Assignment_6

The UN and Its Prize
Peace is one of five areas Mr. Nobel mentioned in his will. On the prize for peace, he �simply stated that prizes be given to those who, during the preceding year, �shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind� and that one part be given to the person who �shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.��

Given his prescription for awarding the prize, it is clear that Mr. Annan is deserving of the award, but the question remains whether or not the UN deserves the prize?

It does. There is more than one reason the UN deserves this prize; the reasons extend as far back as its beginning, are in sync with the present, and are telling for the future.

While some have argued that its failures are reason enough to take the UN out of contention for the prize, the truth is that there is no better candidate at the moment. And while others claim that the prize was awarded based on future expectations and not on present accomplishments, the fact that the UN works tirelessly every year seems to go unnoticed.

Since the end of the Cold War Era, the United Nations has availed itself of opportunities to demonstrate its importance and ability to fulfill its mission. During the Persian Gulf Crisis of 1990, the UN was able to mobilize its forces against Iraq after that nation�s acts of aggression against its neighbors. Again, this is to say nothing of the 40+ peacekeeping missions the UN has deployed over the past 55 years, the 15 on-going missions, and the hundreds of other projects the UN sponsors in its efforts to promote peace.

The current activity of the United Nations in the case of Afghanistan should also be considered, for it must have been on the minds of the committee members in the days following September 11th. Given the catastrophic repercussions a widening of the current conflict in Afghanistan might have, the UN�s importance in resolving to work for peace is of utmost importance. Its resources will be put to the test and success or failure, it �shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations�.

Furthermore, it is unfair to recognize, without controversy, that Mr. Annan deserves the prize and the organization which he represents does not. As one of the highest-ranking representatives of the United Nations, his success is intricately tied to and representative of the work of the United Nations.

As if the above reasoning were not enough (and it is, for already it meets Mr. Nobel�s criteria), at a time when the United Nations is being called into situations of increasing complexity and danger, this Centennial prize is a special one. The symbolic value of awarding the Prize to the single most important organization in the world, one whose raison d��tre is peace and security, is not an insignificant fact. It is testament to the fact that the United Nations is the �only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation� for the next 100 years.

Conclusion
In the end, the prize is also, as Mr. Annan refers to it, �A shot in the arm� for the UN. It is a vote of confidence in the ability of the UN to perform when necessary and a thank you to its mostly un-celebrated staff. As one author writes, the prize is �a reminder to all the world that winning and keeping the peace is an eternal struggle and the most valuable prize of all, the cost of which is often blood.�

It seems the Nobel Committee is in tune with the members of the Panel on UN Peace Operations when they write,

� We have also come to a shared vision of a United Nations, extending a strong helping hand to a community, country or region to avert conflict or to end violence. We see an SRSG ending a mission well accomplished, having given the people of a country the opportunity to do for themselves what they could not do before: to build and hold onto peace, to find reconciliation, to strengthen democracy, to secure human rights. We see, above all, a United Nations that has not only the will but also the ability to fulfill its great promise, and to justify the confidence and trust placed in it by the overwhelming majority of humankind.

For these reasons and for those that have gone unmentioned, the United Nations is a deserving recipient of so elevating an award.