The United Nations is one of the most influential international institutions. Many key issues that reflect global political and economic processes are 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 was this structure formed? Which countries initiated the creation of the UN? What kind of tasks was this organization designed to solve historically and in what directions is it working now?
UN background
The United Nations is one of the largest international structures, the main task of which is to maintain peace and security at the global level, as well as to promote cooperation between countries. The key document that reflects the principles of the UN is the Charter. It says, in particular, that the goals of the United Nations are to prevent threats to peace, as well as to eliminate them, to implementprocedures for settling conflicts by peaceful means, stimulating the building of friendly relations between the peoples of the world, based on the equality and self-determination of nations. The Charter also says that the UN seeks to develop cooperation between countries in the economic, social aspects, cultural and humanitarian spheres.
The UN includes 193 countries. The UN can only include 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 assume 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 permanently present in the Security Council can veto the decision of the Assembly to admit a new state to the UN.
Note that states can also have the status of not only a UN member, but also an observer. As a rule, it precedes the country's subsequent accession to the Organization. The status of an observer of states is received by the fact of voting in the General Assembly. A majority vote is required to approve a decision. The peculiarity of the UN observer status is that it can also be unrecognized states. At the same time, it is known that for some time these were completely 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 leading deliberative body. It is formed from representatives of countries that are members of the UN. Each of the states has an equal right to vote. Another important body of the UN is the Security Council. The competence of this structure is responsibility for peace on a global plane. The UN Security Council classifies threats emerging in various parts of the world as possible precedents for aggression. The main method of the Security Council is the settlement of conflicts by peaceful means, the development of appropriate recommendations to its parties. In a number of cases, the UN Security Council is empowered 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 position of General Secretary. Candidates for this position are nominated by the Security Council. Appoints the UN Secretary General by the General Assembly.
There are six official languages of the UN. Russian is invariably included in their number. Others include the world's most widely spoken English, Chinese, Arabic, as well as Spanish and French. Regarding the practical use of the official languages, key documents of the Organization and resolutions are published in them. Reports and transcripts are also published in the corresponding dialects. Speeches delivered at meetings are translated intoofficial languages.
The United Nations system includes several autonomous entities. Among the largest are UNESCO, IAEA.
The organization is headquartered in New York.
Let's take a closer look at how key UN structures function.
General Assembly
As we said above, this body is a key one in terms of advisory, policymaking, and representative activities of the UN. The General Assembly forms the basic principles of international cooperation on the establishment of peace, coordinates the interaction between states in various fields. The powers of this body are spelled out in the UN Charter. The General Assembly works in sessions - regular, special or emergency.
There are several committees in the main deliberative body of the UN. In the competence of each - a narrow range of issues. For example, there is the Committee on Disarmament and International Security. There is an appropriate body dealing with problems of a social and humanitarian nature. There is a committee in charge of legal issues. There are structures responsible for checking credentials, solving political, administrative and budgetary issues. There is also a General Committee. He is in charge of such aspects of the work of the Assembly as the agenda and general issues related to the organization of discussions. It consists of several officials at once. Among them are the head of the General Assembly, his deputies, leadersother committees.
The UN General Assembly, as we have already said, can work within the framework of special sessions. They can be convened on the basis of the orders of the Security Council. The topics of the sessions may be different - for example, related to human rights. As we said above, the formation of the United Nations was largely due to the need for international control over problems in this area.
Security Council
The UN Security Council is a structure whose special competence includes issues related to the maintenance of peace and security. We have already noted that the creation of the United Nations was predetermined in many respects with the aim of solving problems of precisely this profile. The Security Council, as we said above, includes 5 states on a permanent basis, all of them are endowed with the right of veto. What is the procedure? The basic principle here is the same as with 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 a permanent basis cannot be elected as the UN Secretary General.
UN Secretariat
This structure of the United Nations is designed to perform mainly administrative functions in terms of the implementation of adopted programs. This is mainly work related to the publication of texts of resolutions and other decisions, entering information into archives, registrationinternational 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 of the interests of the states they represent. In addition, work in 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 settled in the UN Court can only be states. Citizens and legal entities cannot be plaintiffs or defendants.
UN Councils
There are several Councils in the UN structure - Economic and Social, as well as the head of guardianship issues (although it functioned only until November 1, 1994, after which its work was suspended). The first Council is engaged in 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 functions in Africa or Western Asia.
Institutions
The UN Charter provides that the leading organs of the Organization may form subsidiary structures. Thus, several additional UN agencies appeared at once. Among the most famous -IAEA, World He alth Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, UN Food Organization.
History of the UN
The most interesting aspect of studying the UN is history. The United Nations was officially established on October 24, 1945. By that day, most of the states that signed the UN Charter had ratified the 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, one can note the fact that in January 1942, the states belonging to the bloc opposing Nazism signed a document called the Declaration of the United Nations. In the fall of 1944, Dumbarton Oaks, a mansion located in Washington, hosted a conference with the participation of the USSR, the USA, as well as Great Britain and China. At it, the states determined how international relations would develop after the Second World War, as well as what the main structure regulating this process might look like.
In February 1945, the famous Y alta Conference took place. At it, the leaders of the leading allied countries declared their intention to create a structure of a global scale, the main task of which would be to maintain peace. In April of that year, a 50-nation conference was held in San Francisco to develop a United Nations Charter. The total number of participants in the event was about 3.5 thousand people, as well as more than 2.5 thousand journalists, documentarians andobservers. 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, officially celebrated.
There is a version that the UN is an organization that became the legal successor of another international structure - the League of Nations, which functioned before World War II. 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 in the course of work practice.
An interesting fact is that initially two republics that were part of the USSR on the rights of unions, the Belarusian and Ukrainian USSR, entered the UN as actually sovereign states. The organization also included India, formally dependent on Britain, the Philippines, which are under the protectorate of the United States.
UN budget
Funding of the UN activities is carried out through the budgeting of the organization. All states that are members of the UN are included in the procedure for its formation. The budget is proposed by the Secretary General upon agreement with the competent structures that are part of the organization. Then the corresponding document is studied by the Advisory Committee and other departments within the UN. Upon completion of the analysis, recommendations are sent, in turn, to the budget committee. After - to the General Assembly for final adjustment and approval.
The UN budget is formed from the membership dues of the states that are members of the organization. The main criterion here is the country's economic situation, which is 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 now contribute the largest amount of funds to the UN budget are the USA, Japan, and Germany. Russia is also among the top 10 countries in terms of membership fees.
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 are their specifics? First of all, it should be noted that, unlike the Charter, these documents do not oblige states to comply with the provisions contained in them. The United Nations Convention, as well as the declaration, is mainly a recommendatory source, as experts believe. However, countries can ratify a particular treaty, declaration or convention at the national level. Among the most famous UN documents, experts include 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).
UN activities
What is the practical role of the United Nations in the processes taking place on the planet? Peacekeeping activities are among the key areas. It can be expressed in the following activities:
- study of conflict incidents, initiation of negotiations with those involvedparties;
- verification of the implementation of agreements prescribing a ceasefire;
- activities related to the maintenance of order, the implementation of the law;
- humanitarian aid;
- monitoring of conflict situations.
Among the possible instruments of the UN in this direction is the conduct of peacekeeping operations. An interesting fact is that there is no such information in the UN Charter. The United Nations can initiate appropriate operations based on its goals and principles. One way or another, options for the practical resolution of conflicts are within the competence of the UN Security Council. This structure decides how to organize the peace process, as well as how to monitor the implementation of the decisions made.
Another important activity of the UN is monitoring the situation with observance of human rights. As we noted above, the United Nations in 1948 issued a corresponding Declaration. After the development of this document, the UN General Assembly recommended that the member states of the organization promote the dissemination of the main provisions of the Declaration, pay special attention to the publication of relevant information in educational institutions.
The United Nations is actively involved in the provision of humanitarian assistance. The reason for holding events of this type can be natural disasters, military conflicts, crises. Assistance can be provided both in terms of the supply of first aidnecessary, and in terms of promoting economic recovery, he alth care, education.
