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24 oct

In accordance with United Nations Resolution 168 of 31 October 1947, United Nations Day is celebrated annually on 24 October to commemorate the anniversary of the entry into force of the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. Article 1 of the Charter defines the purposes of the Organization. 

The first purpose is "To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace".

However, the history of the Organization shows that in many cases it has been unable to achieve this purpose. The war on Gaza clearly demonstrates the weakness of the Organization, its inability to carry out its peacekeeping functions, and its disregard by the Netanyahu government, which went so far as to declare Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata in Israel, after several humiliating incidents for the Organization, such as the attack on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and the public shredding of a copy of the Organization's Charter by the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations.

This deplorable state of the United Nations reveals a gross failure of leadership and decision-making at the highest levels of the organization. Many international parties have recognized this and called for reform of the organization, some coining the slogan "the world is bigger than five," referring to the five permanent members who hold decision-making power through the veto.

The use of the veto has helped the United States to best support the Israeli government by defeating every Security Council resolution calling on it to end the occupation of Palestinian land, the crime of genocide and violence against the Palestinian people, or any resolution condemning the use of excessive force by the Israeli occupation army.

The United Nations, which has among its ranks staff and independent experts who are qualified and committed to achieving the Organization's goals – many of whom Alkarama works with in the field of human rights – can only prove its credibility if it implements fundamental reforms in its internal system and in the working methods of its various organs and agencies.