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The United Nations

By CSPE.tv

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The United Nations

• Learning objectives– After this lessons students will be able to:

– explain what the United Nations is– give the reasons why it was set up– explain how the UN is run– list some of the areas that the UN is involved in– discuss Ireland’s contribution to UN peacekeeping

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The UN was founded in 1945 after the death and destruction of World War II

It is the closest thing we have to a world parliament

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The United Nations

• Its main aims are:

– To keep peace – To develop friendly

relations between countries – To encourage respect for

human rights – To help solve world

problems such as poverty, disease and illiteracy

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United Nations members

Most countries in the world are members of the UN (shaded blue above)

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The General Assembly

Each country sends one representative to the General Assembly - These discuss and vote on international issues.- However the General Assembly does not have a lot of power

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The UN and the General Assembly headquarters are based in New York

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• The head of the United Nations is called the Secretary General• The current Secretary General is Ban Ki Moon (pictured above)

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UN peacekeepers

• At the moment there are 100,000 police, soldiers and observers on UN missions

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Ireland’s contribution For more than 60 years Irish soldiers have been taking part in UN missions. 500 are currently on missions.

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UN peacekeepers

• Irish peacekeepers provide humanitarian assistance and prevent violence in 15 countries

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The UN and the arms trade

• The UN working on an Arms Trade Treaty that will stop arms sales that lead to conflict or human rights abuses.

• Corrupt governments that abuse human rights would no longer be allowed to buy arms legally

• In October 2008 147 states at the UN voted to begin work on an Arms Trade Treaty. Only the US and Zimbabwe voted against it.

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Anti-personnel mines were used by soldiers and rebels in wars all over the world.

More than three-quarters of those killed are civilians. Every year more than 10,000 civilians stand on landmines and are killed or seriously injured. Most are killed in countries now at peace.

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•What is happening in this picture?

•There are more than 50 million landmines in the ground around the world •It costs as little as $3 to make a mine but can cost $1,000 each to remove them

UN peacekeepers clear mines

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The land mine treaty • In 1997 people started a petition to have them banned• Now most countries have agreed not to make or use them

– 156 countries have signed the treaty– 42 million landmines destroyed– The trade in mines has ended

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The United Nations

By CSPE.tv