The United Nations was undoubtedly established with the intention of preserving humanitarian rights and providing economic development, educational development, etc. to those nations lacking in the areas above. What I want to focus on, though, are the humanitarian rights. The absence of those rights makes the bettering of the latter difficult to accomplish.

Now, I am sure all of those reading this article have heard of the numerous genocides that have been perpetrated throughout the decades. Where was the UN during these atrocities? Where was the UN during the murdering and mutilating of men, women, and children?

In Cambodia, a ruthless communist leader went on a murderous rampage. His name was Pol Pot, and he used the Khmer Rouge, an armed guerrilla group, to murder approximately 2 million people between the years of 1975 and 1979. Where was the UN during this time?

Years later came the Bosnian conflict from 1992 to 1995. More than 200,000 Muslims were murdered by Serbian death squads. As the heartbroken family members wallowed in sorrow, anger, and despair the UN was nowhere to be found.

In 1994, during the end of the Bosnian conflict, Rwanda was host of the newest, and some say the worst genocide of the 20th century. Approximately 800,000 minority Tutsi were savagely murdered by the majority Hutu. Even with a UN peace-keeping force, Rwanda was destined to end in tragedy. Members of the UN Security Council denied the peace-keeping force additional troops or adequate supplies to thwart the attack by the Hutu extremists. Again, where was the UN?

After the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia the international community stated that mass genocide would never happen again. They were wrong! What about the current genocide in Darfur, which began in 2003 and did not come to a “slow-down” until 2007. Over 400,000 Christian Sudanese have been murdered by the government which is predominately Muslim. It was not until 2004 that talks of the conflict reached the UN, and it was not until 2007 that indictments were brought against those who perpetrated the killings by International Criminal Court. Yes, the UN did take action, but it took 4 years for anything to happen. By that time hundreds-of-thousands of people had been killed. Furthermore, the only reason that the UN took any form of action was caused by the public outcry and the public attention that Darfur received. Without the public concern Darfur would have been swept under the carpet, and no investigative action would have been taken.

If the UN is obviously incapable of maintaining peace and preserving people’s humanitarian rights, then why should the UN be the organization that “assists” nations with economic, education, and health issues?