UN: what it is, objectives, member countries and characteristics

We explain what the UN is, its creation and main bodies. We also explain its characteristics and the member countries.

The UN aims to peacefully resolve conflicts between nations.

What is the UN?

The United Nations Organization (UN), also called the United Nations (UN), It is the largest and most important international organizationMost of the world’s recognized nations are members of the International Convention. Its main functions are the maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of respect for human rights, humanitarian assistance, and social, economic, and cultural cooperation.

The ONU was born in 1945 as the successor of the League of Nations and has a complex and diverse organization, which allows it to focus the discussion on specific issues and aspects of international interest. It has the representation of the interested countries and the agreement of the nations, which can offer themselves as impartial mediators or arbitrators.

The member countries are currently 193 and they turn to it to discuss and resolve various problems that affect countries or, more generally, humanity. Through free voting systems, the UN can decide whether any type of action is needed to resolve a specific problem.

Their resolutions may range from issuing international requests whose compliance is more or less mandatory to intervene through an international coalition in some region of the world (as is the case of the “blue helmets”, as the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces are popularly known).

When was the UN created?

The UN was created with the aim of preventing new military catastrophes.

The ONU It was created on October 24, 1945, when the United Nations Charter came into force. signed in the American city of San Francisco on June 26, 1945. Initially it was made up of 51 founding countries.

The UN was born after several conversations that began during World War II.l (1939-1945). Some highlights were:

• the Atlantic Conference (August 1941), a meeting between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt that resulted in the dissemination of the Atlantic Charter on 14 August 1941, which laid out a set of common principles and objectives for the post-war order,
• the washington conference (December 1941 and January 1942), which led to the signing of the Declaration by the United Nations on January 1, 1942, the first document to use the term “United Nations,”
• The Dumbarton Oaks Conference (September and October 1944), in which representatives of the Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China) agreed on the project of a new international organization and resolved that these four countries plus France would be the only permanent members of the Security Council,
• The Yalta Conference (February 1945), where the leaders of the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union resolved some pending points of the future organization and called for a new meeting in San Francisco,
• The San Francisco Conference (April to June 1945), where the United Nations Charter was approved, giving rise to the UN.

The UN’s objective was to advance the construction of a model of international order that would prevent new world wars and guarantee the security of member countries. This international decision It was a response to the material and human disasters caused by the Second World War.With its creation, the UN It replaced the League of Nations, which had been founded in 1919 for the same purpose after the First World War but had failed.

The founding countries of the UN

The 51 countries present at the founding of the UN in 1945 were:

What are the goals of the UN?

The main objective of the UN is to maintain international peace and security, that is, to prevent wars and to mediate politically and diplomatically in conflicts between nations. To do this, It is based on the idea of ​​sovereign equality of all nationsin the rejection of the use of force to resolve international disputes and in the collaboration of both member and non-member countries through opinions, suggestions, assistance or organized multilateral demands and pressures.

In addition, the UN declares as one of its main objectives the encouragement of respect for the human rights fundamental freedoms, as well as international cooperation to solve economic, social, cultural, educational and humanitarian problems. It also has the capacity to form judicial tribunals to judge crimes against humanity or war crimes.

The history of the UN

The UN has led numerous peacekeeping missions since 1991.

The UN was created in 1945. Since its creation, it has reformed its operating mode several times and created new bodies and offices, as the global political landscape changed in complexity and needs. According to official figures, has negotiated more than 560 multilateral treaties on different issues.

The UN was also subject to criticism and accusations of partiality or impotence in the face of the world’s powers that be. This led to the creation of numerous internal organisations responsible for various aspects considered vital.

Throughout the history of the UN, important international declarations have been made, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) or the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959), among others. Tribunals have also been established to condemn crimes against humanity, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1993).

The UN has led numerous peacekeeping missions since 1991for military, civilian and humanitarian purposes, including in the Congo (1999), Liberia (2003), Ivory Coast (2004), Haiti (2004), Lebanon (2006) and South Sudan (2011), mainly to end civil wars. It also authorized the military participation of a US-led coalition in the Gulf War following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (1990–1991).

In 2001, the UN received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The principal organs of the UN

The Security Council is made up of 15 member countries.

The main organs of the UN are:

• The general assembly. The main deliberative body of the organization, it allows for debate among all member countries, under the direction of a president of the assembly who is elected annually for each session. It addresses issues of international importance such as the admission of new countries to the UN, ecological problems or the economy and the election of non-permanent members of the Security Council.
• The Security CouncilThe UN’s main decision-making body, it is made up of five permanent members with veto power (China, Russia, the United States, France and the United Kingdom) and ten non-permanent members, admitted for two years and elected by the General Assembly. This body is responsible for ensuring world peace and deciding when international intervention is justified.
• The Economic and Social CouncilWith 54 member countries elected for three-year terms, along with representatives from academic and business sectors and more than 3,000 NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), this council is responsible for discussing international issues relating to the economy, society and the environment, such as economic development, mass migration, famines, health crises, etc.
• The Trusteeship Council. It is the body that ensures the proper administration of the territories under the guardianship of the UN, with the aim of promoting the path towards an independent and self-governing body. Since the last of the eleven UN trustees ceased to exist in 1994, the Trusteeship Council suspended its annual activities but may meet again if its members, the Security Council or the General Assembly so decide.
• The International Court of Justice. It is the judicial body of the UN, based in The Hague (Netherlands), where legal disputes between States are heard and international legal issues are assessed. It is made up of 15 judges, elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council for nine-year terms, with the possibility of being re-elected.
• The SecretaryIt is the administrative body of the organization, providing bureaucratic services to the other councils and managing around 37,000 staff worldwide. It is headed by the Secretary General, elected by the General Assembly on the proposal of the Security Council for a period of five years, with the possibility of being re-elected.

UN specialized bodies

The UN has a variety of specialized bodies, which are dependent on the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat or the Security Council. They deal with specific issues and situations.

Some of these organs are:

• World Food Programme (WFP)dependent on the General Assembly.
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)dependent on the General Assembly.
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)dependent on the General Assembly.
• United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC)dependent on the Security Council.
• Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)dependent on the Economic and Social Council.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)dependent on the Economic and Social Council.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)dependent on the Economic and Social Council.
• UN Women for Gender Equality…