By having deployed 42 peace-keeping forces as of 1996, the UN was able to restore calm to allow the negotiating process to go forward while saving millions of people from becoming casualties of conflicts. There are presently 16 active peace-keeping forces in operation.

Since 1945, the United Nations has been credited with negotiating 172 peaceful settlements that have ended regional conflicts.

More than 30 million refugees fleeing war, famine or persecution have received aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 1951.

UN agencies have worked to make safe drinking water available to 1.3 billion people in rural areas during the last decade.

A 13-year effort by the World Health Organization resulted in the complete eradication of smallpox from the planet in 1980. The eradication has saved an estimated $1 billion a year in vaccination and monitoring.

UNEP led a major effort to clean up the Mediterranean Sea. It encouraged adversaries such as Syria and Israel, Turkey and Greece to work together to clean up beaches. As a result, more than 50 per cent of the previously polluted beaches are now usable.

The UN Population Fund, through its family planning programmes, has enabled people to make informed choices, and consequently given families, and especially women, greater control over their lives. As a result, women in devloping countries are having fewer children - from six births per woman in the 1960s to 3.5 today.