The United Nations is one of the most influential international institutions. Many key issues reflecting global political and economic processes are being resolved at the level of UN structures.
The UN includes almost all the sovereign states of the world. At the diplomatic level, even United Nations Day is celebrated. How did this structure form? Which countries initiated the creation of the UN? What kind of tasks was this organization called upon to solve historically and in what directions is it working now?
UN: General
The United Nations is one of the largest international organizations whose main task is to maintain peace and security at the global level, as well as to promote the development of cooperation between countries. The key document reflecting the principles of the UN - the Charter. It states, in particular, that the goals of the United Nations are the prevention of threats to peace, as well as their elimination, the implementation of procedures for resolving conflicts by peaceful means, and the promotion of building friendly relations between the peoples of the world based on the equal rights and self-determination of nations. The Charter also says that the UN seeks to develop cooperation between countries in the economic, social aspects, cultural, as well as humanitarian spheres.
The UN includes 193 countries. The UN may include only those states that are recognized at the international diplomatic level. If this criterion is met, if the country is defined by the UN structures as "peace-loving, " ready to accept the obligations of the Charter and able to fulfill them, then the door to the Organization is open for it. The admission of new countries to the UN is carried out by the General Assembly with the participation of the Security Council. At the same time, five states that are constantly present in the Security Council can veto the decision of the Assembly on the admission of a new state to the UN.
Note that states can also have the status of not only a member of the UN, but also an observer. As a rule, it precedes the country's subsequent entry into the Organization. The status of observer of states is obtained upon voting in the General Assembly. A majority vote is required to approve a decision. A special feature of the status of the UN observer is that it can also be unrecognized states. At the same time, it is known that for some time these were quite sovereign powers - Austria, Finland, Japan. Subsequently, they acquired the status of a full member of the UN.
The United Nations General Assembly serves as the lead deliberative body. It is formed from representatives of countries belonging to the UN. Each of the states has an equal right to vote. Another major UN body is the Security Council. The competence of this structure is responsibility for world peace. The UN Security Council classifies threats arising in various parts of the world as possible precedents for aggression. The main method of the Security Council is the settlement of conflicts peacefully, the development of appropriate recommendations to its parties. In some cases, the UN Security Council is authorized to authorize the use of military force to restore order. The Security Council is formed by 15 countries. Five of them are permanent (Russia, France, China, Great Britain and the USA). The rest are appointed by the General Assembly for a period of two years.
The activities of the organization are provided by another body - the UN Secretariat. It is headed by a person holding the post of Secretary-General. Candidates for this position are nominated by the Security Council. Appointed by the UN Secretary General General Assembly.
There are six official languages of the UN. Among them invariably includes the Russian language. Among others - the most common in the world of English, Chinese, Arabic, as well as Spanish and French. Regarding the practical use of official languages, key documents of the Organization and resolutions are published in them. Also in the corresponding dialects are published reports, transcripts. Speeches delivered at meetings are translated into official languages.
The United Nations system includes several autonomous entities. Among the largest - UNESCO, IAEA.
The headquarters of the organization is located in New York.
Consider how the key UN structures function in more detail.
General Assembly
As we said above, this body is the key in terms of consultative, policy-making, as well as representative activities of the UN. The General Assembly forms the basic principles of international cooperation on peace, coordinates the interaction between states in various fields. The powers of this body are prescribed in the UN Charter. The General Assembly works in sessions - regular, special or emergency.
The main consultative body of the UN includes several committees. Each competence has a narrow range of issues. For example, there is a Committee on Disarmament and International Security. There is an appropriate body dealing with social and humanitarian problems. There is a committee in charge of which - legal issues. There are structures responsible for verifying authority, resolving political, administrative and budgetary issues. The General Committee also functions. He is responsible for such aspects of the work of the Assembly as the agenda and general points related to the organization of discussions. It consists of several officials at once. Among them - the head of the General Assembly, his deputies, heads of other committees.
The UN General Assembly, as we have already said, can conduct work in the framework of special sessions. They can be convened based on the orders of the Security Council. The topics of the sessions can be different - for example, related to human rights. As we said above, the formation of the United Nations was largely connected with the need for international control over problems in this area.
Security Council
The UN Security Council is a structure with special competence in issues related to maintaining peace and security. We have already noted that the creation of the United Nations was predetermined in many respects with the aim of solving the tasks of such a profile. The Security Council, as we said above, consists of 5 states on an ongoing basis, all of them are vested with the right of veto. What is this procedure? The basic principle here is the same as in the parliamentary veto.
If a decision of the UN Security Council is not shared by the states that are permanent members of this body, then they can block its final adoption. An interesting fact: a citizen of a country that is a member of the Security Council on an ongoing basis cannot be elected as UN Secretary General.
UN Secretariat
This United Nations entity is primarily called upon to carry out administrative functions in terms of the implementation of adopted programs. Basically, this is work related to the publication of texts of resolutions and other decisions, recording information in archives, registration of international agreements, etc. The Secretariat has about 44 thousand specialists working in different countries. The largest structures of this body operate in New York, Nairobi, as well as in European cities - Geneva and Vienna.
International Court of Justice
There is also a court in the UN structure. It is assumed that the judges who form it work independently with respect to the interests of the states they represent. In addition, work at the UN should be their only professional occupation. In total, there are 15 judges in the relevant UN structure. Each of them has a special kind of immunity, and can also enjoy a number of diplomatic privileges. Parties to disputes resolved in the UN Court may be exclusively states. Citizens and legal entities cannot be plaintiffs or defendants.
UN Councils
There are several Councils in the UN structure - the Economic and Social Councils, as well as a head of custody matters (although he only functioned until November 1, 1994, after which his work was suspended). The first Council deals with solving problems related to the socio-economic cooperation of states. It is formed by 6 commissions created on a geographical basis. That is, for example, there is the European Economic Commission, there is one that operates in Africa or in Western Asia.
Institutions
The UN Charter suggests that the leading bodies of the Organization may form subsidiary structures. So, several additional UN agencies appeared at once. Among the most famous are the IAEA, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, the UN Food Organization.
UN history
An interesting aspect of UN study is history. The United Nations was officially established on October 24, 1945. By that day, most of the states that signed the UN Charter have ratified this document. At the same time, the concept of the United Nations, according to some historians, began to be developed during the Second World War. In particular, it can be noted that in January 1942, the states included in the bloc opposing Nazism signed a document called the United Nations Declaration. In the fall of 1944, a conference was held at the Dumbarton Oaks - a mansion located in Washington - with the participation of the USSR, the USA, and also Great Britain and China. On it, the states determined how international relations will develop after the Second World War, as well as how the basic structure governing this process might look.
In February 1945, the famous Yalta Conference was held. At it, the leaders of the leading Allied countries announced their intention to create a global structure, the main task of which will be peacekeeping. In April of that year, a conference was held in San Francisco with the participation of 50 countries with the goal of developing a United Nations Charter. The total number of participants in the event amounted to about 3.5 thousand people, as well as more than 2.5 thousand journalists, documentaries and observers. In June 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was adopted and soon signed by representatives of 50 states. This document entered into force, as we said above, on October 24, 1945. This is United Nations Day, celebrated at the official level.
There is a version that the UN is an organization that has become the successor to another international structure - the League of Nations, which functioned before the Second World War. However, as many experts note, the tasks of the new organization have become much more global, both in the theoretical concepts laid down in the Charter and those formed during the practice of work.
An interesting fact is that initially the United Nations on the rights of virtually sovereign states included two republics that were part of the USSR on the basis of union rights - the Belarusian and Ukrainian USSR. Also included in the organization are formally dependent on Britain, India, the Philippines, which are under the protectorate of the United States.
UN budget
Financing of the UN activities is carried out through the organization's budgeting. The process of its formation includes all states that are members of the UN. The budget is proposed by the Secretary General upon agreement with the competent structures included in the organization. Then the relevant document is studied by the Advisory Committee and other departments within the UN. Upon the conduct of analytics, recommendations are sent, in turn, to the budget committee. After - to the General Assembly for final adjustment and approval.
The UN budget is formed at the expense of membership fees of the states included in the organization. The main criterion here is the economic situation of the country, determined mainly on the basis of the size of GDP, as well as using a number of adjustments that take into account household incomes and external debts. The states that are currently contributing the largest amount of funds to the UN budget are the USA, Japan, and Germany. The top 10 countries in terms of membership fees also include Russia.
UN Declarations and Conventions
Among the common documents that the United Nations regularly publishes in the course of its activities are declarations and conventions. What is their specificity? First of all, it should be noted that, unlike the Charter, these documents do not oblige the state to implement the provisions contained in them. The United Nations Convention, as well as the Declaration, is mainly a recommendatory source, experts say. However, countries may ratify a treaty, declaration or convention at the national level. Experts include the most famous UN documents such as, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948), the Kyoto Protocol (1997), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
