20The UN and its role in the modernworld

The UN and its role in the modern world

The United Nations Organization came into being on October 24, 1945, a date commemorated every year as UN Day. On that day the Charter of the UN entered into force. The Charter had been drawn up in San Francisco at the UN Conference in the closing days of the 2^nd World War, when the representatives of 50 countries resolved to establish an international organization to be known as the UN.

The purposes and principles of the Organization, as set forth in the Charter, are:

• To maintain international peace and security

• To develop friendly relations among nations

• To achieve cooperation in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems, and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

• To be a centre for harmonizing the actions in attaining these common ends

The Member States are sovereign and equal, and the Charter provides that the UN shall not intervene in matters essentially within the jurisdiction of any state except when it is acting to maintain or restore international peace. But the Member States have certain obligations under the Charter. They are committed

• to settle their international disputes by peaceful means,

• to refrain from the threat of use of force against other States

• to assist the UN in any action it takes in accordance with Charter.

Membership in the UN is open to all peace-loving states which accept the obligations of the Charter.

The 6 main organs of the UN are:

• the General Assembly

• the Security Council

• the Economic and Social Council

• the Trusteeship Council

• the Secretariat

• the International Court of Justice.

The Court has its seat at the Hague, Netherlands. All other organs are based at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The General Assembly (GA) is the main deliberative organ of the UN. It is composed of all Member States. The main functions of the Assembly are:

1. to consider and make recommendations on the principles of international cooperation in maintenance of peace and security, including the principles governing disagreement and the regulations of armaments

2. to discuss any problem affecting peace and security

3. to receive and consider reports from the Security Council and other organs of the UN

4. to elect 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council and members f the main organs of the UN

5. to consider and approve the budget of the UN

The GA meets once a year in regular sessions which begin on the 3^rd Tuesday of September and continue until mid-December, or at the demand of the Security Council.

Each member nation has one vote in the GA. In matters which the Charter defines as important (recommendations on peace and security, elections of members to organs and budgetary matters) decisions are taken by two-thirds majority vote of those present and voting. Other matters are decided by a simple majority.

Members of the GA talk to each other in many languages, but officially there are only 6 – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The GA deals with its work through 7 main comities in which all the members have the right to be represented.

The Security Council (SC). The organ on which the Charter confers primary responsibilities for maintaining peace and security is the SC. It is composed of 5 permanent members: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – and 10 non0permament members elected by the GA for 2-year terms.

The main functions of the SC are:

• to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN

• to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international conflicts

• to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regular armaments

• to determine the existence of a threat to peace or act of aggression

• to recommend actions against an aggressor should be taken etc.

Each member of the SC has one vote. Decisions on procedural matters are made by the affirmative vote of any 9 members. Decisions on substantive matters also require 9 votes, including the concurring votes of all 5 permanent members. This is the rule of “great power unanimity”, often referred to as the “veto”. All 5 permanent members have exercised the veto at one time or another. If a permanent member does not support a decision but has no desire to block it through a veto, it may abstain; an abstention is not regarded as a veto, but the vote is required on substantial matters, so it may be equal to veto.

The SC is organized as to be able to function continuously, and a representative of each of its members must be present at all time at the Headquarters of the UN.

The Economic and Social Council has been entrusted with the task of helping to raise the standards of living of all peoples and of promotions conditions of economic and social progress and development. The major issues:

• planning for economic development

• financial and technical assistance to the less developed countries

• improvement of education

• the promotion of human rights

The E&SC has regional commissions for Europe, Latin America, Africa and functional comities dealing with statistics, population, status of women, narcotics, social development, human rights. It consists of 54 members elected be the GA.

The Trusteeship Council (TC). The function of the TC is to supervise the administration of the Trust Territories. The main objectives of the UN trusteeship are to promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territories and their progressive development towards self-government or independence. Under the guidance of the TC 10 of the 11 Trust Territories have gained their independence. (The original 11 Trust Territories included former colonies located primarily in Africa and the Pacific. By the early 1990s only 1 Trusteeship remained – the Palau Aland Group administered by the US).

The International Court of Justice, popularly known as the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the UN. The court’s decisions are binding. It may give advisory opinions at the request of the GA or the SC or at the request of other organs and specialized agencies authorized by the GA.

The 15 judges of the court are elected by the GA and SC. No 2 judges may be nationals of the same state. They serve for 9 years and are eligible for re-election.

The Secretariat services the other organs of the UN and administers the programmes and polices laid down by them. It is headed by the Secretary-general, who is appointed for a 5-year term (and may be reappointed) by the GA on the recommendation of the SC.