The United Nations is an organisation that comprises most of the world's nations. It often takes a leading role in conflicts and problems facing the world,often as a mediator for brokering a peace deal or as a main aid-contributer. However, there does seem to be an air of mystery surrounding the workings of this vast organisation which this entry should help to explain.

The Creation of the UN

In 1941 Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the USA, met and agreed on the Atlantic Charter. The basic principal of the Atlantic Charter was that no country should be invaded by another country. The main ideas set down were:

• that every country would be a democracy
• there would be free trade throughout the world so that economic prosperity could be shared
• that a system to maintain global peace would be created.

This basic idea was extended after the end of the Second World War when the USSR, China, the USA and Britain drew up the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945. They all agreed that the League of Nations had to be replaced by a more dynamic peacekeeping organisation. The United Nations was officially created on 24 October 1945, after 51 Member States ratified the Charter. This date is now remembered worldwide as United Nations Day.

How the UN system works

The UN is not a single, independent organisation but is comprised of separate countries. This means that the UN’s decisions depend on the Member States to make the UN’s work possible. As so many different nations are involved decision-making is often lengthy and difficult.

The UN Charter

The aim of the United Nations was to preserve peace and security in the world and to remove the causes of conflict. This was to be achieved by encouraging economic, social, cultural and education throughout the world, especially in less developed countries.

Principles of the UN

• All Member States have equal sovereignty.
• Every Member State must obey the UN Charter.
• Member States must attempt to resolve their differences by peaceful means.
• Countries must avoid using force or threatening to use force.
• The UN may not interfere in the domestic affairs of any country.
• Countries should try to support the United Nations.

Membership of the UN

Every country who fought against the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) during the Second World War were allowed to become the UN’s founder members. Any other countries wishing to join had to prove that they were willing and able to carry out the work of the UN laid down in the Charter.

The membership of the UN grew when newly independent states began to join. Countries that had been part of the Axis were also allowed to join. Italy joined in 1955, Japan in 1956 and the two halves of the divided Germany¹.
China’s seat was given to the Nationalist government even after they went into exile in Taiwan in 1949. The USA refused to let China’s Communist to join until 1971 when the Nationalists were finally replaced.

Today the UN has 191 Member States. A country can become member of the UN as long as it:

“is open to all peace loving States which accept the obligations contained in the United Nations Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able to carry out these obligations.”

The country has to apply to the Secretary-General saying that it accepts the obligations laid down in the Charter.
If the Security Council votes 9 out of 15 in favour of the admission (and none of the permanent members disagree) they make a recommendation to the General Assembly about admitting countries to the UN. If the General Assembly then votes with a two-thirds majority in favour of admission the country will be admitted.

The UN Flag and emblem

The United Nations’ emblem consists of a map of the world surrounded by a pair of olive branches. The meanings of these are fairly self-explantory with the olive branches representing peace and the map representing the world which reflects the UN’s aim of achieving peace for the world. This design was adopted on 7 December 1946 by the General Assembly.

It was felt that the UN needed a flag to be used around the world wherever the UN worked. So in 20 October 1947 the General Assembly adopted a resolution concerning the flag. It was decided that the flag would have the UN emblem in the centre of a light blue background. The colours do not have any particular significance.

The UN flag can be used freely to show support for the UN but any commercial use of the UN emblem, name or initials is restricted. In order to prevent the misuse of the emblem the General Assembly decided that it can only be used if authorised by the Secretary-General.

Finance

The UN’s member countries contribute money to the UN according to the national wealth of the country. Despite this the UN does have financial problems, although not as severe as those of the League of Nations. The UN needs these funds to allow it to continue its work. The cost of this work can be seen by the huge increase in the UN’s budget. In 1946 the budget was US $20 million, in 1990 it was 846 million and in 2000-2001, US $2,535 million.

The UN assesses the amount each country has to pay by taking into consideration a number of factors including the country’s total Gross National Product average income per person in the country. The funds contributed by each Member State makes up the bulk of the UN’s budget.
Countries also have to contribute towards the costs of peace-keeping which was close to US $2 billion in 2000.

Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is one of the UN’s most important functions. The Security Council can investigate any dispute between nations.

The Structure of the UN

The six principal organs of the United Nations, are the: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat. The United Nations is also made up of a group of related organisations in a “family” of 15 agencies and a number of separate bodies and programs.

This basic structure of the United Nations was similar to that of the League of Nations, but there were important differences in procedure and voting which gave the UN more power.

The General Assembly

The General Assembly meets annually at the UN headquarters in New York, USA. If required the General-Assembly can hold special sessions and meet together at the UN headquarters. Every member state of the UN has a representative in the General Assembly. Every country of the UN has one vote regardless of size or wealth. For a decision to be accepted by the UN there must be a two-thirds majority in favour of the decision. However, even if a decision is accepted by the UN it is not binding for member states. This means that members can ignore the decisions of the UN.

The Security Council

The function of the Security Council is to look after international peace and security. When the UN was founded, the Security Council consisted of 11 members whereas today there are 15. There are 5 permanent members: China, France, USSR, UK and USA; and 6 non-permanent members that are elected by the General Assembly (now 10). Each member has a single vote. Decisions need

The United Nations family

The United Nations ‘family’ comprises the: United Nations Secretariat, United Nations programmes and funds, eg the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the specialised agencies. The ‘family’ members have separate governing bodies and their own budgets, as well as setting their own standards. They collectively provide technical assistance and other forms of practical help in virtually all areas of economic and social endeavour.

The Secretariat

The Specialised Agencies

The agencies were set up to enable the UN to help the world’s people by improving the health, education, personal freedoms, human rights and making them more prosperous.

The International Court of Justice

The Trustee Council

The Economic and Social Councils

Working for the UN

The United Nations employs thousands of people from its member countries around the world. This includes experts in almost every field including bomb disposal and bee keeping. There have been concerns that the UN is becoming increasingly bureaucratic.

Secretary-Generals

The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General. Since the foundation of the UN there have been seven Secretary-Generals.

UN anthem

There have been many songs about the UN but it has no official anthem. One of these songs was written by the poet W.H.Auden and the music by Pablo Casals. It was performed on the UN’s 25th anniversary and was performed for the Secretary-General, U Thant, on 24 October 1971.

A Hymn to the UN

Eagerly, musician.

Sweep your string,

So we may sing.

Elated, optative,

Our several voices

Interblending,

Playfully contending,

Not interfering

But co-inhering,

For all within

The cincture

of the sound,

Is holy ground

Where all are brothers,

None faceless Others,

et mortals beware

Of words, for

With words we lie,

Can say peace

When we mean war,

Foul thought speak- fair

And promise falsely,

But song is true:

Let music for peace

Be the paradigm,

For peace means to change At

the right time, as the World-

Clock

Goes Tick- and Tock.

So may the story

Of our human city

Presently move

Like music, when

Begotten notes

New notes beget

Making the flowing

Of time a growing

Till what it could be,

At last it is,

Where even sadness

Is a form of gladness,

Where fate is freedom,

Grace and Surprise.

The work of the UN

Conflicts that the UN became involved in?

Israel and Palestine

Korean War, 1950

Suez Crisis, 1956

Hungarian Uprising, 1956

The Congo, 1960-64

Global issues

In recent times the UN has conducted a number of important international conference. Since conferences have been held in the 1960s the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil made the UN into the main forum for debating issues of global importance. The UN conferences allow non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to give their opinions on the same stage as governments. However, although the UN does highlight these issues, Member States still have to choose to accept the decisions raised. The more pressure put on governments by different areas of society, the more likely it is that these decisions will be carried out.

Conclusion