Is the United Nations still relevant?

• Author: Richardson, Bill
• Position: Debate

The United Nations was founded 70 years ago, in 1945, in the aftermath of World War II. The goal was to prevent a third global conflict. Since then, the organization has grown from 51 original member states to 193. Today, the U.N. employs 41,000 people in dozens of agencies worldwide that do everything from fighting childhood malnutrition and aiding refugees to sending peacekeepers into war zones. But getting those nations to cooperate is no easy task.

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YES The United Nations is the one indispensable organization we have in our globalizing world. As a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., I realize this venerated institution has its shortcomings. But there is simply no other group or organization that can match the U.N.'s reach, legitimacy, or impact. Without it, the world would be a much more dangerous and disorganized place. The U.N. is particularly effective in dealing with issues such as refugee relief, health crises, and ending poverty.

Today, the U.N. provides massive amounts of relief in the form of food and medicine to more than 104 million people in more than 80 nations. This includes effective responses to natural disasters such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and recent famines in southeast Africa. In the turbulent Middle East, the U.N. is doing lifesaving work in establishing, running, and funding refugee camps that house more than 3 million people.

When it comes to fighting disease, the U.N. has an impressive record: It's responsible for essentially eliminating many of the world's most dangerous diseases--smallpox, polio, and leprosy--and limiting the spread of Ebola, cholera, and HIV/AIDS. Since 1990, the U.N. has helped cut child and maternal mortality rates in half and reduced poverty levels by 80 percent.

The great U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold once said the U.N. was created not to take humanity to heaven but to save it from hell. That's the U.N.'s enduring legacy..

--BILL RICHARDSON

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997-98)

NO The United Nations was established in 1945 "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war," and this was accomplished: No World War III erupted, and U.N. agencies have been effective in promoting social progress all over the world ever since. But the world has changed, and the U.N. is inadequate for addressing our biggest security threats.

Take the Syrian...