it, it was tasked to become the primary agency in defining and advancing human rights. From then on, various other agencies were created, addressing specific human rights concerns. Notable examples of this are the International Labor Organization and the UNICEF. However, despite the complex structure and wo... Two good examples are the genocide in Rwanda in the early 90's, and the current conflict and suffering of people in Darfur, Sudan. There must be a mechanism to ensure that the UN will quickly respond and intervene. 2. How relevant is the experience of the concept of Europe to contemporary problems of management in international affairs Indeed, the European model has been helpful in addressing some problems in management of international affairs. However, a predominant problem in the management of international affairs is the accommodation of diversity and pluralism that certainly cannot be addressed solely by reliance on an intrinsically homogeneous model. Even on the issue of human rights, there are conflicting paradigms. The universality of human rights has oftentimes been challenged by critics on the allegation that the Western bias is very much evident, and that the popularity of it in recent times is nothing more than the remnants of a neocolonial attitude purveyed by the crafty and bought by the undiscerning. A refutation of this was attempted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1968 through a study that demonstrated that "the profound aspirations underlying human rights correspond to concepts - the concepts of justice, an individual's integrity and dignity, fre edom from oppression and persecution, and individual participation in collective endeavors - that are encountered in all civilizations and periods." Some Islamic scholars like Safi (2000, page 1) remain unconvinced: The pragmatic arguments for the universality of human rights are problematic, because they either completely overlook the significant impact cultural