International Organization: UN

Formation, Organ & Success &

Failure

Name Arfa Ashfaq

University Roll No. 069442
Discipline Economics
Class Bachelor Studies (FYDP)
Subject International Relations
Course Code IR-111
Semester Spring, 2023
Batch 2021-2025

Submitted to:
Prof. Waris Ali Chand
Department of political science
Govt. Jinnah Islamia Graduate College Sialkot
Abstract
International organization; UN formation Organs, success and Failure ……..
An international organization also known as an intergovernmental organization or an
international institution is a stable set of norms and rules mart to govern the behavior of stats
and other actors in the international system examples of international organization , UN,
OSCE, BIS, COE, ILO, Interpol the origin of IGOs can be traced way back from the
congress of vienna of 1840 to 1815, the first and oldest international organization being
established employing a treaty and creating a permanent secretariat, with a global
membership was the international telecommunication union (founded in 1865) .
The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars.
Succeeding the League of Nations which was characterized as ineffective on 25 April
1945.50 nations met in son Francis for a conference and stated drafting the UN character,
which was adopted on 25 JUNE 1945, And took effect on 24 OCTOBER 1945, when the UN
began operations the United Nations is comprised of fir main organ. The General Assembly
the Security Council the economic and social (ECOSOC), the secretariat, the international
council of justice.The trusty the success of UN: UN committee of expert on global geospatial
information management, multilateral treaties. ICJ has a positive effect on the development
of international law. ICJ provides on additional option for stats to settle their dispute
peacefully. The failure of UN: NPT, UN’s veto powers humans rights violations are
happening at conflict prone origin, UN has failed to enforce regulations on defending nations.
There is no real means or enforcing the ICJs verdict.

Questions
1. Explain the meaning origin and evolution of international
organization?
2. Discuss the principals and objectives of United Nation?

International organization
An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also
known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set
of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states and other actors in the international
system. Organizations may be established by a treaty or be an instrument governed
by international law and possessing its own legal personality, such as the United Nations,
the World Health Organization and NATO. International organizations are composed of
primarily member states, but may also include other entities, such as other international
organizations, firms, and nongovernmental organizations.[4] Additionally, entities (including
states) may hold observer status.
Notable examples include the United Nations (UN), Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Council of
Europe (COE), International Labor Organization (ILO) and International Criminal Police
Organization (INTERPOL). (Stephen (1 January 2012))
Terminology
International organizations are sometimes referred to as intergovernmental
organizations (IGOs), to clarify the distinction from international non-governmental
organizations (INGOs), which are non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate
internationally. These include international nonprofit organizations such as the World
Organization of the Scout Movement, International Committee of the Red
Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, as well as lobby groups that represent the interests of
multinational corporations.
IGOs are established by a treaty that acts as a charter creating the group. Treaties are formed
when lawful representatives (governments) of several states go through a ratification process,
providing the IGO with an international legal personality. Intergovernmental organizations
are an important aspect of public international law.
In 1935, Pitman B. Potter defined international organization as "an association or union of
nations established or recognized by them for the purpose of realizing a common end". He
distinguished between bilateral and multilateral organizations on one end and customary or
conventional organizations on the other end. (Potter, Pitman B. (1935))
Intergovernmental organizations in a legal sense should be distinguished from simple
groupings or coalitions of states, such as the G7 or the Quartet. Such groups or associations
have not been founded by a constituent document and exist only as task groups.
Intergovernmental organizations must also be distinguished from treaties. Many treaties (such
as the North American Free Trade Agreement, or the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade before the establishment of the World Trade Organization) do not establish an
independent secretariat and instead rely on the parties for their administration, for example by
setting up a joint committee. Other treaties have established an administrative apparatus
which was not deemed to have been granted binding legal authority. The broader concept
wherein relations among three or more states are organized according to certain principles
they hold in common is multilateralism. (Lavelle, Kathryn C. (2020)

United Nations Agencies and Related organizations

he United Nations focuses on five main areas: "maintaining peace and security,

protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, supporting sustainable development,
and upholding international law". UN agencies, such as UN Relief and Works Agency, are
generally regarded as international organizations in their own right. Additionally, the United
Nations has Specialized Agencies, which are organizations within the United Nations
System that have their member states (often nearly identical to the UN Member States) and
are governed independently by them; examples include international organizations that
predate the UN, such as the International Telecommunication Union, and the Universal Postal
Union, as well as organizations that were created after the UN such as the World Health
Organization (which was made up of regional organizations such as PAHO that predated the
UN). A few UN special agencies are very centralized in policy and decision-making, but
some are decentralized; for example, the country-based projects or missions’ directors and
managers can decide what they want to do in the fields.
The UN agencies have a variety of tasks based on their specialization and their interests. The
UN agencies provide different kinds of assistance to low-income countries and middle-
income countries, and this assistance would be a good resource for developmental projects in
developing countries. The UN has to protect any kind of human rights violation, and in the
UN system, some specialized agencies, like ILO and United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), work in the human rights' protection fields. The UN agency, ILO, is
trying to end any kind of discrimination in the work field and child labor; after that, this
agency promotes fundamental labor rights and to get safe and secure for the laborers.

History

The origin of IGOs can be traced way back from the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815,
which was an international diplomatic conference to reconstitute the European political order
after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon. States then became the main decision
makers who preferred to maintain their sovereignty as of 1648 at the Westphalian treaty that
closed the 30 years’ war in Europe.
The first and oldest international organization—being established employing a treaty and
creating a permanent secretariat, with a global membership—was the International
Telecommunication Union (founded in 1865). The first general international organization—
addressing a variety of issues—was the League of Nations, founded on 10 January 1920 with
a principal mission of maintaining world peace after World War I. The United
Nations followed this model after World War II. This was signed on 26 June 1945, in San
Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization,
and came into force on 24 October 1945. Currently, the UN is the main IGO with its arms
such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the General Assembly (UNGA), the
International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Secretariat (UNSA), the Trusteeship Council (UNTC)
and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Other IGOs include Regional Councils
like ICES and the Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM), and continental blocks like
the European Union (EU), African Union (AU), East African Community (EAC), and Multi-
National Companies (MNCs) like SHELL. (Yale UP, 1997) 

United Nation Formation

The United Nations (or the UN), particularly informally also referred to as the United

Nations Organisation (or the UNO), is an intergovernmental organization whose stated
purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations amongst
nations, achieve international co-operation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of
nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. The UN
is headquartered on international territory in New York City, and has other main offices
in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague (home to the International Court of Justice). (
Osmańczyk 2004)
The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars,
succeeding the League of Nations, which was characterized as ineffective. On 25 April 1945,
50 nations met in San Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which
was adopted on 25 June 1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began
operations. Pursuant to the Charter, the organization's objectives include maintaining
international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid,
promoting sustainable development and upholding international law. At its founding, the UN
had 51 member states. Today it has 193; almost all of the world's sovereign states.
The organization's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades due
to the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its
missions have consisted primarily of unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops
with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew
significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former
colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by
the Trusteeship Council. By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development
programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the
UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking a wide variety of complex tasks.
The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic
and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, the UN Secretariat and the Trusteeship
Council (although this has been inactive since 1994). The UN System includes a multitude
of specialized agencies, funds and programmes such as the World Bank Group, the World
Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with
ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN's work.
The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general, currently Portuguese politician
and diplomat António Guterres, who began his first five year-term on 1 January 2017 and
was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary
contributions from its member states.
The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won many Nobel Peace Prizes, though other
evaluations of its effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the
organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have
called it ineffective, biased and corrupt. [ Miller, Russell A.; Bratspies, Rebecca M., eds.
(2008)]

The Main Organs of the United Nations

The United Nations is comprised of five main organs:  the General Assembly, the Security
Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, and the International Court
of Justice.  Historically, a sixth main organ, the Trusteeship Council, played a significant
role in the process of decolonization.  The Trusteeship Council suspended its operations in
1994 and is no longer active, but it cannot be formally dissolved without amending the UN
Charter.

Brief descriptions of the UN's main organs are provided below, along with links to their
respective websites.  For a comprehensive listing of all UN-affiliated entities, visit the
online Directory of UN System Organizations.

 The General Assembly

The General Assembly is the primary deliberative and policymaking arm of the UN,
at which all 193 member states are represented.  It meets annually in September to
debate pressing issues and to make decisions and recommendations on important
questions of peace and security, economic and social development development, the
protection of human rights, the codification of international law, and the admission of
 new member states, among other matters.  It also approves the UN's budget and the
financial assessments of member states.  Some decisions require a two-thirds majority
while others are decided by a simple majority.(  Rosenthal, A. M. (1951)
 
 The Security Council
The Security Council has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace
and security.  It is comprised of 15 members, five of which are permanent (China, the
Russian Federation, France, the U.K., and the U.S.).  The other ten members are
elected by the General Assembly to two-year terms.  The Security Council
investigates acts of aggression and other threats to peace.  Whenever possible, it
attempts to settle disputes through peaceful means, but it also has the authority to
impose sanctions and authorize the use of force.  Nine votes, including the votes of all
five permanent members, are required for the Council to issue a decision.  The UN
Charter obligates all member states to comply with Council decisions.( Kennedy
2006,)
 
 The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
The Economic and Social Council, usually referred to by the acronym ECOSOC,
provides a central forum for discussing the world's economic, social, and
environmental challenges and for formulating policy recommendations to address
them.  It coordinates about 70 percent of the UN's human and financial resources,
including those of the 15 specialized agencies, eight functional commissions, and five
regional commissions under its jurisdiction.  ECOSOC is comprised of 54 UN
member states, which are elected by the General Assembly to serve overlapping
three-year terms.  Seats are allocated among five regions in order to ensure equitable
geographic representation.( Basu, Rumki (2019)
 
 The Secretariat
The Secretariat is UN's administrative arm, comprised of civil servants responsible for
carrying out the day-to-day operations of the organization.  Led by the Secretary-
General, the Secretariat collects and analyzes data, conducts research on a wide range
of economic and social issues, maintains the facilities used by other UN organs,
provides interpreter services, and translates documents into the UN's official
languages.  The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly on the
recommendation of the Security Council for a 5-year, renewable term.  In addition to
mediating international disputes and coordinating peacekeeping activities, the
Secretary-General serves as the public face of the UN and acts as the principal
spokesperson for its policy initiatives.( Dag Hammarskjöld (1968))
 
 The International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, is the UN's
principal judicial organ.  It is located in the Peace Palace in The Hague, a city in the
Netherlands, making it the only one of the UN's principal organs that is not based in
New York City.  The Court adjudicates interstate disputes in contentious cases in
accordance with international law and issues advisory opinions on questions of law
referred to it by authorized UN organs. The Court is comprised of 15 judges elected
by both the General Assembly and the Security Council to serve nine-year terms.  No
two judges from the same jurisdiction may serve simultaneously.  Seats are informally
apportioned geographically to ensure that judges from all of the world's main legal
 systems are represented on the Court.( Koh, Steven Arrigg ( 2014))
 
 The Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was established to oversee the 11 "trust territories"
established under the UN Charter.  These included former colonies previously
administered under mandates issued by the League of Nations, as well as territories
seized from nations that were defeated in World War II.  The Council suspended its
operations in 1994 when Palau, the last remaining trust territory, gained its
independence.  Should the need arise, the Council may resume operations at the
request of the majority of its members, the members of the General Assembly or the
members of the Security Council.

Success and failures

 The UN defined, codified and expanded the realm of international law, governing the
legal responsibilities of States in their conduct with each other, and their treatment of
individuals within State boundaries.
 The U.N. has solved many violent conflicts, prevented wars, and saved millions of lives.
 More than 560 multilateral treaties on human rights, refugees, disarmament, trade, oceans,
outer space, etc...Encompassing all aspects of international affairs was negotiated by the U.N.
 The ECOSOC continually monitors the progress of development, particularly in the light
of the MDGs.
 It has created a new UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information
Management which brings together government experts from all Member States to compile
and disseminate best practices and experiences on geospatial information which helps in the
context of sustainable development and humanitarian assistance.
 The ICJ has a positive effect on the development of International Law and the
propagation of the principles of sovereignty, non-conquest, human rights and the rights of
existence and self-defense of a state.
 The ICJ provides an additional option for states to settle their disputes
peacefully through third party intervention, and this has reduced the threat of open war.
(Gallup ,2006).)

Failures:

 In 1970, though the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed by 190 nations,

all five superpowers owned nuclear weapons. Despite the NPT and Partial Test Ban Treaty,
several countries – North Korea, Israel, Pakistan, and India have developed nuclear weapons.
Thus the UN has failed to enforce regulations on offending nations.
 Though the ICJ has resolved major international disputes, the U.N.’s veto powers have
limited its effectiveness at critical times.
 Human Rights violations are happening at conflict-prone regions like Gaza-strip but
UNSC has failed as the United States vetoes any action against Israel.
 The Arab Spring in the Middle East which caused thousands of deaths and regime changes,
the rise of ISIS, gruesome killings might have been prevented if the Member States of the
U.N. had the ability to resolutely act in a timely manner.

 But the U.N. is not a world government, and it does not have a standing army of peace-
keepers ready for deployment. 
 NGO workers from around the world have blamed that vulnerable people are being denied
representation at the UN by the dysfunctional nature of the NGO committee and its
parent body, the Ecosoc. 
 The ICJ is noted for its failures to successfully resolve inter-state disputes. To date there
are more than 30 unresolved frontier cases concerning land of greater value, which has never
been submitted to the ICJ, because one party’s claim is not on legal grounds.
 Major issues of peace and security between the more powerful states are rarely submitted as
most governments tend to “consider the recognition of the jurisdiction of the court as
infringing on their sovereignty”.

 There is no real means of enforcing the ICJ’s verdict. ( Alec Russell,2006)

Conclusion
The present report provides a snapshot of the work of the Organization in a world steeped in
contradictory and complex challenges. Millions have been lifted out of poverty yet millions
of others face the threat of famine. Globalization has brought prosperity to many yet others
have been cruelly left behind, excluded and caught in a system of inequality and rising
xenophobia. The world has witnessed the massive migration of people fleeing violent conflict
on a scale not seen since the Second World War and the undeniable megatrend of climate
change and its multiplier effects demand global action, yet multilateralism is being
questioned at a time when we most need coherent global responses to these interconnected
events. No nation acting alone can resolve these crises. The United Nations is the
gravitational centre for dialogue and cooperation to find common solutions, and with its
concentrated support Member States have reached two landmark agreements: the 2030
Agenda and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Taken together, they demonstrate
that nations have the will to work multilaterally when they see a driving need. They represent
a clear road map to a mutual destination: taking care of our shared global home.
The United Nations must be up to the challenge. I have laid out a number of reform proposals
to make the Organization more effective, flexible and nimble, with a renewed culture of
prevention permeating all our work. Ultimately, future generations will judge the United
Nations by our ability to make our norms and aspirations a reality, particularly for those who
suffer the most. The onus falls on the United Nations to prove its worth.

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