combined to create a deadly scenario for the United
Nations during the decade.
As the levels of interest in many of the conflicts
created a kaleidoscope of alliances and blocs of pro-
test among nations, it was often difficult if not impos-
sible for the United Nations to take a decisive and
unambiguous position on many of these issues. The
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December, 1979,
was a case in point. At its meeting in Islamabad in
January, 1980, the Organization of the Islamic Con-
ference deplored the Soviet invasion and demanded
its withdrawal. In the same vein, the U.N. General
Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that
“strongly deplored” the “recent armed intervention”
in Afghanistan and called for the “total withdrawal
of foreign troops” from the country. The resolution
was considered illegal, however, because the inva-
sion was favored by the “legitimate” government
of Afghanistan; therefore, the resolution was a vi-
olation of its sovereign rights. Ironically, many non-
aligned countries such as India, Algeria, Iraq, Syria,
Libya, and Finland considered the U.N. resolution
illegal and failed to grant their support.
The U.N. Security Council found it impossible to
act, because the Soviets had veto power. The General
Assembly was therefore limited to passing various
resolutions opposing the Soviet occupation. Infor-
mal negotiations for a Soviet withdrawal from Af-
ghanistan that started in 1982 came to fruition in
1988 as the governments of Pakistan and Afghani-
stan signed an agreement settling their major differ-
ences during the Geneva Accords. The United Na-
tions set up a special mission to oversee the process,
and the withdrawal of Soviet troops was announced
on July 20, 1987.
Fighting Poverty, Hunger, and Disease The United
Nations was confronted with two major problems in
its efforts to combat disease, hunger, and poverty in
most developing parts of the world during the 1980’s:
the massive debt crisis that had crippled the econo-
mies of developing nations and the acquired immu-
nodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic caused by
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
World Bank, subsidiaries of the United Nations,
were blamed directly for the exacerbating poverty
that spread throughout most of the developing world
following countries’ compliance with Structural
Adjustment Programs (SAP). The programs had,
among other things, insisted on the removal of gov-
ernment subsidies on essential services such as edu-
cation, health, and transport, which in turn led to a
drastic reduction of jobs, real income, and purchas-
ing power.
As most of the developing world, especially Af-
rica, stood in the throes of the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
the United Nations was forced to redouble its efforts
to address this urgent problem threatening mil-
lions of lives during the decade. The United Na-
tions, working through the World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO) and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), collaborated with various governments to
provide both education and medicine in highly af-
fected regions.
Impact In the 1980’s, the United Nations demon-
strated that it could withstand turbulent global events
that threatened its existence. The League of Na-
tions, the precursor to the United Nations, proved to
be less resilient at the outbreak of World War II. Al-
though the United Nations was not threatened by a
conflict of that magnitude, there were many close
calls, especially the festering ideological conflict of
the Cold War between the East and West, that set the
tone for many proxy conflicts around the world.
During the 1980’s, the leadership of the United
Nations managed to maintain its commitment to
dealing with issues of conflict and peace as well as
those of hunger, poverty, and disease affecting many
of the developing countries of the world. As ex-
pected, there were many high and low points for the
administration.
Further Reading
Bennett, LeRoy, and James K. Oliver.International
Organizations: Principles and Issues. 7th ed. Upper
Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002. Describes
the organization, structure, and operations of the
United Nations.
O’Sullivan, Christopher D.The United Nations: A
Concise Histor y.Huntington, N.Y.: Krieger, 2005.
Covers the first sixty years of the United Nations.
Peterson, M. J.The General Assembly in World Politics.
Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1986. Provides an in-depth
look at the structure and function of the U.N.
General Assembly during the 1980’s.
United Nations. http://www.un.org. The organization’s of-
ficial Web site. Contains a search feature allowing
users to research U.N. actions.
Austin Ogunsuyi1006 United Nations The Eighties in America