United Nations

• 193 member states
• 4 MAIN purposes of UN:

  • Keep peace
  • Develop friendly relations 
  • Help nations improve lives of the poor
  • Centre of harmonising actions of nations 
• Founded at the end of WWII - 1945
• Work together to maintain international peace and security
• " save succeeding generations from the scrounge of war"
• SECURITY COUNCIL: 1945 founded
• SECURITY COUNCIL: set up by USA, UK , France , China and Russia
• SECURITY COUNCIL: maintain peace
• SECURITY COUNCIL: 1989 + 2003 UN established security in civil wars for Liberia (15,000 military personnel involved)
• SECURITY COUNCIL: Millions refugees have been returned to safe homes
• SECURITY COUNCIL: spread awareness on promoting peace and neutral reconciliation + development work
• SECURITY COUNCIL: UN demanded a ceasefire in Gaza - successful to release hostages
• SECURITY COUNCIL: failure - indecision between states in meetings
• SECURITY COUNCIL: failure - USA dominates and has biggest influence of decisions
• SECURITY COUNCIL: failure - right to veto by 5 member states - led to failure on Gaza wars
• SECURITY COUNCIL: able to stop civil wars and help those displaces x
• SECURITY COUNCIL: Liberia - successful examples
• SECURITY COUNCIL: can be biased - leans towards countries that provide finance e.g USA
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: monitors state of environment - inform policy making
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: indirect contribution to climate research
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: Antarctica Treaty - protects global common - allowed for research advancements - sucess
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: helps implement sustainable land management policies
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: not legal laws - can't punish states for not following rules
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: main problem - too slow and too little is done - inefficient
• WHO: aims to expand universal health coverage + ensure access to medicines
• WHO: helped tackle Malaria ( 198 million cases worldwide, mainly in central Africa - under developed - 3 billion at risk of Malaria) - provides preventative therapy courses , mosquito nets and recommends official measures to protect people
• WHO: Tackle ebola outbreaks - increased survival rate to 90%
• WHO: does not conduct biological aid e.g gene modification
• WHO: hasn't eradicated malaria - too large of a spread increased by climate change
• WHO: criticised for being too China centric by president trump
• WHO: criticised for slow reaction to COVID-19
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: 2015 Paris Climate agreement - reduce emissions to net zero by second half of 21st century + not let global tempts rise above 2c
• UN CLIMATE CHANGE: COP26 Glasgow summit - rich countries pledged $100bn per year to poorer nations to tackle climate change
• Millennium development goals : established in 2000 and designed to be met as fully as possible by the end of 2015. 
• Millennium Development Goals


  • Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - aim to half the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day
  • Achieve universal primary education -enrolment rate for children of primary school age rose from 82 to 90%
  • Promote gender equality and empower women - Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education
  • Reduce child morality - 35% drop in child mortality rates
  • Improve maternal health - 47% reduction
  • Combat HIV/ AIDS - not limited new infections but increased life expectancy due to new medicine
  • Environmental sustainability - 11% remains without access to an improved water source
  • Global partnership for development
• Millennium development goals: vague , 6/8 aimed at LIC's , only given 10 years - not a realistic target
• Sustainable development goals : aim to focus on social, environmental and economic development. The goals will be applicable to all countries.

  Introduced by the United Nations in 2015 and replaced the Millennium Development Goals which had been the focus for  development between 2000 and 2015. 
• SDGS:

  1. No poverty
  2. Zero hunger 
  3. Good health 
  4. Quality education 
  5. Gender equality 
  6. Clean water 
  7. Affordable energy 
  8. Economic growth 
  9. Industry, infrastructure and innovation 
  10. Reduced inequalities 
  11. Sustainable cities 
  12. Responsible consumption 
  13. Climate action
  14. Life below water
  15. Life on land 
  16. Peace and justice 
  17. Partnerships 
• Sustainable development goal 9: to build resilient infrastructure

  • Increase industrialisation and increase competitive economies 
  • Increase trade and incomes 
  • 7.2% increase in manufacturing 
  • Airline industry dropped by 60% during covid 
  • 2020 target for universal internet access not met - only 19% coverage in LIC’s
• Sustainable development goal 1: eradicate all forms of poverty

  • 573 million need lifting out of poverty 
  • 53% increase of countries on essential services ( education , health )