General Awareness About The United Nations for UPSC, SSC CGL and Upcoming Competitive Exams

General Awareness About The United Nations for UPSC, SSC CGL and Upcoming Competitive Exams 

The United Nations

The United Nations(UN), which emerged in 1945 from the devastation of global conflict, aims to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Its mission is to maintain international peace and security and to promote friendly relations between countries.

     The Un Charter upholds human rights and proposes that states should work together to overcome social, economic, humanitarian and cultural challenges.

Background:

The Un's predecessor, the League of Nations, was established after the 1914-18 World War. It aimed to prevent another global conflict, but it failed to halt the slide towards War in the 1930s and was disbanded in 1946. Civil war in Liberia prompted the UN's biggest troop deployment. Much of the league's structure and many of its aims were adopted by its successor.

     In 1944 the US, Britain, the Soviet Union and China met in Washington and agreed on a blueprint for a proposed world organisation. The blueprint formed the basic of talks in 1945 between representatives from 50 countries. Under the terms of the resulting charter the UN came into being on 24 October 1945. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 Oct. Each year. The United Nations is the hope and conscience of the world, more especially of the smaller nations among its 193 members.

     New Member States are admitted by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. Tuvalu was admitted in Sep, 2000 as the 189th member. East Timor was admitted as a member of the UN in September, 2002. Switzerland joined the world organisation in the same month. Montenegro became a UN member on 28 June, 2006. South Sudan became a UN member on 14 July 2011.

     In 1971 Communist China was admitted as the representative of all China. Red China thus became a permanent member of the Security Council. Taiwan lost its primary membership of the UN. Vatican is a permanent observer.

• Official language of the UN are: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
• Flag of the UN: on the flag is the UN emblem in white centred on a light blue background.

    The UN has a post office origination its own stamps. Some 63,450 people work in the UN system. The Secretary General Kofi Annan and the UN were jointly given the Nobel Prizes for peace in 2001.

Headquarters: 

First Avenue, 

UN Plaza, 

New York City, 

N.Y. 10017, 

USA.

Principal Organs of the UN are: 

1. General Assembly
2. Secretariat
3. Security Council
4. Trusteeship Council
5. Economic and Social Council
6. International Court of Justice

1. General Assembly:

The Assembly consists of the representatives of all the member states. Each state has one vote, but may send 5 representatives. The General Assembly meets at least once in a year. It elects its own President and Vice Presidents every year.

2. The Secretariat:

The Secretariat is composed of the Secretary-General, who is the chief administrative officer of the organisation and an international staff appointed by him under regulations established by the General Assembly. However, the Secretary General, the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Managing Director of the Fund are appointed by the General Assembly.

Headquarter: United Nations Plaza, New York, Ny 10017, USA.

3. Security council:

Security Council consists of 15 members, each of which has one vote. There are five permanent and 10 non-permanent members elected for a 2-year term by a two third majority of the General Assembly. The  permanent members have the power to vote any move. Retiring members are not eligible for immediate re-election.

     The President of the Security Council is held for one month in rotation by the member states in the English alphabetical order of their names.

• Permanent Members: China, France, Russia, UK, USA. 
• Non-permanent Members: Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon.

The expansion of the Security Council to include ' new powers' such as India, Germany and Japan as permanent members has been suggested by various fora.


4. Trusteeship Council:

The Charter provides for an international trusteeship system to safeguard the interests of the inhabitants of territories which are not yet fully self-governing and which may be placed thereunder by individual trusteeship agreements. These are called trust territories.

All of the original 11 trust territories have become independent of joined independent countries.

Members: China, France, Russia, UK, USA.

5. Economic and Social Council:

ECOSOC was established under the United Nations Charter as the principal organ to coordinate economic, social, and related work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, functional commissions and five regional commissions. The Council also receives reports from 11 UN funds and programmes. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.

6. International Court of Justice:

The International Court of Justice was created by an international treaty, the Statute of the Court, which forms an integral part of the United Nations Charter. All members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the Court. There are 15 judges.
The 15 judges are elected for 9 year terms by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Retiring judges are eligible for reelection. The court remains permanently in session, except during judicial vacations. All questions are decided by majority.

Headquarters: The Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands.


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