United Nations
United Nations (UN):-
International organization established on October 24, 1945. The United
Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization
established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and
membership. Its predecessor, the League of Nations, was created by
the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and disbanded in 1946.
Headquarter:
Headquartered in New York City, the UN also has regional offices
in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi.
Official Language :-
Its official languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian,
and Spanish.
History and development:-
Despite the problems encountered by the League of Nations in arbitrating
conflict and ensuring international peace and security prior to World War
II, the major Allied powers agreed during the war to establish a new global
organization to help manage international affairs. This agreement was
first articulated when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter in August
1941. The name United Nations was originally used to denote the countries
allied against Germany, Italy, and Japan. On January 1, 1942, 26 countries
signed the Declaration by United Nations, which set forth the war aims of
the Allied powers.
The Dumbarton Oaks proposals, with modifications from the Yalta
Conference, formed the basis of negotiations at the United Nations
Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), which convened in San
Francisco on April 25, 1945, and produced the final Charter of the United
Nations.
Principal organs:-The United Nations has six principal organs:
The General Assembly,
The Security Council,
The Economic and Social Council,
The Trusteeship Council,
The International Court of Justice,
And the Secretariat.
General Assembly:-
The only body in which all UN members are represented, the General
Assembly exercises deliberative, supervisory, financial, and elective
functions relating to any matter within the scope of the UN Charter. Its
primary role, however, is to discuss issues and make recommendations,
though it has no power to enforce its resolutions or to compel state action.
Other functions include admitting new members; selecting members of the
Economic and Social Council, the nonpermanent members of the Security.
Security Council:-
The UN Charter assigns to the Security Council primary responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security. The Security Council
originally consisted of 11 members—five permanent and six
nonpermanent—elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. From
the beginning, nonpermanent members of the Security Council were
elected to give representation to certain regions or groups of states. As
membership increased, however, this practice ran into difficulty.
An amendment to the UN Charter in 1965 increased the council’s
membership to 15, including the original five permanent members plus 10
nonpermanent members.
Economic and Social Council:-
Designed to be the UN’s main venue for the discussion of international
economic and social issues, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
directs and coordinates the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural
activities of the UN and its specialized agencies. Established by the UN
Charter, ECOSOC is empowered to recommend international action on
economic and social issues; promote universal respect for human rights;
and work for global cooperation on health, education, and cultural and
related areas.
International Court of Justice:-
The International Court of Justice, commonly known as the World Court, is
the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, though the court’s
origins predate the League of Nations. The idea for the creation of an
international court to arbitrate international disputes arose during an
international conference held at The Hague in 1899. This institution was
subsumed under the League of Nations in 1919 as the Permanent Court of
International Justice (PCIJ) and adopted its present name with the
founding of the UN in 1945.
Specialized Agencies:-
Major specialized agencies and related organs of the UN include
the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Health
Organization (WHO). Two of the most powerful specialized agencies, which
also are the most independent with respect to UN decision making, are
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Objects Of United Nation
Security:-
The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to
regions where armed conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the
terms of peace agreements and to discourage combatants from resuming
hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain its own military, peacekeeping
forces are voluntarily provided by member states. These soldiers are
sometimes nicknamed "Blue Helmets" because they wear distinctive blue
helmets.[149][150] Peacekeeping forces as a whole received the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1988.
Human rights:-
One of the UN's primary purposes is "promoting and encouraging respect
for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction
as to race, sex, language, or religion", and member states pledge to
undertake "joint and separate action" to protect these rights.[133][173]
Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1949
In 1948, the General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, drafted by a committee headed by American diplomat and
activist Eleanor Roosevelt, and including the French lawyer René Cassin.
Economic development and humanitarian assistance:
Another primary purpose of the UN is "to achieve international co-
operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural
and humanitarian character".[173] Numerous bodies have been created to
work towards this goal, primarily under the authority of the General
Assembly and the ECOSOC.[186] In 2000, the 192 UN member states agreed
to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Other global issues:-
Since the UN's creation, over 80 colonies have attained independence. The
General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960 with no votes
against but abstentions from all major colonial powers. The UN works
towards decolonization through groups including the UN Committee on
Decolonization.[206] The committee lists seventeen remaining "non-self-
governing territories", the largest and most populous of which is
the Western Sahara.
