The United Nations (UN) is the most representative international organisation around the globe, with 193 member states since its founding in 1945 after the end of World War II. Its main goal was preventing the recurrence of wars, promoting international peace and security and sustainable development, protecting human rights, upholding international law and providing humanitarian assistance.
The UN is based on a founding charter that was approved during a historic meeting of about 50 countries in San Francisco, US, on April 25, 1945, in addition to two countries that have observer status, in which the Holy See enjoys sovereignty over Vatican City, and the State of Palestine.
Amid the last century, the UN developed to keep pace with international changes, and its membership expanded, especially in the late 1960s, when dozens of countries gained their independence from the colonial era. The organisation opened several regional branches in a number of countries, including Switzerland, Kenya, Austria, and The Netherlands, to serve as headquarters for some of its organisations and institutions specialised in international affairs.
Since the organisation’s founding, member states have signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, which has become a reference for its work and tasks. The Charter has been amended three times in 1963, 1965, and 1973.
The Charter defines the obligations of member states and establishes the basic organs and procedures of the organisation, codifying the main principles of international relations, from the sovereign equality of states to the prohibition of the use of force in ways inconsistent with the purposes of the UN.
The Charter seeks to improve the living standards of peoples, address related economic, social and health issues, and promote universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, gender, language, or religion.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the organisation witnessed a state of political polarisation driven by a wave of internal debates between two prominent camps on the international scene, led by the US and the former Soviet Union. This conflict created the term “Cold War,” which reflected the mutual interventions between the two camps in different parts of the world. With the onset of the 1990s, the world witnessed major separatist repercussions, most notably the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, which led to the outbreak of national and ethnic wars in parts of Europe and Africa.
Despite the UN’s intervention in these conflicts, its efforts were not sufficient to contain these conflicts, causing the death of many people. As a result, the UN faced a wave of criticism about its role and the effectiveness of its missions and soldiers in conflict areas.
The United Nations consists of six main bodies, which are: the UN General Assembly (UNGA), UN Security Council (UNSC), UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UN Trusteeship Council, UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN General Secretariat. It also has specialised agencies, funds and programmes such as the World Bank Group (WBG), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the World Food Programme (WFP), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), along with a range of non-governmental organisations involved with its work. In November 1994, the Trusteeship Council was suspended, a month after the independence of Palau, the last remaining Trust Territory of the UN.
Four of its principal organs are based at UN Headquarters in New York City, while the ICJ is based in The Hague, and the other principal agencies are based at the UN offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. The organisation’s publications are published in the six official languages used in intergovernmental meetings and documents: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
The UNSC is the most important organ of the international organisation, considering that it is responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It also adopts binding resolutions that member states have agreed to implement under the provisions of Article 25 of the Charter, and it includes 15 members, including 5 permanent members with veto power, and 10 members elected for a rotating term. The UNSC is supposed to take the initiative in determining the existence of a threat to peace or an act of aggression, call on the parties of the conflicts to settle the dispute by peaceful means and recommend methods of accommodation or terms of settlement. In some cases, the UNSC may resort to imposing sanctions or having to use force to maintain or restore international peace and security.
The ECOSOC is responsible for co-operation among countries in economic and social matters and co-ordinates co-operation among the many specialised agencies of the UN. It has 54 member states, elected by the UNGA to serve successive three-year terms. The highest office in the organisation is based in the UN Secretariat, which is responsible for carrying out the day-to-day work, and includes tens of thousands of international civil servants around the globe, and is headed by the UN Secretary-General and assisted by the Deputy Secretary-General.
The duties of the Secretariat include providing the information and facilities required by UN bodies for their meetings, through the guidance of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies.
The Secretary-General acts as the de facto spokesperson and head of the UN. The UN Charter refers to the position of the Secretary-General as the chief administrative officer of the organisation, as Article 99 of it states that the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a renewable five-year term. The position is currently held by António Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal, who began his first five-year term on Jan. 1, 2017, and was re-elected on June 8, 2021 for a new term. He is the ninth Secretary-General to hold this position.
Guterres’ predecessors began with the Norwegian politician Trygve Halvdan Lie (1946-1952), who was the first UN Secretary-General to hold the position, followed by Dag Hammarskjold (1953-1961) from Sweden, then U Thant (1961-1971) from Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — after whom Austrian Kurt Waldheim (1972-1981) filled the position, followed by the Peruvian Javier Perez de Cuellar (1982-1991). The Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1992-1996) then held the position, followed by the Ghanaian Kofi Annan (1997-2006), and finally the Korean Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016), who was the last person to hold the position before Guterres.
Based in The Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established in 1945. ICJ is considered the principal judicial organ of the UN. Its main function is to settle disputes between states and to handle cases related to war crimes, violations of state sovereignty, and crimes of ethnic cleansing. The international court can also be called upon to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law.
The decisions of the ICJ are binding on the parties and constitute (along with its advisory opinions) sources of international law. It consists of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for a nine-year term, and each judge must be from a different country.
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) provisions were adopted by the Rome Statute of July 17, 1998, approved by 120 countries, and considered as a basis for establishing a permanent international criminal court. The statute, however, entered into force on April 11, 2002, and the court was legally established on July 1, 2002. The ICC is supposed to stop human rights violations by investigating crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
On the other hand, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) was established on December 11, 1946, and its job is protecting the rights of children and promoting their welfare. Unicef is also supposed to achieve development, education, health, and protection for children all over the world, and focus in particular on children’s issues such as education, health, nutrition, and child protection from displacement, violence, and child exploitation, and it is active in about 190 countries and territories.
Founded in 1945, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) focuses on improving education, promoting science, culture, and communication, and specialises in history, civilisations, and heritage. It is supposed to protect the world’s cultural heritage and promote cultural co-operation between countries, as well as different cultures and sustainable development.
In addition to its main bodies, the UN Charter mandates it to establish independent specialised agencies to work with the UN through a co-ordination mechanism of the Economic and Social Council, each of which is integrated into the UN system under Article 57 of the Charter. There are 15 specialised agencies performing various functions, namely the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), and many others.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was founded in 1863 and granted observer status at the UN in October 1990, is considered one of the most important international organisations. The ICRC is supposed to seek and preserve a degree of humanity in the midst of wars, and it is guided by international humanitarian law, of which the Geneva Conventions form the cornerstone.
The UN and its agencies are linked in co-ordination with some global bodies, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. (QNA)
