The Complete Introduction On UNITED NATIONS

OUTLINE
Introduction
Rise of UN
History and backround
Organs of UN
Purposes and Principles
Membership
Successof UN
Critical Analysis
Challenges &Reforms
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
• The Rise of the UN :
In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to
elaborate.instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying
rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Disputes andestablished the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which
began work in 1902. This courtwas the forerunner of UN International Court of
Justice.The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an
organizationconceived in circumstances of the First World War, and established in
1919 underthe Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to
achieve peace andsecurity."The International Labour Organization (ILO) was also
created in 1919 under the Treatyof Versailles as an affiliated agency of the
League. The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Adocument called The Declaration by United Nations was signed in
1942 by 26 nations,pledging their Governments to continue fighting together
against the Axis Powers (RomeBerlin-Tokyo Axis) and bound them against making
a separate peace. United Nations Conference on International Organization
(1945)Conference held in San Francisco (USA), was attended by representatives of
50countries and signed the United Nations Charter. The UN Charter of 1945 is the
foundational treaty of the United Nations, as an intergovernmental
organizationFranklin D Roosevelt influenced by Wilson’s idealism wanted to
rectify the failures of the LoN . He got Churchill and Stalin on his side . Truman
continues the campaign for the UN during WW-II . This time America was the
most enthusiastic supporter. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most
internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization.
In 24 October 1945, the organization was established with the aim of preventing
future wars with its Charter. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there
are now 193. The UN is the successor of the ineffective League of Nations.
History and Backrond of UN:
As World War II was about to end in 1945, nations were in ruins, and the world
wanted peace. Representatives of 50 countries gathered at the United Nations
Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California from 25
April to 26 June 1945. For the next two months, they proceeded to draft and then
sign the UN Charter, which created a new international organization, the United
Nations, which, it was hoped, would prevent another world war like the one they
had just lived through.Four months after the San Francisco Conference ended, the
United Nations officially began, on 24 October 1945, when it came into existence
after its Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United
Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories.
ORGANS OF UN
1;General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and
representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are
represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body
withuniversal representation. Each year, in September, the full UN
membership meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the
annual General Assembly session, and general debate, which many
heads of state attend and address. Decisions on important questions,
such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and
budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General
Assembly. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority. The
General Assembly, each year, elects a GA President to serve a one-year
term of office.
2;Security Council;The Security Council has primary responsibility,
under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and
security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent
members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member
States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. The Security
Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the
peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle
it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms
of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to
imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or
restore international peace and security. The Security Council has a
Presidency, which rotates, and changes, every month.Daily programme
of work of the Security Council.Subsidiary organs of the Security Council
3;Economic and Social Council;The Economic and Social Council is the
principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and
recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as
well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It
serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its
specialized agencies in the economic, social and environmental
fields,supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It has 54 Members,
elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. It is
the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and
innovative thinking on sustainable development.
4;Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter,

under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust
Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven
Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare
the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all
Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence. The
Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994. By a
resolution adopted on 25 May 1994, the Council amended its rules of
procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet
as occasion required -- by its decision or the decision of its President, or
at the request of a majority of its members or the General Assembly or
the Security Council.
5;International Court of JusticeThe International Court of Justice is the
principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace
Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal
organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of
America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international
law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory
opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations
organs and specialized agencies. The International Court of Justice
functions in accordance with its Statute.
6;Secretariat;The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens
of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-
to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the
Organization's other principal bodies. The Secretary-General is Chief
Administrative Officer of the Organization, appointed by the General
Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-
year, renewable term. The Secretary-General is also a symbol of the
Organization's ideals, and an advocate for all the world's peoples,
especially the poor and vulnerable.UN staff members are recruited
internationally and locally, and work in duty stations and on
peacekeeping missions all around the world. But serving the cause of
peace in a violent world is a dangerous occupation. Since the founding
of the United Nations, hundreds of brave men and women have given
their lives in its service.

Purposes and Principles Chapter I:Article 1

The Purposes of the United Nations are:

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;
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;
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 centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment
of these common ends.
Article 2

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in

Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of
all its Members.
All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits
resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations
assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means
in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are
not endangered.
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat
or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence
of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of
the United Nations.
All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any
action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain
from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is
taking preventive or enforcement action.
The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the
United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be
necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United
Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the
domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to
submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this
principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures
under Chapter Vll.
Membership of UN
Article 3The original Members of the United Nations shall be the states
which, having participated in the United Nations Conference on
International Organization at San Francisco, or having previously signed
the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, sign the present
Charter and ratify it in accordance with Article 110.
Article 4Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-
loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present
Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing
to carry out these obligations.The admission of any such state to
membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the
General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
Article 5A Member of the United Nations against which preventive or
enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be
suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership
by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security
Council. The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by
the Security Council.
Article 6A Member of the United Nations which has persistently
violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be
expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the
recommendation of the Security Council.