Treaty bodies

The United Nations linked human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. There are now seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Secretariat services are provided regarding all of those by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Humanitarian assistance

In conjunction with other organizations such as the Red Cross, the UN provides food, drinking water, shelter and other humanitarian services to populaces suffering from famine, displaced by war, or afflicted by other disasters. Major humanitarian branches of the UN are the World Food Programme (which helps feed more than 100 million people a year in 80 countries), the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees with projects in over 116 countries, as well as peacekeeping projects in over 24 countries.

At times, UN relief workers have been subject to attacks.

Social and Economic Development

The UN is involved in supporting development, e.g. by the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. Organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are leading institutions in the battle against diseases around the world, especially in poor countries. The UN Population Fund is a major provider of reproductive services. It has helped reduce infant and maternal mortality in 100 countries.[citation needed]

The UN also promotes human development through various related agencies. The World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, are independent, specialized agencies and observers within the UN framework, according to a 1947 agreement. They were initially formed as separate from the UN through the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944.[29]

The UN annually publishes the Human Development Index (HDI), a comparative measure ranking countries by poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors.

The World Trade Organisation (wto)

I. Introduction

The WTO exists since 1995 and superseded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was in force since 1948. The Uruguay Round (1986-1994), the latest and largest round of GATT led to WTO's creation. The WTO covers 132 countries, including the leading industrial nations, and is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Its goals are to help trade flow as freely as possible, to promote the rules of free trade between the countries and to settle trade disputes. Whereas GATT had mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO covers also trade in services, creations and design: WTO brings the updated GATT, the new General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) together within a single organization.

All WTO members are not allowed to discriminate between trading partners, i.e. if they grant a special favour to one country, they have to do it to all WTO members. Nevertheless, some exceptions, like the establishment of free trade areas (FTA's), are allowed. Further principles of the WTO trading system are removal of trade barriers, like customs duties and restricted quantities, and more competition but also more beneficial for less developed countries, by giving them more time to adjust and greater privileges.

Whether the WTO appreciates regional trade agreements or not depends on the goal of the inter-regional arrangement: Some promote closer economic integration and reduce tariff barriers but others hurt the trade interest of outstanding countries due to protection.