UNITED NATION
United
Nations (UN) :- is an intergovernmental organization tasked
to promote international co-operation and to create and maintain international
order. A replacement for the ineffective League of
Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945
after World War II in order to prevent another
such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are
now 193. The headquarters of the UN is
in Manhattan, New York City,
and is subject to extraterritoriality. Further main offices are
situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization
is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its
objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting
human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment,
and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed
conflict. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most internationally
represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in
the world.
The UN Charter was drafted at a conference between
April–June 1945 in San Francisco, and was signed on 26 June 1945
at the conclusion of the conference, this charter took effect 24 October
1945, and the UN began operation. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was
complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between
the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization
participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo, as well as
approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. The organization's
membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in
the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development
programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping.
After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military and peacekeeping
missions across the world with varying degrees of success.
The UN has
six principal organs: the General Assembly (the
main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for
deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC;
for promoting international economic and social co-operation and development);
the Secretariat (for providing studies,
information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the
primary judicial organ); and the UN Trusteeship Council (inactive
since 1994). UN System agencies include the World Bank
Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO,
and UNICEF.
The UN's most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an
office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017.
Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC
and other agencies to participate in the UN's work.The organization won
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of
its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations
of the UN's effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the
organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while
others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased.
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