United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization
The UN is a general membership and general purpose IGO. The UN was established in 1954 and is now
made up of 191 states. UN membership is open to all "peace-loving states". The General Assembly
determines admission upon recommendation of the Security Council.
United Nations' History
The term UN was coined by Roosevelt during WWII, to refer to the Allies. The name was transferred to
the UN as it was founded by the victorious powers in the war as a condition of the Atlantic Charter and
other wartime agreements. The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that was formed shortly after World War II. It was to become the successor to the League of Nations, which was established by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to promote international cooperation, peace, and security. The League of Nations ceased its operations after it was unable to stop World War II.
The UN system is financed in two ways: assessed and voluntary contributions from member states. The
General Assembly is a principal organ of the UN and it includes representatives from all member states.
Representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco in 1945, where they drafted the proposed United Nations Charter. The representatives signed the Charter on June 26, 1945, which was then ratified on October 24, 1945, by the United Kingdom, the United States, France, China, and the Soviet Union, and by a majority of the other member states. While the UN initially had a respectable 51 member states (the 51st state was Poland, which was not represented at the UN Conference), its membership has grown to 193 member states as of 2014.
Structure
The United Nations is part of the broader UN system, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to the organization is five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly (UNGA), the Security Council (UNSC), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN Secretariat. A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council, suspended operations on 1 November 1994, upon the independence of Palau, the last remaining UN trustee territory.
Role of United Nations
International peace and security
To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
Develop friendly relations among nations
To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
International co-operation
To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
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
Economic development and humanitarian assistance
Another primary purpose of the UN is "to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character".[163] Numerous bodies have been created to work towards this goal, primarily under the authority of the General Assembly and ECOSOC.
Environment and climate
Beginning with the formation of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1972, the UN has made environmental issues a prominent part of its agenda.
Criticism of the UN
The UN provides a platform to discuss global security concerns and highlights development and
environmental needs. There are charges that the UN is increasingly attempting to usurp or conversely not
doing enough to override national sovereignty. In general, the UN has shown a reluctance to act upon its
resolutions.
Others say the UN gives precedence to government authority over individual liberty. They point to the
inclusion on the UNCHR of Sudan, Cuba, and Libya, which have poor records on human rights.
These above countries however argue that Western countries, with their history of colonialist aggression,
have no right to point fingers.
There are also internal institutional failures of the UN such as allegations of mismanagement and corruption regarding the Oil for Food Program.
Some point to the UN failure to act (or succeed) in security issues such as the ethnic cleansing campaign in Rwanda or its failure to successfully deliver food to starving citizens of Somalia, which was usually seized by local warlords instead of reaching those who needed it.
It is said that being in the majority of Arab states has an unfairly large influence which has enabled a large
number of UN resolutions condemning Israel. Alternatively, some argue that the UN is ruled by a "tyranny
of the rich". Critics point out to the repeated use of the veto to protect Israel, and the failure of the UN to
enforce its resolutions on powerful countries like the US while enforcing them on weaker states like Iraq or Syria.
Given the above criticism, there is often talk of abandoning or of reforming the UN (including the
expansion of the Security Council, since it does not include many of the prominent powers of the world like
Germany and Japan. Since the UN was formulated after WWII and it is therefore criticized as no longer
reflecting the realities of the current world order).
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