Nowadays, it seems like we’re living in a world where horrific, terrible events occur all around us. Turn on the television or pick up a random newspaper article, and you’ll find a constant urgent reporting of tragedies and genocide from all around the world. From the heartbreaking mass shootings right here in America to violent protests in South America and China, it’s sensible of societies to turn to the United Nations (UN) and ask what can be done. Primarily, it’s important to determine exactly which region the UN should address first.

Clearly, the UN should definitely prioritize helping the Middle East. It is one of the most conflict plagued areas in the world, poisoned with bloody religious wars, terrorism, and the recent Saudi oil facility attacks.

Of course, one of this region’s biggest conflicts lies in Yemen, where a bloody war has been raging for the past years. It all started with a weak political transition; specifically, when authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh gave his power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. A Yemen rebel group called the Houthis were unhappy with this power exchange, as were many other Yemen citizens, and proceeded to take over the Yemen government. However, as the Houthis were heavily influenced by the deadly nuclear power Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries including the US and UK decided to war against these rebels to restore power to Hadi. This bloody conflict has become known as the Yemen war, leaving 14 million Yemen citizens to starve and 100,000 people dead.

It is imperative that the UN comes in and takes action. The UN’s job is to maintain international peace and their powers include investigating disputes that cause international friction and using their military power to direct and deploy troops. Evidently, they should use these powers to investigate and end the Yemen war, and deploy more troops to defend innocent Yemen citizens.

Another huge Middle Eastern conflict lies in ISIS, one of the world’s most feared terrorist groups. Although ISIS may not be as prominent as they have been in recent years, they still remain a large threat, capturing mainly women and children. ISIS is still deployed in Somalia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. They have a force of around 18,000 combatants and have been carrying out suicide attacks and ambushes in Iraq and Syria.

It’s crucial to note that they get most of their money through illegal smuggling and oil production. However, to further put an end to ISIS, the UN can impose sanctions on resource gateways these terrorists steal from and freeze the assets of ISIS leaders.

Ultimately, in a world where war and death seems to swirl around us, the UN must recognize where to take action first-- and that area is clearly the Middle East. Millions of people suffer at the hands of starvation, war, and terrorists. Thus, we can only hope that the UN rightfully uses their power to appease this suffering.

Clara Son/ Orange County School of the Arts 9th Grade