United Nations Day and India

24 October of every year is celebrated as a United Nations Day all over the
world. It was on this day in 1945, that the United Nations was formally
established after a majority of its founding members ratified a treaty setting up
the world body. In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution recommending that the day be observed as a public holiday by all
Member States. Traditionally, it has been marked throughout the world by
meetings, discussions and exhibits on the goals and achievements of the
Organization. The name "United Nations", coined by then US President Franklin
D Roosevelt, was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January
1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged
their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization
conceived in similar circumstances during the First World War, and established in
1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to
achieve peace and security."

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries including India met in San Francisco at

the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the
United Nations Charter. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by these
representatives. The Indian delegation was led by Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar.
Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and
became one of the original 51 member states. The United Nations officially came
into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China,
France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority
of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.1

It is quite important that the public should be informed about the content and
purposes of the United Nations. To this end an entire week has been set aside

1
http://www.un.org/aboutun/unhistory/
as a United Nations Week in October, with its chief observance on United
Nations Day, October 24.

The UN has been doing a commendable job in almost all the fields.
Unfortunately, most often, the UN is remembered for its failures and not for the
achievements, which are far greater and crucial for the humanity. Most of these
failures, generally in the field of environment and conflicts are caused by the
member states themselves by their disregard to the basic values of UN Charter
and lack of appreciation and respect for the human rights of their own citizens.
As Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN's second Secretary-General, had once put it, "the
UN was not created to take humanity to heaven but to save it from hell". Even in
the field of conflict prevention and management, the world appears to have
crossed the peak in the 1990s and is largely opting for a ballot over the bullets;
thanks to the untiring efforts of the UN to support and encourage democratic
2
reforms. The study by the US based Center for Systemic Peace shows the
trends in conflicts, which is also confirmed by the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI), a well known organisation in this field.

2
Center for Systemic Peace; 7939 Heather Mist Drive; Severn, MD 21144 USA
(http://members.aol.com /CSPmgm/conflict.htm)
India has been the co-founder of the UN and has shown its steadfastness in
supporting all its endeavours. Immediately after the Indian independence, India
sent some of our best diplomats and peacekeepers to serve the UN. An Indian
delegation, led by Mrs Vijayalakshmi Pandit, joined the General Assembly’s first
session in October-December 1946, in New York and she became the first
female President of the General Assembly in its eighth session in 1953. The UN
also saw Mr Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Dr S Radhakrishnan, as
Chairpersons of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO), while Rajkumari Amrit Kaur served as the Chairperson of the World
Health Organisation (WHO). Dr HJ Bhabha was the Chairperson of the Atoms
for Peace Commission while Mrs Hansa Mehta was the first Indian to serve as a
member of the UN Commission on Human Rights (1946-49). Mr Benegal Narsing
Rau was the first Indian permanent representative to the UN from March 1949 to
December 1951, who later also served on the bench of International Court of
Justice with a great distinction. First real test for Indian diplomatic and political
efforts came during the Korea crisis in 1950. Mr KPS Menon was the Chairman
of a nine member UN Commission on Korea, entrusted with the task by the UN
General Assembly for conducting democratic elections in Korea. Indian
ambassador in Peking, Sardar KM Panikkar played a crucial role in conveying
the views of Chinese government to the UN through Indian mission. After China
entered the war, the UN appointed a ‘Three wise men’ cease-fire committee with
President of General Assembly Nasrollah Entezem of Iran, Lester Pearson of
Canada and Sir BN Rau our permanent representative.

Mr Rajeshwar Dayal, Inderjit Rikhye, KS Thimayya, PS Gyani and Dewan Prem

Chand were the architects of UN peacekeeping in the 50s and 60s. Indian
officials continued to head various organizations, departments and peacekeeping
missions all through its existence but with increasing effectiveness after the end
of cold-war in 1990. Among them, Shashi Tharoor, Chinmayya Khan and
Virender Dayal are some of the prominent contributors to the UN in their own
fields.

India served as a non-permanent member of the apex decision making body –

the Security Council, for six terms (each of two years duration) in 1950-52, 1965-
67, 1970-72, 1976-78, 1983-85 and 1990-92. It is the UN Security Council, which
is primarily responsible to maintain international peace and security. Indian
contributions in this field - in the peacekeeping had been second to none, having
contributed over 95,000 troops in various UN peace missions since 1950. As per
the statement of Defence Minister in the parliament on 09 August 2010, over
7,300 officers and brave soldiers of Indian Army and Air Force are presently
serving the UN cause of peace in Congo, Sudan, Lebanon and many other
missions. 130 have died in the service of the mankind and UN belief in these
missions. As a citizen of a democratic country, we need to be aware of this great
institution and extend our full support to its ideals of human rights, development
and conflict free world for all.

Col (retired) KK Sharma

sharmakulwant@gmail.com
Tele # 09815093307
(Served with the UN in Cambodia in 1992-1993 as a military observer. Has been a
senior faculty member in Indian Centre for UN peacekeeping, United Services Institution
of India; Delhi from 2000 to 2006. Was a member of doctrine writing for the UN
Department of peacekeeping and preparing training manuals for the Office of the High
Commissioner of Human rights).