United Nations (UN) Overview

United Nations (UN) Overview

United Nations (UN)

Adoption and Formation

• The name ‘United Nations’ was adopted on the suggestion of the then US President F.D. Roosevelt.

• To prepare the format of the UN, a meeting of representatives of prominent countries was held from 21st August to 7th October, 1944, at the Dumbarton Oaks building in Washington.

• The UNO was formed on the 24th October 1945.

• The Charter of the UN was signed on the 26th June, 1945, by representatives of 50 nations, though the number of founder member countries was 51, who attended the San Francisco Conference. Later on Poland signed the Charter and became the 51st founder member.

• At present 193 countries are members of the UN. South Sudan is the latest (193rd) member.

• The UN Charter came into force on October 24, 1945, when the governments of China, France, the U.K., the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. and a majority of other countries had ratified it.

• The Preamble to the Charter was the work of Field Marshal Smuts.

Headquarters and Establishment

• The headquarters of the UN is situated in New York (USA).

• John D Rockefeller had donated 17 acres of land on Manhattan Island, on which a 39-storey secretariat building of the UN has been constructed.

• The main office of the UN was built in 1952, where the first meeting of the General Assembly was held in 1952.

• The UN Charter is the constitution of the UN. It contains the aim and objectives of the UN and the rules and regulations for achieving these aims and purposes.

Flag and Languages

• Flag of the UN: The white UN emblem (two bent olive branches open at the top, and in between them is a world map) on a light blue background.

• Languages of the UN: The official languages of the UN are:

(a) English

(b) French

(c) Chinese

(d) Russian

(e) Arabic

(f) Spanish

• But the working languages are English and French only.

Security Council

• The proverb ‘Policeman of the world’ is used for the Security Council.

• Only the permanent members have the right to ‘veto’.

• The five permanent members are the USA, Russia, the UK, France and China.

Main Organs of the United Nations

The main organs of the UN are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

General Assembly

• The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the UN.

• All 193 member states of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.

• Each year, in September, the full UN membership meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session and general debate, which many heads of state attend and address.

• Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.

• Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.

• The General Assembly, each year, elects a GA President to serve a one-year term of office.

Security Council

• The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.

• It has 15 members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members).

• Each member has one vote.

• Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with council decisions.

• The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression.

• It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement.

• In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.

• The Security Council has a presidency, which rotates and changes every month.

Economic and Social Council

• The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the implementation of internationally agreed development goals.

• It serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialised agencies in the economic, social and environmental fields, supervising subsidiary and expert bodies.

• It has 54 members, elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms.

• It is the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

Trusteeship Council

• The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 trust territories that had been placed under the administration of seven member states and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the territories for self-government and independence.

• By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence.

• The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994.

• By a resolution adopted on 25 May 1994, the Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required – by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members of the General Assembly or the Security Council.

Secretariat

• The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the organisation’s other principal organs.

• The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the organisation, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year, renewable term.

• UN staff members are recruited internationally and locally and work in duty stations and on peacekeeping missions all around the world.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

• Its seat is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).

• It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).

• The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised United Nations organs and specialised agencies.

Indian Jurists in the International Court of Justice

*Deputy Chairman 1976 to 1979, Chairman – 1985-1988

About the ICJ

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ), sometimes called the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).

• The ICJ settles disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues referred to it by the UN.

• Through its opinions and rulings, it serves as a source of international law.

• The ICJ is the successor of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was established by the League of Nations in 1920. After the Second World War, both the League and the PCIJ were succeeded by the United Nations and the ICJ, respectively.

• The ICJ comprises a panel of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms.

• The court is seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, making it the only principal organ not located in New York City.

• Its official working languages are English and French.

• The ICJ has jurisdiction in two types of cases:

  • Continuous cases between states in which the court produces a binding ruling between states that agree or have previously agreed to submit to the ruling of the court and advisory opinions, which provide reasoned but non-binding rulings on properly submitted questions of international law, usually at the request of the United Nations General Assembly.

• Advisory opinions do not have to concern particular controversies between states, though they often do.

Secretaries-General of UNO and their Tenure

United Nations International Weeks

[Source: UN]

Final Thoughts

The United Nations (UN) was formed on 24 October 1945, after its Charter was signed by 50 nations at the San Francisco Conference. Headquartered in New York, it works to promote peace, security, and international cooperation among its 193 member states.

The UN’s main organs are the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. Its flag shows a white world map surrounded by olive branches on a light blue background.

The official languages are English, French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Spanish, while English and French are used as the working languages.