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Associated Press

The United Nations’ vast global system has tackled everything from delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to providing crucial peacekeeping operations in conflict zones since it was established in the wake of World War II.
As the international body closes in on 80 years old, questions about its relevancy and efficiency have sharpened from supporters and critics alike. Recent US cuts to foreign assistance and the re-evaluation of humanitarian contributions by other countries have forced a reckoning for the UN.
The organisation has long sought to highlight its unique role as the meeting place of global leaders, with an ambitious mandate to prevent another world war.
UN workers, however, say it does more than respond to civilians’ needs in war zones and debate resolutions in the Security Council.
“The things that are not on the radar of anyone, that nobody sees every day, that’s what we do everywhere, in more than 150 countries,” said Diene Keita, executive director for programmes at the UN’s population agency.
Here are five things the UN does that you may not have known:

1. Sex education with monks in Bhutan
Topics surrounding sex and reproductive issues were considered taboo for centuries in Buddhist communities. UN staff have spent the past decade working with religious leaders in Bhutan and other countries in Asia to “desensitise” the topics they believe are crucial to a healthy society.
The campaign has led more than 1,500 nuns from 26 nunneries to hold discussions with community members around sexual and reproductive health and the prevention of gender-based violence.
Now, at least 50 monks are trained to provide counselling services on these topics to students across Bhutan’s 20 districts.
The UN says these partnerships, which began in 2014, have contributed to a decrease in maternal mortality, an increase in contraception use, and better reproductive care for pregnant women.

2. Teaching refugee girls self-defence in Kenya
In a refugee camp in northwest Kenya, dozens of girls aged 12 to 18 have gathered every Saturday at a women’s empowerment centre to learn self-defence through a Taekwondo class.
The programme, launched by the UN’s Population Fund last year, has focused on providing an outlet for girls who have either been victims of gender-based violence or are at risk of it after fleeing conflict zones in countries like South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo.
The coaches are locals who understand the cultural and political dynamics their students face while living in a camp that is home to nearly 300,000 refugees.
The goal is to use sports activities to create safe spaces for women and girls to discuss various issues like period poverty, abuse and domestic conflict. The programme, which the UN has replicated in Egypt and elsewhere, is funded by the Olympic Refuge Foundation.

3. Eliminating explosive remnants of war
UN agencies are present throughout various phases of war, from delivering food, water and medical supplies in an active military zone to the iconic “Blue Helmets” – the military personnel deployed to help countries transition out of conflict.
Less attention is paid to efforts made after the dust has settled.
One of those initiatives, the United Nations Mine Action Service, was established in 1997 to facilitate projects aimed at mitigating the threat posed by unexploded munitions in countries years – and sometimes decades – after war.
The UN estimates that on average, one person is killed or injured by landmines and other explosive ordnance every hour.
In January, a 21-year-old man was harvesting olives in a Syrian orchard with two friends when they noticed a visible mine on the ground. Panicked, they tried to leave, but one of them stepped on a landmine and it exploded, severing one of his legs above the knee.
A month later, in Cambodia, a rocket-propelled grenade believed to be more than 25 years old killed two toddlers when it blew up near their homes.
The UN programme aims to work with communities in Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria to safely locate and remove these remnants of war while providing education and threat assessments.
Since its inception, the UN says more than 55 million landmines have been destroyed and over 30 countries have become mine-free.

4. Gender-based violence training in Africa
UN agencies facilitate programmes worldwide focused on women tied to education, financial literacy, employment opportunities and more. Among the most sensitive services provided are those for victims of gender-based violence.
In Chad, the UN Population Fund operates several rehabilitation programmes for women and girls recovering from that trauma. One of them, Halima Yakoy Adam, was taken at age 15 to a Boko Haram training camp in Nigeria, where she and several other girls were forced to become suicide bombers. Adam managed to escape with severe injuries, while the others died in blasts.
Through UN programmes on the islands of Lake Chad, Adam received health and reproductive services as well as vocational training. She is now working as a paralegal in her community to assist other women and girls.
“We are not created to stay,” Keita said of UN agencies’ long-term presence. “So this is embedded in what we do every single day. We have that humility in knowing that we make a difference, so that people do not need us the next day.”


5. Resettling refugees in Mexico
Images of refugees at US and European borders show the migration crisis around the world. Often overlooked are the refugees who are resettled in communities outside American and European cities, ones that resemble their home countries and cultural upbringings.
Since 2016, the UN’s refugee agency has supported the integration of more than 50,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Mexico. They arrived in southern Mexico and were relocated to industrial cities after being screened and granted asylum by the government.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees provides transport, orientation and access to health, education and other social services. More than 650 companies have agreed to train and employ these people, whose labour has generated a US$15 million annual contribution to the Mexican economy, according to the UN.
According to UN estimates, 94 per cent of these working-age refugees have secured formal employment within their first month in the country and nearly 90 per cent of school-age children have enrolled in school. The UN programme also provides what staff describe as clear pathways to Mexican citizenship.
“Mexico has become a country where people forced to flee can find the stability they need to restart their lives with dignity,” Giovanni Lepri, the top UN refugee agency official in Mexico, said in March. “A strong asylum system and legal framework allow an effective integration of asylum seekers and refugees.”


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United Nations

Sex education with monks in Bhutan and 4 other UN projects you probably didn’t know about

Buddhist monks take a hike in Bhutan in September 2022. Photo: Tim Pile

Three young Buddhist monks peer out from a monastery window in Bumthang Valley, Bhutan. Photo: Getty Images

Young refugee girls practice taekwondo kicks during a sports day event earlier this year.. Photo: AFP

A Cambodian expert working with the UN demonstrates demining methods in Cyprus in 2015. Photo: AFP

Women and children displaced by Boko Haram attacks are seen outside a camp in Dikwa, northeast Nigeria, in April. Photo: AP

Why a UN Security Council seat is so important to the Philippines

Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo (left) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Washington’s State Department on Monday. Photo: AP

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, following Israel’s attack on Iran. Photo: Reuters

Philippine Marines play basketball at West York Island, locally called Likas Island, on one of the Philippine-occupied islands in the disputed South China Sea on June 5. Photo: AP

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The Punakha Dzong Fortress in Bhutan. Photo: Tim Pile

Bhutanese refugee children in the Beldangi refugee camp in Damak, Nepal. Photo: AFP

The King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Photo: EPA-EFE

Is India’s billion-dollar aid to Bhutan aimed at curbing China’s influence?

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck greet each other during the conferment ceremony of the Order of the Druk Gyalpo award to Modi in Bhutan’s capital Thimpu on March 22. Photo: AFP

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking with his Bhutan’s counterpart Tshering Tobgay (left) during a meeting in New Delhi. Photo: AFP

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Think the United Nations is just about politics? These initiatives in health, safety and human rights might change your perspective


Think the United Nations is just about politics? These initiatives in health, safety and human rights might change your perspective.


Sex education with monks in Bhutan and 4 other UN projects you probably didn’t know about

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Think the United Nations is just about politics? These initiatives in health, safety and human rights might change your perspective

Think the United Nations is just about politics? These initiatives in health, safety and human rights might change your perspective