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5) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC);
6) Trusteeship Council (not operational since 1994).
In accordance with Chapter 4 of the UN Charter, its principal
representative and deliberative body is the General Assembly, whose
main tasks are following:
1) Determining the contributions of the member states in the
United Nations budget and control of the budget spending;
2) Appointment of non-permanent members of the Security
Council;
3) Other United Nations agencies reports consideration;
4) Adoption of recommendatory resolutions on major
international issues;
5) Appointment of the UN Secretary-General with taking into
account the views of the Security Council.
The General Assembly meets in the annual sessions which are
held from September to December. The UN Charter provides the
possibility of convening an extraordinary session at the request of the
Security Council, of most United Nations members, or any individual
member of the organization. The first UN General Assembly session
met on 10 January 1946, with the participation of the representatives
of 51 states; nowadays, 193 nations participate in the UN General
Assembly.
The General Assembly structure includes six Main Committees
whose tasks involve preliminary discussions on the agenda of the
United Nations sessions, settlement of disputes between the member
states on the agenda, and the submission of draft resolutions to the
General Assembly sessions. The powers of the main committees of
the General Assembly are as follows:
1) The First Committee – disarmament and international security;
2) The Second Committee – financial and economic issues;
3) The Third Committee – social and humanitarian problems;
4) The Fourth Committee – political issues which are not within
the competence of the 1st Committee, as well as the problems of
decolonization;
5) The Fifth Committee – administrative and budgetary issues;
6) The Sixth Committee – international legal problems.
General Committee, Credentials Committee, working and
regional groups also participate in the UN General Assembly.
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Each member of the United Nations has only one vote in the
General Assembly. Resolutions on peace and security, admission and
exclusion of the United Nations members, as well as budgetary
matters are adopted by a qualified majority of two-thirds; other
decisions are made by a simple majority.
One of the principal bodies of the United Nations is the Security
Council in whose jurisdiction, under the UN Charter (Article 24), are
matters of international peace and security. The Security Council
consists of five permanent and ten non-permanent members; the
latter are elected by the UN General Assembly for a two year period,
five per year.
The General Assembly Resolution 1995 of 17 December 1963
establishes the following rules of representation of various regions of
the world in the UN Security Council:
1) Asia and Africa – 5 members;
2) Eastern Europe – 1;
3) Western Europe – 2;
4) Latin America – 2.
Unlike the UN General Assembly resolutions, those of the
Security Council are binding on all the members of the organization.
In addition, each of the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council – China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the USA has veto
power and may block any resolution of the Security Council.
The adoption of the UN Security Council resolution requires a
minimum of nine votes out of fifteen Security Council members including
all the votes of the permanent members. However, permanent member
abstention from voting is not a barrier to adopt a resolution.
In recent decades the Security Council was often criticized
because of its inability to make decisions on many important issues,
since owing to the right of veto each permanent member can block
any decision perceived as unfavorable. As a result, the projects of the
UN Security Council restructuring appear regularly and may be
reduced mostly to the increase in the number of its members, both
permanent and non-permanent.
The authority of the Security Council on protection of international
peace and stability is established by the UN Charter as follows:
1) The right to investigate any situation which represents a threat
to international peace and security;
52
2) Making recommendations for peaceful resolution of the
conflicts;
3) The right to demand from the United Nations members to
break off diplomatic, economic, and other relations with initiators of
international conflicts;
4) Using military and other measures against initiators of
international conflicts if it is necessary.
One of the main United Nations agencies is the Secretariat
whose tasks include:
1) Assisting members of the United Nations in maintaining
international peace and security;
2) Establishing conditions for the discussion and resolution of
current international issues using diplomatic mechanisms;
3) Holding international conferences on various issues;
4) Control over the execution of the Security Council decisions;
5) Consultations with the United Nations members on the urgent
international issues;
6) Assisting other United Nations agencies in the implementation
of a wide range of tasks, from the study of major trends in social and
economic development in various countries to addressing current
issues of peacekeeping operations management.
The UN Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General (since
2007 – Ban Ki-moon, Republic of Korea) performing his duties with
the reliance on an extensive United Nations staff. The candidacy of
the Secretary-General is offered by the Security Council and approved
by the General Assembly. The Secretary-General is elected for five
years with the possibility of re-election for another term. Although the
UN Charter does not provide limitation of the number of such terms,
no Secretary-General held office for more than two terms.
Table 4
Secretaries-General of the United Nations and their Countries of Origin
Name Country Years in Office
Trygve Lie Norway 1946–52
Dag Hammarskjold Sweden 1953–61
U Thant Myanmar (Burma) 1961–71
Kurt Waldheim Austria 1972–81
Javier Perez de Cuellar Peru 1982–91
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Egypt 1992–96
Kofi Annan Ghana 1997–2007
Ban Ki-moon South Korea Incumbent
Source: Basic Facts about the United Nations 2014. N.Y.: United Nations
department of Public Information, 2014. P. 18.
53
According to the unwritten rules, no representative of the Security
Council permanent members can hold the post of the Secretary-General.
In accordance with the United Nations resolution adopted in 1997,
representatives from different regions ought to be elected the SecretaryGeneral in turn in order to avoid power usurpation and abuses.
Nowadays, the United Nations member states are subdivided into
five regional groups:
1) African;
2) Asian;
3) Eastern European;
4) Latin American – Caribbean;
5) Western European (this group also includes Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).
The UN Secretariat structure comprises the Office of the
Secretary including twelve departments and nine offices responsible
for different aspects of the United Nations functioning, which involve
about forty-four thousand employees.
The selection of candidates for the UN Secretariat is made on a
competitive basis according to the results of examinations which are
conducted by the Secretariat representatives in various parts of the
world. Admission requirements are based on the “highest standards of
efficiency, competence, and integrity” (Chap. XV of the UN Charter).
When selecting candidates, geographical principle is also taken into
account in order to ensure fair representation of the different regions
of the world in the UN Secretariat.
Functions of the International Court of Justice located in The
Hague (Netherlands) are as follows:
1) Resolution by legal means of the disputes which may lead to
international conflicts;
2) Advising the General Assembly, the Security Council, and
other United Nations entities on various legal issues within the
framework of their powers under the UN Charter.
The General Assembly and the Security Council elect judges of
the International Court for nine years with the unlimited right of reelection and the Security Council has no right of veto in this case.
Every three years the election of one third of the fifteen judges of the
International Court is held for which an absolute majority in the
General Assembly and the UN Security Council is necessary.
54
The selection of the judges of the International Court of Justice is
based on the principle of equitable representation of different regions
and legal systems of the world. According to the unwritten rules,
among the judges of the International Court of Justice must be five
representatives from Western Europe, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, and the United States, three representatives from Asia and
Africa, two – from Eastern Europe and Latin America. In accordance
with the same unwritten rules, five places in the International Court of
Justice belong to the UN Security Council permanent members.
According to the UN Charter, all the members of the organization
apply the Statute of the International Court of Justice. At the same
time, only the United Nations member states and not individuals or
legal entities can appeal to the Court.
During its operation since April 1946, the International Court
reviewed more than 100 complaints. It played a crucial role in
peaceful resolution of a number of international disputes including
territorial disputes between Burkina Faso and Mali (1986), Honduras
and El Salvador (1992), Libya and Chad (1994), Botswana and
Namibia (1999), Romania and Ukraine (2009). It is worth noting that in
the case of the Romania-Ukraine dispute over some parts of the Black
Sea coastal zone the International Court did not accept the arguments
of either party offering its own version of border delimitation.
The functions of the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC), which exists since 1945 and includes 54 members of the
United Nations elected once every three years by the General
Assembly, include:
1) Coordination of cooperation in the economic and social areas;
2) Investigating economic and social issues and publication of
reports on their results;
3) Holding international conferences on social and economic
problems and practical implementation of their decisions.
The ECOSOC coordinates activities of the fourteen specialized
United Nations agencies, nine functional and five regional
commissions in economic and social fields. It holds regular four-week
sessions once a year in July. In addition, annual consultations with
finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the
IMF are held each April, since 1998.
The ECOSOC elects its Presidium responsible for preparing the
program of the Council as well as for developing the agenda of the
sessions. Each state has only one vote in the ECOSOC.
55
The objectives of the UN Trusteeship Council, being established in
1945, included the organization of the control of former colonies of the
powers defeated in the First and Second World Wars, with taking into
account the interests of the population of these former colonies as well as
the interests of international peace and security preservation. Since 1945,
the system of the United Nations trusteeship included eleven territories
(seven in Africa and four in Oceania). However, on 1 November 1994, the
UN Trusteeship Council suspended its activities after the last of these
territories, Palau (Oceania), gained independence on 1 October 1994.
The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) function as independent UN specialized agencies and were
created on the basis of the Bretton Woods agreements (1944) with the
observer status in the United Nations system. The objectives of the
World Bank Group include the provision of financial assistance to
developing countries. Since its foundation and until 2012, this
organization issued loans totaling $30 billion.
1
The IMF started its operations in 1945, with the initial goal to
promote recovery of the global economic and payment system after
World War II.
Test Your Knowledge
1. Outline the organizational structure of the United Nations.
2. Characterize the UN General Assembly (GA):
A) Functions of the GA;
B) Formation of the GA sessions agenda;
C) Structure of the GA;
D) Nature of the GA resolutions.
3. Are the decisions of the UN General Assembly legally
binding?
4. Characterize the UN Security Council:
A) Powers of the Security Council;
B) Procedure of the Security Council formation;
C) Principles of the Security Council decision making.
5. Name the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council.
6. Are the decisions of the UN Security Council obligatory for all
the United Nations member-states?
1
URL: www.worldbank.org/
56
7. What are the aspects of the United Nations activities in
respect of which the permanent members of the UN Security Council
cannot use the right of veto?
8. Characterize the UN Secretariat:
A) Functions of the Secretariat;
B) Its structure;
C) Principles of the Secretariat members’ selection.
9. What is the role of the UN Secretary-General?
10. Who is the UN Secretary-General at present?
11. Characterize the International Court of Justice:
A) Location and objectives of the International Court of Justice;
B) Procedure for selection of the judges;
C) Achievements of the International Court of Justice.
12. Characterize the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC):
A) Aims and objectives of the ECOSOC;
B) Organizational structure, budget, and the principles of the
ECOSOC.
13. Characterize the UN Trusteeship Council:
A) Objectives of the United Nations trusteeship;
B) Reasons for suspension of the UN Trusteeship Council.
14. What is the significance of the IMF and the World Bank
Group for the United Nations activities?
15. Admission of new member states to the United Nations is
carried out on the basis of the decision made by:
A) General Assembly;
B) Security Council;
C) International Court of Justice.
Unit 5.3. Major Activities of the United Nations and Its
Evaluations. One of the main activities of the United Nations is
peacekeeping operations. The condition for the organization of
peacekeeping missions is an endorsement by the Security Council.
Since the United Nations does not possess the armed forces of its
own, the troops for peacekeeping are provided by member states.
Peacekeeping forces of the United Nations are sent to the zones of
armed conflicts to ensure compliance with the terms of the armistice
and to prevent armed clashes.
57
Another activity of the United Nations is the problem of
disarmament. Thus, with the participation of the United Nations, were
signed the Outer Space Treaty (1967) which prohibits the deployment
of nuclear weapons in outer space; the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons (1968); the Treaty on the Prohibition of the
Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass
Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil
thereof; the international conventions on biological (1972) and
chemical (1992) weapons, and others.
According to the UN Charter, an important aspect of the United
Nations activities is the international cooperation in resolving economic,
social, cultural, and humanitarian problems. For this reason the UN
Development Program (UNDP) was set up in 1965 under the auspices
of the United Nations, the body charged with assisting member countries
in the economic field. It is expressed, in particular, in training the
specialists for various industries, mineral exploration, consulting, etc.
In 2013, the UNDP budget was approximately $5 billion. It is formed by
voluntary contributions from the member states and observers of the
United Nations as well as from various international foundations and
organizations. All assistance under the UNDP is free of charge.
2
An important goal of the United Nations in accordance with its
Charter is to protect human rights and fundamental democratic
freedoms regardless of race, gender, language, or religion. In 1948, the
UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights designed by a special committee headed by Eleanor Roosevelt,
the widow of the US President F. Roosevelt. The Declaration proclaims
civil, economic, and political rights equal for all people.
In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights was convened
by the UN Commission on Human Rights in Vienna on the
recommendations of the United Nations to monitor the human rights in
the world, which was transformed in 2006 into the Human Rights
Council, now including 47 states.
At the same time, the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples was adopted, as well as the first United Nations resolution
aimed at protecting the rights of sexual minorities. However, experts in
the field of human rights note that without the active support of the UN
Security Council permanent members the organization is unable to take
any real steps to combat the violation of human rights with the exception
of studying of this issue and drafting reports, presentations, etc.
2
URL: www.un.org/en/
58
The United Nations budget is formed by assessed and voluntary
contributions from the member states of the organization. The annual
contribution of each United Nations member is set by the General
Assembly depending on the economic opportunities and solvency of
each country and taking into account the size of the national income
and the level of external debt. In 2012–13, the United Nations budget
amounted to $ 5,512 billion. Nowadays, the largest sponsor of the
United Nations is the United States whose share in the budget of the
organization is 22 %. The main costs are the United Nations
peacekeeping operations the budget of which is formed separately
3
from the core budget and reached $7,54 billion in 2013–14.
Table 5
Budget of the United Nations (2010–11)
Serial
Number
1 Overall policymaking, direction and coordination 777, 439, 800
2 Political affairs 1, 248, 438, 400
3 International justice and law 96, 855, 200
4 International cooperation for development 434, 311, 700
5 Regional cooperation for development 526, 456, 100
6 Human rights and humanitarian affairs 301, 937, 600
7 Public information 186, 707, 400
8 Common support services 577, 969, 100
9 Internal oversight 39, 438, 800
10
11 Capital expenditures 61, 265, 500
12 Safety and security 239, 288, 500
13 Development account 23, 651, 300
14 Staff assessment 517, 021, 500
15 Total 5, 156, 029, 100
Source: Basic Facts about the United Nations 2014. N.Y.: United Nations
department of Public Information, 2014. P. 28.
Jointly financed administrative activities
and special expenses
Expenditure Categories US Dollars
125, 248, 200
Recognition of the United Nations role in preventing war and
maintaining international peace was awarding the Nobel Peace Prize
to a number of structural units of the organization – UNICEF (1965),
the ILO (1969), the United Nations peacekeeping force (1988), as well
as its General Secretaries – Dag Hammarskjold (1961) and Kofi
Annan (2001). The UN High Commissioner for Refugees was a
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize twice, in 1954 and 1981.
3
URL: www.un.org/en/
59
However, despite the recognition of its merits by the global
community, the United Nations is increasingly becoming a target for
criticism. In this regard, the bureaucracy, inefficient spending of
budget funds and corruption are often referred to. Thus, in 2004, the
organization faced accusations of multibillion-dollar frauds in the
allocation of quotas under the Oil-for-Food Program, which found its
expression in huge kickbacks to many high-ranking United Nations
officials due to which the name of Kojo Annan, the son of the former
UN Secretary-General, was even mentioned.
Due to these reasons, the United States repeatedly suspended
the financing of the United Nations during the 1990s requiring a
profound reform of the organization. In response to these demands,
the United Nations established the Office of Internal Oversight
Services to fight inefficiency and abuse in its operations.
Assessing the results of the United Nations activities during the
first half century of its existence the American journalist Stanley
Meysler stated: “Although the UN did not meet all expectations of its
founders, its achievements are enormous, and above all – in support
of decolonization and the organization of peacekeeping missions.”
4
Test Your Knowledge
1. Characterize the principles of formation, size, and major
expenditure items of the United Nations budget.
2. What is the significance of the United Nations peacekeeping
operations?
3. Does the United Nations possess the armed forces of its own?
4. The United Nations peacekeeping operations are funded from:
A) Its core budget;
B) From the special budget.
5. Characterize the United Nations achievements in the field of
disarmament.
6. What is the significance of the UN Development Program?
7. What are the evaluations of the United Nations activities?
8. What are the reasons for criticism of the United Nations?
4
Meisler, S. United Nations: The First Fifty Years. N.Y.: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995.
P. 339.
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