After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, which the UN Security Council viewed as a threat to world peace, the Security Council passed a resolution obliging all UN member states to take measures to combat international terrorism. The fact that the UN had already dealt with the dangers of terrorism before September 2001 is shown by the fact that a total of 12 relevant conventions had been initiated by the General Assembly since 1963. However, the UN members have not yet been able to agree on a uniform definition of terrorism. Under the title “A Safe World: Our Shared Responsibility”, a commission presented considerations at the end of 2004 (officially presented in March 2005), how to deal with global threats and future challenges. In the face of new threat scenarios (such as domestic conflict, terrorism), the report called for a new security consensus and a broader, more comprehensive approach to collective security. He emphasized the priority of preventive action, realistically not excluding the need to use force, with five criteria of legitimacy as guidelines. The international community of states is assigned a responsibility to protect, also militarily enforced in an emergency, if countries fail to protect their citizens in cases of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. – with five legitimacy criteria as guidelines – was not excluded. The international community of states is assigned a responsibility to protect, also militarily enforced in an emergency, if countries fail to protect their citizens in cases of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. – with five legitimacy criteria as guidelines – was not excluded. The international community of states is assigned a responsibility to protect, also militarily enforced in an emergency, if countries fail to protect their citizens in cases of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
In order to ensure that the world organization can meet the challenges of the 21st century effectively and efficiently, specific reform measures were recommended, such as an expansion of the Security Council on the basis of two model variants. The concepts presented have so far failed due to the fundamental disagreement among the states about the future size of the decision-making body and the states to be named. Neither within the regional groups calling for a permanent seat on the Security Council (especially Africa, Latin America and Asia) were there uniform proposals, nor between the groups of states. The frequently requested abolition of the veto right of the five permanent members has so far failed because they had to agree to it.
Recent developments: The maintenance of world peace and the settlement of military conflicts as well as thematic world conferences continue to be the focus of the activities of the United Nations as abbreviated by Abbreviationfinder. On January 1, 2007, Ban Ki Moon from South Korea replaced K. Annan as General Secretary. In the first half of December 2007, a world climate conference was held in Bali (Indonesia) to prepare a follow-up program for efforts to slow down or reverse climate change after the Kyoto Protocol had expired. With the addition of staff to the ongoing missions since the summer of 2006, the Peace Operations Department was Secretary General Ban Ki Moon according to “hopelessly overwhelmed”. At the beginning of his work, he therefore proposed to the Budget Committee that it should be divided into two units: a political and strategic planning and management department and another, in which the previously scattered administrative and support functions would be bundled. The proposal was approved by the General Assembly on June 29, 2007 in conjunction with a significant increase in budget. The 4th World Conference against Racism met in Geneva from April 20 to 24, 2009. Numerous Western states did not take part because of the massive criticism that was to be expected of Israel or their representatives left the meeting when Iran’s President M. Ahmadinejad Insulted Israel. A summit conference (September 20-23, 2010) in New York to review and reaffirm the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 saw a particular need to catch up on the goals of “primary education for all” (Africa), reducing child mortality (sub-Saharan Africa) and Improving maternal health care (South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa). On July 2, 2010, the General Assembly decided to set up a new department that is specifically to take care of the interests of women and girls. For this purpose, four UN institutions that were previously responsible for gender equality and the advancement of women were merged: the Development Fund for Women, the Department for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Gender Equality and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women. On June 21, 2011, the UN General Assembly voted for a second term of office for Secretary General Ban Ki Moon 2012-16. In the same year, the UN was dominated by the 17th climate conference in Durban, efforts in the Security Council to influence violence in the Middle East and Africa (Arab Spring) and the discussion about the status of the Palestinian autonomous territories. In April 2012, the members of the World Biodiversity Council (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES) chose Bonn as the seat of the secretariat. With the body established at the end of 2010, the UN responded to the decline in biodiversity. In June 2012 the conference on sustainable development took place in Rio de Janeiro(Rio + 20) instead. The veto powers in the Security Council were unable to agree on a binding resolution in the Syria conflict in 2012 either. Only after the use of poison gas did the UN Security Council pass a resolution on September 27, 2013 calling on Syria to surrender and destroy its chemical weapons. The dispute over the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran continued to preoccupy the UN bodies. Another nuclear test in North Korea in February 2013 led to a tightening of the sanctions regime. In autumn 2013, the GA drew a preliminary balance sheet of the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000. One of the main goals, halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, has been achieved. In 2014, Germany was nominated for the first time for the annually changing chairmanship of the UN Human Rights Council. In July 2015, the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany, the so-called 5 + 1 group, reached an agreement with Iran to settle the conflict over the Iranian nuclear program. the UN summit for sustainable development, which took place on 25-27 9. Held in New York in 2015, adopted the »2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development«, which will serve as a guideline for global poverty reduction and sustainability after the framework plan for the Millennium Development Goals expires at the end of 2015. On January 1, 2017, A. M. Guterres became the new UN Secretary General.
