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International

Organizations       

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.

·         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.

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      The United Nations family, however, is much larger, encompassing 15 agencies and several programmes and bodies.

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        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.

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         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.

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      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 189^th member, Switzerland as 190^th and Timor Lester (East Timor) as 191^st member. Montenegro became 192^nd 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.

                                               

                                             Secretaries- General of UN

Sl.	Name	Country	Period
1.	Trygve Lie     (Resign)	Norway	1946-52
2.	Dag Hammarskjoeld	Sweden	1953-61
3.	U.Thant	Myanmar	1961-71
4.	Kurt Waldheim	Austria	1972-81
5.	Javier Perez de Cuellar	Peru	1982-91
6.	Boutros Boutros-Ghali	Egypt	1992-96
7.	Kofi Annan	Ghana	1997-06
8.	Ban Ki Moon	S. Korea	2007-till date

                                 Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to UN

Year	UN Body/ Person
1950	Ralph Bunche
1954	Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
1961	Dag Hammarskjold
1965	United Nations Children’s (UNICEF)
1969	International Labour Organization
1981	Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
1988	United Nations Peacekeeping Forces
2001	United Nations, Kofi Annan
2005	International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei
2007	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (AI) Gore Jr.

PROGRAMMES AND FUNDS OF UN

1. UN Children’s FUND (UNICEF)

·         UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system in 1953, when its name was shortened to the United Nations Children’s Fund. However, UNICEF retained its original acronym. It is headquartered in New York (USA). Its headquartered are in New York (USA).

·         It aims to provide a better quality of life to Children and mothers in developing countries through improved health services, nutrition, sanitation, water availability and education.

·         UNICEF brings annual report titled The State of the World’s Children Report.

·         UNICEF received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 “ for the promotion of brotherhood among nations”

·         UNICEF was established on 11 December 1946 by the United Nations to meet the emergency needs of children in post-war Europe and China.

·         It full name was the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

·         In 1950, its mandate was broadened to address the long term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere.

2. UN Development Programme (UNDP)

·         It was established in 1965 and its headquarter is in New York (USA)

·         It is the largest agency in the world for technical and pre-investment cooperation at the multilateral level.

·         UNDP brings out the Human Development Report every calendar year.

·         It helps developing countries in exploiting their human and natural resources by providing expert assistance and training local personnel.

3. UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

·         It was established in 1972 and its headquarters are in Nairobi (Kenya).

·         Its aim is to protect and conserve the natural environment.

4. UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)

·         It came into existence in 1967 and its headquarters are in New York (USA).

·         Its aim is to build up capacity to respond to the needs in population and family planning, and to deal with population problems, especially in developing countries.

·         “The State of the World’s Population Report” is published by UNFPA annually.

5. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

·         Established in 1964. UNCTAD promote the development- friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy.

·         UNCTAD has progressively evolved into an authoritative knowledge- based institution whose work aims to help shape current policy debates and thinking on development, with a particular focus on ensuring that domestic policies and international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.

·         The organization works to fulfill this mandate by carrying out three key functions:

(i) It functions as a forum for intergovernmental deliberations, supported by discussions with experts and exchange of experience, aimed at consensus building.

(ii) It undertakes research, policy analysis and data collection for the debates of government representatives and experts.

(iii) It provides technical assistance tailored to the specific requirements of the developing countries, with special attention to the needs of the least developed countries and of economies in transition. When appropriate, UNCTAD cooperates with other organizations and donor countries in the delivery of technical assistance.

·         The Secretary- General of UNCTAD is Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi (Thailand), who took office on September 1, 2005.

·         The World Investment Report has been published annually since 1991 by UNCTAD.

·         Each year’s Report covers the latest trends in foreign direct investment around the World and analyses in depth one selected topic related to foreign direct investment and development.