The General Assembly

All UN member states are represented in the General Assembly — a kind of parliament of nations which meets to consider the world's most pressing problems. Each member state has one vote. Decisions on «important matters», such as international peace and security, admitting new members, the UN budget are decided by two-thirds majority. Other matters are decided by simple majority. In recent years, a special effort has been made to reach decisions through consensus, rather than by formal vote.

The Assembly holds its annual regular session from September to December. When necessary, it may resume its session, or hold a special or emergency session on subjects of particular concern.

The Security Council

The UN Charter gives the Security Council primary responsibilities for maintaining international peace and security. The Council may convene at any time, day or night, whenever peace is threatened.

There are 15 Council members. Five of these — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States — are permanent members. The other 10 are elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term. Decisions of the Council require nine yes votes.

What the un does for peace

Preserving world peace is a central purpose of the United Nations. Under the Charter, member states agree to settle disputes by peaceful means and refrain from threatening or using force against other states.

UN efforts have produced dramatic results. The UN helped defuse the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Middle East crisis in 1973. In 1988 a UN-sponsored peace settlement ended the Iran-Iraq war. In the 1990s, the UN was instrumental in restoring sovereignty to Kuwait and played a major role in ending civil wars in Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mozambique.

UN peacemaking brings hostile parties to agreement through diplomatic means. The Security Council may recommend ways to avoid conflict or restore or secure peace — through negotiation, for example, or undertake mediation, or recourse to the International Court of Justice. In the event of fighting the UN tries to secure a ceasefire. It may send a peacekeeping mission to help the parties maintain the truce and to keep opposing forces apart. Peacekeeping operations may last for a few months or continue for many years.

2. Give Russian equivalents of the following words and phrases.

To preserve peace; to set out basic principles; to maintain peace; conflict resolution; most pressing problems; two-thirds majority; mediation; under the charter; to resume; according to the charter/under the charter; subjects of particular concern; to settle disputes by peaceful means; to secure ceasefire; to maintain the truce, to commit to.

3. Give English equivalents of the following words and phrases and reproduce the sentences from the text with this active vocabulary.

Насущные проблемы; сохранять мир; сохранять перемирие; установить основные принципы; обеспечивать прекращение огня; посредничество; по уставу; урегулировать конфликты мирными средствами; вопросы, вызывающие особую озабоченность; поддерживать мир; взять обязательство; разрешение конфликтов; большинство в 2/3; в соответствии с уставом; возобновить.

4. Read the article again and answer the questions using the active vocabulary.

1. When was the UN established and for what purpose?

2. What does the UN Charter set out?

3. Is the UN just a forum for conflict resolution?

4. What are the main organs of the UN?

5. What are the functions of the General Assembly and how does it take its decisions?

6. What responsibilities does the Security Council have?

7. How many members are there in the Security Council?

8. What are some of the instruments the UN uses to preserve peace?

5. Questions for discussion.

1. Do you think the United Nations fulfils its mission today?

2. What recent actions or peacekeeping operations of the UN can you remember? Were they successful?

3. Do you think that the role of the UN is really very important in the modern world? Substantiate your point of view.

4. Do you think that the UN peacekeeping forces could substitute for NATO or EU forces in the future?

II

1. Read the article and look up the underlined words and phrases in the dictionary.

NATO today

Is NATO the right organization to assume the regional security responsibilities in Europe? It is not Europe's only security organization, not even its largest one. One alternative to NATO is Europe's largest collective security group, the 55-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Unlike the OSCE, NATO is an exclusive organization involving about half of Europe's states. The alliance's selective nature inevitably raises questions about its legitimacy. By what right does a group of minority states enforce order among Europe's majority states? NATO's Bosnia mission was launched on the request of the United Nations' Security Council. But the Kosovo war received no such endorsement. NATO acted on the basis of a vote in the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's own highest decision-making body. NATO's unilateral action appeared to violate, if not the letter. then the spirit, of the UN Charter.

NATO remains a self-appointed interpreter and enforcer of these rules, and it is willing to enforce them with military might, and as such it inevitably arouses suspicions among some neighbors. Russia's objections to NATO's Kosovo operation focused not as much on the tactical issues as they did on the fact that the alliance launched the air war without a UN Security Council authorization. Even more worrisome to Moscow, nothing theoretically prevents the alliance from launching a similar operation against Russia itself. In polls conducted in April 1999, in the midst of the Kosovo war, 70 per cent to 73 per cent of Russians said they considered the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia a direct threat to Russia's security. Fears that NATO may potentially abuse its military might have translated into tensions and insecurity as countries such as Russia seek to form alliances implicitly aimed against NATO. The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, justified the union between Russia and Belarus as a response to NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia.