United Nations: articles of association. United Nations Day

The United Nations is one of the most influential international institutions. The solution of many key issues reflecting world political and economic processes takes place at the level of UN structures.

Almost all the sovereign states of the world are members of the UN. Even the United Nations Day is celebrated at the diplomatic level. How did this structure form? Which countries initiated the creation of the UN? What kind of tasks did the organization have to solve historically and in what areas does it work now?

UN: general information

The United Nations is one of the largest international structures, whose main task is to maintain peace and security at the global level, as well as to promote the development of cooperation between countries. A key document, which reflects the principles of the UN - Charter. It says, inter alia, that the purposes of the United Nations are to prevent threats to peace, as well as to eliminate them, to carry out procedures for settling conflicts by peaceful means, to stimulate the building of friendly relations among the peoples of the world, proceeding from the equality and self-determination of nations. The Charter also says that the UN seeks to develop cooperation between countries in the economic, social, cultural and humanitarian spheres.

The UN includes 193 countries. The UN can only include those states that are recognized at the international diplomatic level. If this criterion is met, if the country is determined by the UN structures as "peaceful", ready to assume the obligations of the Charter and is able to fulfill them, then the door to the Organization for it is open. The admission of new countries to the UN is carried out by the General Assembly with the participation of the Security Council. At the same time, five states permanently present in the Security Council may veto the Assembly's decision to admit a new state to the UN.

Note that states can also have the status of not only a UN member, but also an observer. As a rule, it precedes the subsequent accession of the country to the Organization. The status of an observer of states is received after a vote in the General Assembly. A majority of votes are required to approve the decision. The peculiarity of the UN observer status is that they can also be unrecognized states. At the same time, it is known that such, for some time, were completely sovereign powers - Austria, Finland, Japan. Later they acquired the status of a full member of the United Nations.

The United Nations General Assembly acts as the leading deliberative body. It is formed from representatives of countries belonging to the UN. Each of the states has an equal right to vote. Another important body of the UN is the Security Council. In the competence of this structure - responsibility for world in a global plane. The UN Security Council classifies threats arising in various parts of the world as possible precedents of aggression. The main method of the Security Council is to resolve conflicts peacefully, to make appropriate recommendations to its parties. In some cases, the UN Security Council is authorized to authorize the use of military force to restore order. The Security Council is formed by 15 countries. Five of them are permanent (RF, France, PRC, UK and USA). The rest is appointed by the General Assembly for a period of two years.

The organization's activities are provided by another body - the UN Secretariat. It is headed by a person who holds the post of Secretary General. Candidates for this position are nominated by the Security Council. The General Assembly appoints the General Assembly.

The official languages of the United Nations are six. The number of them invariably includes the Russian language. Among others - the most common in the world English, Chinese, Arabic, as well as Spanish and French. Regarding the practical use of official languages - they are issued key documents of the Organization, resolutions. Reports are also published in corresponding adverbs, transcripts. Speeches delivered at meetings are translated into official languages.

The United Nations system includes several autonomous structures. Among the largest - UNESCO, the IAEA.

The headquarters of the organization is located in New York.

Consider how the key UN structures function in more detail.

General Assembly

As we said above, this body is the key one in the aspect of deliberative, directive, as well as representative activities of the UN. The General Assembly forms the basic principles of international cooperation on peacemaking issues, coordinates interaction between states in various fields. The powers of this body are spelled out in the UN Charter. The General Assembly works on sessions - regular, special or emergency.

As part of the main deliberative body of the United Nations - several committees. In the competence of each - a narrow range of issues. For example, there is the Committee on Disarmament and International Security. There is an appropriate body dealing with problems of a social and humanitarian nature. There is a committee in charge of which are legal issues. There are structures responsible for checking powers, resolving political, administrative and budgetary issues. The General Committee also functions. In his conduct, such aspects of the work of the Assembly as the agenda and general points associated with the organization of discussions. It consists of several officials at once. Among them - the head of the General Assembly, his deputies, heads of other committees.

The UN General Assembly, as we have said, can work in special sessions. They can be convened on the basis of orders of the Security Council. The topics of the sessions can be different - for example, related to human rights. As we said above, the formation of the United Nations was largely due to the need for international control over problems in this area.

Security Council

The UN Security Council is a structure in whose special competence there are issues related to the maintenance of peace and security. We have already noted that the creation of the United Nations was predetermined in many ways with the aim of solving the tasks of precisely such a profile. The Security Council, as we said above, includes 5 states on a permanent basis, all of them vested with the right of veto. What is this procedure? The basic principle here is the same as in the parliamentary veto.

If a decision of the UN Security Council is not shared by the states that are permanent members of this body, they can block its final adoption. An interesting fact: a citizen of a country that is a member of the Security Council on a permanent basis can not be elected the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The UN Secretariat

This United Nations structure is called upon to perform mainly administrative functions in the implementation of the adopted programs. Basically, this is the work related to the publication of the texts of resolutions and other decisions, the entry of information into archives, the registration of international agreements, etc. The Secretariat has about 44,000 specialists working in different countries. The largest structures of this body function in New York, Nairobi, as well as in European cities - Geneva and Vienna.

International Court of Justice

There is also a court in the UN structure. It is assumed that the judges who form it work independently on the interests of the states that represent. In addition, work in the UN should be their only professional occupation. In all, there are 15 judges in the relevant UN structure. Each of them has a special kind of immunity, and can also enjoy a number of diplomatic privileges. Parties to disputes resolved by the UN Court of Justice may be exclusively state. Citizens and legal entities can not be plaintiffs or defendants.

The UN Councils

There are several Councils in the UN structure - the Economic and Social Councils, as well as the head of the guardianship issues (although it functioned only until November 1, 1994, after which his work was suspended). The First Council deals with the tasks related to the socio-economic cooperation of states. It is formed by six commissions created on a geographical basis. That is, for example, there is the Economic Commission for Europe, there is one that operates in Africa or in Western Asia.

Institutions

The UN Charter presumes that the leading organs of the Organization can form auxiliary structures. So, several additional UN agencies appeared at once. Among the most famous are the IAEA, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

History of the UN

The most interesting aspect of studying the UN is history. The United Nations was formally established on October 24, 1945. By that day, most of the states that signed the UN Charter have ratified this document. However, the concept of the United Nations, according to some historians, began to be developed during the Second World War. In particular, it can be noted that in January 1942, the states that are part of the bloc opposing Nazism signed a document called the Declaration of the United Nations. In the autumn of 1944, a conference was held in Dumbarton Oaks, a Washington-based mansion, with the participation of the USSR, the United States, and Britain and China. The states defined how the international relations will develop after the Second World War, as well as how the main structure regulating this process can look.

In February 1945, the famous Yalta conference was held. At it, the leaders of the leading allied countries announced their intention to create a global structure whose main task would be to maintain peace. In April of the same year, a conference was held in San Francisco with the participation of 50 countries with a view to developing the Charter of the United Nations. The total number of participants was about 3.5 thousand people, as well as more than 2.5 thousand journalists, documentaries and observers. In June 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was adopted and was soon signed by representatives of 50 states. By virtue of this document entered, as we said above, on October 24, 1945. This is the United Nations Day, celebrated at an official level.

There is a version that the UN is an organization that has become the legal successor of another international structure - the League of Nations, which functioned before the Second World War. However, as many experts note, the tasks of the new organization have become much more global, both in the theoretical concepts laid down in the Charter, and formed in the course of practice.

An interesting fact is that initially the United Nations, with the rights of virtually sovereign states, included two republics that belonged to the USSR as union states - the Byelorussian and Ukrainian USSR. Also included in the organization is formally dependent on Britain, India, the Philippines, under the US protectorate.

The UN budget

Financing of the UN activities is carried out through the organization's budget. The procedure for its formation includes all states that are members of the UN. The budget is proposed by the Secretary-General upon agreement with the competent structures of the organization. Then the relevant document is studied by the Advisory Committee and other agencies within the UN. In fact, the analysts are sent to the budget committee, in turn. Afterwards - to the General Assembly for final adjustment and approval.

The UN budget is formed at the expense of membership fees of the states that are members of the organization. The main criterion here is the economic situation of the country, determined mainly on the basis of the size of GDP, as well as with a number of adjustments that take into account the income of the population and external debts. The states that now contribute the largest amount of funds to the UN budget are the USA, Japan, Germany. In the top 10 countries, Russia also has the largest membership fees.

The UN declarations and conventions

Among the common documents that the United Nations regularly publishes in its activities are declarations and conventions. What is their specificity? First of all, it should be noted that, unlike the Charter, these documents do not oblige states to comply with the provisions contained therein. The United Nations Convention, as well as the declaration, is mainly a recommendatory source, as experts believe. However, countries can ratify a treaty, declaration or convention at the national level. Among the best-known documents of the United Nations, experts refer to, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948), the Kyoto Protocol (1997), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

UN Activities

What is the practical role of the United Nations in the processes taking place on the planet? Among the key areas is peacekeeping. It can be expressed in the following activities:

- study of conflict incidents, initiation of negotiations with the parties involved in them;

- verification of the implementation of the agreements prescribing a cease-fire;

- Activities related to maintaining order, compliance with the law;

- assistance of a humanitarian nature;

- monitoring of conflict situations.

Among the possible UN instruments in this direction is the conduct of peacekeeping operations. It is interesting that there is no such information in the UN Charter. The United Nations can initiate appropriate operations based on its objectives and principles. One way or another, the options for practical conflict resolution are within the purview of the UN Security Council. This structure decides how to organize the peacekeeping process, as well as how to monitor the implementation of decisions taken.

Another important area of the UN's activities is monitoring the situation with respect for human rights. As we noted above, the United Nations issued an appropriate Declaration in 1948. After the elaboration of this document, the UN General Assembly recommended that the states participating in the organization promote the dissemination of the main provisions of the Declaration, paying special attention to the publication of relevant information in educational institutions.

The United Nations is actively involved in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The reason for carrying out activities of this type can be natural disasters, military conflicts, crises. Assistance can be provided both in the aspect of supplies of basic necessities, and in terms of facilitating the restoration of the economy, the health care system, and education.