IMPORTANT ORGANIZATIONS
THE UNITED NATIONS (UN)
·
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in
San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on. International Organization
to draw up the United Nations Charter.
·
The United Nations officially came into
existence on 24 October 1945, when the Soviet Union. The United Kingdom, the
United States and a majority of other signatories.
·
Original founding members of UN are those
countries which signed the January 1942 declaration by UN or took part in the
San-Francisco Conference or which signed and ratified the Charter.
·
United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October
each year.
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The charter is the constituting instrument of
the Organization, setting out the rights and obligations of members’ states and
establishing the United Nations organs and procedures.
·
The purpose of the United Nations, as set forth
in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security; to develop
friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal
rights and self-determination of people; to cooperate in solving international
economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and to be a centre for harmonizing
the actions of nations in attaining these ends.
·
The United Nations family, however, is much
larger, encompassing 15 agencies and several programmes and bodies.
·
The United Nations family of organizations (the “united Nations system”) consists of
the United Nations secretariat, the United Nations funds and programmes (such
as UNICEF and UNDP), the specialized agencies (such as UNESCO and WHO) and
related organizations.
·
The funds and programmes are subsidiary bodies
of the General Assembly.
·
The specialized agencies are linked to the
United Nations through special agreements and report to the Economic and social
Council and/or the General Assembly.
·
The related organizations including IAEA and the
World Trade Organization address specialized areas and have their own
legislative bodies and budgets.
·
Headquarter of UN are in New York City (USA).
·
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt devised the
name United Nations.
·
Its total membership is 192 at present. Tuvalu
was admitted as 189th member, Switzerland as 190th and
Timor Lester (East Timor) as 191st member. Montenegro became 192nd
member of UN on June 28, 2006. 193th of South Sudan.
·
Vatican City and Taiwan are not members of the
UN.
·
UN flag consists of the global map projected
from the North Pole and embraced in twin olive branches (symbol of peace). The
flag was adopted on October 20, 1947 by the General Assembly.
·
New members can be admitted to the General
Assembly on the recommendation of Security Council and members can be suspended
also.
·
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights
was set up in 1945.
·
Universal Declaration of Human Rights was
adopted by General Assembly of the UN on December 10, 1948. It is observed as
Human Rights day every year.
·
There are six official languages of UN, namely
Chinese, English, French Russian, Spanish and Arabic. Arabic was added by
General Assembly in 1973 and by the Security Council in 1982. Although Arabic
is not used as its working language.
·
The Charter established six principal organs of
the United Nations. They are:
(i) The General
Assembly
(ii) The
Security Council
(iii) The
economic and social Council
(iv) The
Trusteeship Council
(v) The
international Court of Justice
(vi) The Secretariat
1. General Assembly
·
It is called as the town meeting of the world.
·
The General Assembly meets at least once in a
year, and the session commences on the first Tuesday of September.
·
The Assembly can also meet for special emergency
sessions.
·
The Presidency of the Assembly rotates each year
among the five geographical groups of the countries viz. African, Asian, East
European, Latin American and west European & other States.
·
It appoints the Secretary General of UN
Secretariat on the recommendation of the Security Council. It is also empowered
to admit new members.
2. Security Council
·
The Security Council bears the primary
responsibility for the maintenance of the international peace and security.
·
It is designed to be the UN’s only action agency
and is often described as the enforcement wing of the UN.
·
The Security Council originally consisted of
eleven member’s but expanded to fifteen in 1965. Security Council comprises of
five permanent members namely, China, France, Russia, UK and USA and 10 non- permanent
members elected for a term of 2 years by a two-third majority of the General
Assembly. Five non-permanent members retire every year. Retiring members cannot
be re-elected immediately.
·
The permanent members have the power to VETO any
move. If a permanent member abstains, it is not considered as a VETO.
·
The presidency of the Security Council is held
in turn by the member of the Security Council in the English alphabetical order
of their names. Each president holds office for one calendar month.
·
Decision on procedural as well as substantive
matter is taken by an affirmative vote of 9 members. On substantive matter
involving action by member nations, all permanent members must vote in the
affirmative. A single VETO can prevent the proposals from being accepted.
3. Economic and social
Council (ECOSOC)
·
Its objective is to promote social progress and
better standard of life.
·
ECOSOC comprises 54 members, 18 (one third) of
whom are elected every year by the General Assembly of UN, to serve a three-
years term. The retiring members as well as the president are eligible for
immediate re-elections.
·
The functions of ECOSOC are performed by nine
functional commissions, five regional Commissions and a number of standing
committees.
4. Trusteeship Council
·
The Trusteeship Council aims at helping
countries under foreign rule to attain independence.
·
There were eleven such countries that had come
under this system after the Second World War. Most of them have attained
independence by now. Palau was the last country to get freedom in 1994.
5. International Court
of Justice (ICJ)
·
The headquarters of ICJ are located in “The
Hague”
·
It comprises 15 Judges, elects its President and
Vice President for a term of # years.
·
All decisions are made by majority vote of the
Judges present with nine Judges constituting the quorum.
·
The President of the ICJ may cast the second
deciding vote in case of the tie.
·
English and French are the official languages of
ICJ.
6. The secretariat
·
The Secretariat- an international staff working
in duty stations around the world carries out the diverse day today work of the
organization.
·
It services the other principle organs of the UN
and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them.
·
The Secretariat is treated as headquarters of
UN.
·
Secretary General, who is appointed by the
General assembly on the recommendations of the Security Council, is the Chief
Administrative officer of the UN.
·
Secretary General has tenure of five years and
he can be re-elected.
