April 7th

On this day - April 7th 1994 - The Rwanda Genocide 

The Genocide in Rwanda was a conflict where the Tutsi and some moderate Hutu were killed by the Hutu in Rwanda. The background for the conflict was the division created between the two group of peoples during the Belgian colonial rule and the Civil war which had started in 1990.The Genocide lasted for about 100 days, and somewhere between 50.000 and 1.000.000 people were killed in the conflict. This constituted about 70 percent of the Tutsi population, and 20 percent of the total population in Rwanda. On April 6th was the plane with the Rwandan president shot down. The systematic killing started the day after. Neighbors turned on each other and UN which was present in the country chose to do nothing to protect the victims. Several of the victims was killed with machetes and died a painful death. The genocide cam to an end after about 100 days because most of the Tutsi's had either escaped the country or was already dead. The genocide have had long lasting impact on Rwanda. For example experienced Rwanda a surge in HIV due to the war related rapes during the 100 days of the genocide, a destroyed transportation system and a huge lack of people.

February 1st

On this day - February 1st 1946 - Trygve Lie was appointed the first Secretary General of the United Nation  

Trygve Lie was an Norwegian politician who had participated in the Norwegian government in exile in UK during the Second World War. He was also the leader of the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations meetings in 1945 and 1946. At the point was Galdwyn Jebb acting as the Secretary General, because no one had been appointed to the position yet. On February 1st was Trygve Lie appointed to the position as a compromises between the greater nations. Lie was re-elected in 1950, although without Soviets support at this time. By 1952 was he forced to resign due to the Soviet Unions disapproval of his involvement in the Korean war. He has been both criticized and apprised for his work in the UN, and he wrote the book IN THE CAUSE OF PEACE: Seven Years with the United Nations about his experiences s the first secretary general. Swedish Dag Hammarskjöld took over as Secretary General after Lie. The current Secretary General is Ban Ki-Moon from South Korea.

January 27th

On this day - 27th January 1967 - The Outer Space Treaty opened for signatures

The treaty opened for signatures on this day in 1967 and the treaty entered into force on October 10th the same year. The treaty consists of a framework for basic space law's which all signature countries have to adhere to. The agreements includes a ban on nuclear weapons in orbit around earth, on the moon or otherwise in space in general. The use of the moon is limited to peacefully activities, specifically  banning the testing of weapons on the moon and the building of military stations. The development of the treaty had is background in the cold war conflict and the rapidly technological advancements related to war and space at the time. Both the Soviet Union and the US created a draft treaty in 1966, and in 1967 was an agreement reached between the two draft treaties and their creators through United Nations. Several countries signed the treaty on the 27th of January. Those countries includes UK, USA and The Soviet Union. The treat still exists today and over 100 countries have signed it.

November 15th

On this day – 15^th November 1920 – The first League of Nation General Assembly was held

The League of Nation was founded on January 10^th 1920 and is considered the forerunner of today’s United Nations.  It was established as a part of the Paris Peace conference, which ended the First World War, and it was a part of US President Woodrow Wilson’s 14-point plan. Wilson received the Nobel’s peace prise for his work towards this, but the US never joined the organization. League of Nation was established as an international organisation with the goal of maintaining world peace. The organization has never been considered as too successful, although it did have some impact on international issues in the middle of the 1920s. In 1943 was it agreed among the allied power to create a new, and stronger, organisation to replace the League of Nation and this is how the United Nations was created. The league of Nations held its last meeting on 18^th of April 1946 where it officially ended its existence.  

November 6th

On this day – 6th November 1962 – UN passed an anti-apartheid resolution

The 1761 resolution, which was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1962, condemned South Africa’s apartheid policies.  Apartheid means “Apart-hood” and was a system of racial segregation in South Africa. The resolution called for all UN member-states to end their military and economic relations with South Africa until their apartheid policies were abolished. The apartheid policies was first implemented in 1948 and lasted in South Africa until 1994.