United Nation

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7th of November 2024

Genesis of UNO

The first world war Produced the League of Nation Which embodied president Wilson’s efforts to brings international Co-operation. Whereas the second World War produced the United Nations to maintain international peace and Security. The United Nation is an Association of Sovereign States who have Bound themselves by a charter (Constitution).It is the largest intergovernmental organization of the World.

Table of content:-

i) Historical Evolution of the idea of UN

ii) Foundation Day of UN

iii) Headquarters of UN

iv) The UN flag and the Emblem

v) Aims and purpose of the UN

vi ) UN official Language.

vii) Membership of the UN

a) Original Membership
b) Admission of Members
c) Permanent Members

viii) Historical timeline

ix) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

x) Organization of the UN

xi) Achievements of the UN

xii) Failures of the UN

1) Historical evolution of the idea of UN:-

A) Atlantic Charter :- During the World war ii Atlantic Charter (14^th August,1941) was released by the Joint declaration of U S President Franklin D.Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . It is a set of Principal for World peace and Security.

b) Declaration by the United Nations:- Franklin D.Roosevelt first coined the name ‘United Nations’ on 1st January 1942. The representatives of 26 nations pledged support to continue fighting together against the Axis Power.

c) Moscow Conference of Foreign Minister :- In 1943 the conference of the foreign Minister of U.S.S.R, China, U.S.A And Great Britain for the first time realized the importance of a world Organization.

d) Dumbarton Oaks Conference:- In the Dumbarton Oaks Conference of 1944 the representative of Britain, U.S.A, Russia and China drew up a draft proposal for the Structure of the world Organization. On the basis of these proposals the United Nation Charter or Constitution of the UN was formed.

e) Signature of the UN Charter :- United Nations Charter was signed on 26^th June 1945 by the representatives of fifty(50) countries at San Francisco(U.S.A).

2) Foundation Day of United Nations :- The United nations officially came In to existence on the 24^th october,1945.Now, 24^th October is celebrated as United Nations Day throughout the world.

In January, 1946 the First Regular session of the UN was held in London. Trgyve Lie (Norway) was the first elected Secretary General of the UN.

3) Headquarter of UN :- The Headquarter of the United nation situated at 760 United nations plaza, Manhattan, New York city, United States.

It stands on a 17acre tract of land donated by Jhon D Rockfeller on Manhattan Island. It has 39 Storey’s and about 8,000 workers.

4) The UN flag and the emblem :- On 20^th October, 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted the UN flag.The UN emblem is within the center of a light blue background of the flag. On 7^th December, 1946 the UN emblem was approved.

The emblem is consists of the global map which projected from the North pole and embraced in twin olive branches. It is the symbol of peace.

5) Aims and the purpose of the United Nations :-

a) To maintain international peace and Security;
b) To develop friendly relation among nations on the basis of equal rights and self -determination of peoples;
c) To achieve international co - operation by solving world - wide economic, social, Cultural and humanitarian problems;
d) To promote respect for human rights, dignity and freedom; and
e) To alleviate poverty, disease control and eradication of Illiteracy.

6) Official Languages :- Six (6) official languages are used in the United Nations. These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

7) Membership of the UN :-

Original Membership:-

The original members were those states who had signed the United Nations Declarations or signed in the UN charter in the San Francisco Conference.

At the very beginning there were only 50 member states. Now, United Nations has 193 member countries and two (2) observer states (Vatican City and Palestine). South Sudan is the 193^rd member of the UN.

Admission of the Members:-

New members are admitted on the recommendation of the Security Council and by the two -third favorable votes of the General Assembly members.

Permanent Member:-

Security Council has five Permanent members (China, France, Russia, UK and USA). These big five enjoys the power of Veto.

8)Historical Timeline of UN:

Timeline	Events	Objectives
1899	International peace conference was held in the Hague. It has adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration which started its function on 1902. It was the Predecessor of International Court of Justice.	To solve international crisis peacefully and prevent war.
1919	League of Nations was established under the Treaty of Versailles. USA never joined this group. Four Permanent members – UK, France, Italy and Japan. The International Labor Organization (ILO) was established.	To promote International co-operation and to Secure peace and Security.
1939	The League of Nations closed down.	Failed to restore peace and Security and maintain Status quo in the International level.
14h August 1941	Atlantic Charter was released by the joint declaration of U.S president Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It is signed on the ship H.M.S Prince of Wales “Somewhere at sea”.	A set of Principles was drafted for world peace and co-operation. It is the ‘milestones in the history of U.S Foreign Relations’.
1^st January 1942	In the Declaration by United Nation US President Franklin D. Roosevelt first coined this term “United Nations”.	In the second world war the representatives of 26 Nations joined their hands to continue fighting together against the Axis power (Rome – Berlin – Tokyo Axis).
1943	The name of United Nations was adopted by the suggestion of President Roosevelt in Teheran (Iran) conference.	For the need of an effective medium to maintain international peace.
1944	In October 1944, the Charter or Constitution of the UN was formed at the Dumbarton Oaks (Washington DC) Conference.
11^th Feb, 1945	Yalta Conference was held among US president Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill and Joseph Stalin.	To establish “a general International Organization to maintain peace and Security”.
26^th June 1945	United Nations charter was signed by the representatives of 50 countries at san Francisco (USA) conference.	To save the next generation from the terror of war.
24^thoctober 1945	Finally, United Nations came into existence. 24^thoctober is celebrated as the United Nations Day.	To maintain peace and security, remove poverty, disease, illiteracy and to develop co-operations among nations.
January 1946	First regular session of UN was held in London. First Secretary- General of the UN was trgyve Lie (Norway) (1946-1952).
7^thdecember 1946	The UN emblem was adopted. It is consists of the global map which is projected from the north pole and embraced in twin olive branches.	Symbol of peace.
20^th october1947	UN Flag was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The UN emblem is within the center of a light blue background of the flag.
29^th November 1947	Palestine partition resolution was adopted and creation of Israel was approved by the General Assembly.
1^st May 1948	United Nations established his first peacekeeping operation – United Nations Troop supervision Organization (UNTSO).
1948	General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris. Every Year 10^th December is celebrated as the Human Rights Day.
7^th July 1950	Security Council resolved to repeal the North Korean invasion of South Korea. The Korean Armistice Agreement is signed.
7^th April 1953	Second Secretary – General of UN was Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden).
1954	UNHCR (UN High commissioner for refugees) wins Nobel Peace prize for the contribution of European refugees.
7^th November 1956	UN Peacekeeping force or the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was formed to stop Suez Crisis.
1959	Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly.
14 July 1960	United Nation’s Operation in the Congo (UNOC) was taken Place.	To restore the control of the democratic republic the Congo
1960	Seventeen (17) new states joined the UN.
18^th September,1961	Dag Hammarskjold died in a tragic fatal plane crash while he was on mission to Congo.
1961	Dag Hammarskjold, the UN Secretary General is Awarded the Nobel peace prize posthumously.
3^rdNovember,1961	U Thant (Burma) was appointed as third Secretary General Of the United Nations.
1964	Security council sent UN peacekeeping force to Cyprus.	To prevent fight between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot.
1965	United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF) is Awarded the Nobel prize for peace.
1965	UN General Assembly started the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
1967	Resolution 242 was adopted by the Security Council in the six – day war (Arab-Israel-Conflict) to secure peace in the Middle East.
1968	Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear weapons was approved by the General Assembly.
1969	International Labour Organization (ILO) bagged the Nobel peace prize.
25^th October 1971	The Chinese seat was given to the people’s republic of China on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
1971	Kurt Waldheim (Austria)was nominated as the fourth Secretary General.
5^thjune 1972-16^thjune 1972	First UN Environment Conference was held in stockholm, Sweden. UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was established in this Conference. Nairobi is the Headquarter of UNEP.
1974	First UN world food conference was held.	To understand the food production and consumption problem.
19^th June-,1975 - 2^nd july ,1975	First world conference on Women was held in Mexico City.
1980	WHO officially declared that Smallpox was eradicated.
1981	Second time UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace.
1981	Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru) was appointed as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
1982	UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was signed by the 117 states and two entities.
16^th September 1987	Montreal protocol signed.	To protect Ozone Layer.
1988	Nobel Prize for peace was awarded to the United Nations peacekeeping Forces.
3^rd December 1991	Boutros Boutros Ghali was appointed as the 6^th Secretary General of the UN.
31^st January 1992	First UN Security Council Summit was held in New York.
3 to 14^th June 1992	“Earth Summit” was held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Leaders of 100 countries Participated.	A plan of action for sustainable development was taken which is called “Agenda 21”
14^thjune 1993	World Conference on Human Rights was held in Vienna.	Year 1993 was declared as the International Year for the World’s Indigenous People.
23^rd June	South Africa again comes back in the General Assembly after 24 years.
5^th September 1994 to 15^th Sept 1994	The International Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo. 179 Countries Participated.
1995	Fiftieth (50 year) anniversary of the United Nations. Theme was “We the People of the United Nations…..United for a better world”
1996	Comprehensive Nuclear Test-ban treaty (CTBT) was adopted by the UN General Assembly.	Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaty.
17^th December1996	Kofi Annan (Ghana) was Appointed as the seventh Secretary General of United Nations.
6^thsept 2000 - 8^thsept 2000	UN Millennium Summit at UN Headquarters in New York.	Adopted Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)to minimize poverty by 2015.
2001	Kofi Annan was Awarded the Nobel peace Prize.
2002	International Criminal Court (ICC) was established.
26^th August,2002 to 4^thsept 2002	World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg.	To reduce poverty and to Protect the Environment.
2005	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Its Director General Mohamed El Baradei were awarded Nobel prize for peace.
11^thfeb, 2005	60^th Anniversary of the UN Charter or San Francisco Conference.
8^th march 2005	Adopted a Declaration on Human Cloning.
14-16^thsept 2005	World Summit 2005
13^th oct,2006	Ban ki – Moon (Republic of Korea) has been appointed as the Secretary General of the United Nations
2007	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and albert Arnold (AI) Gore Jr. has been awarded Nobel Prize for Peace.
9^th July 2011	General Assembly of United Nations admitted the Republic of South Sudan as a new member State.
31^st October 2011	World Population touches 7 billion landmarks.
20 to 22^nd June 2012	United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20Earth Summit)was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Adopted a documents called “The Future We Want”	To promote world economic Development& Environmental protection.
2013	Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was awarded the Nobel prize for peace.
1^st January 2014	Due to Ebola Virus UN lunched its first – ever emergency health mission (UNMEER).
2015	70^th Anniversary of the UN charter.
25^thseptember 2015	UN adopted Agenda – 2030 for Sustainable Development with a vision to transforming the world. 17^th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was also adopted at the UN Sustainable Development summit in New York.
12^th December 2015	195 countries adopted Paris Agreement on Climate change at UN Climate change conference in Paris.	To curb emissions and take Common Climate action.
23^rd May 2016	First world Humanitarian Summit was held in Istanbul.
2016	On behalf of Refugee Olympic Team 10 refugee athletes from four countries participated at the 2016 Rio de Janiero Summer Olympic Games.
1^st January 2017	General Antonio Guterres (Portugal) was appointed as ninth Secretary General of United Nation.
2020	United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been Awarded Noble Prize for Peace.
2020	Global emergency for COVID – 19
24^th October 2020	75^th anniversary of United Nations.
October 31 to 12^th November 2021	26^th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) was held in Glasgow where Climate pact was Adopted.

9)Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals:-The Goals are:-

No Poverty;
Zero Hunger;
Good Health &well being;
Quality Education;
Gender Equality;
Clean water and sanitation;
Affordable and clean energy;
Decent work and Economic Growth;
Industry, innovation and infrastructure;
Reduced inequality;
Sustainable cities & communities;
Responsible consumption and production;
Climate Action;
Life Bellow water;
Life on Land;
Peace, justice and strong institution;
Partnerships for the Goals.

10) Organizations of the UN:-

The United Nations has six principal organs established by the founding charter.

These are –

The General Assembly;
The Security Council;
The Economic and Social Council;
International court of justice;
Trusteeship Council and
Secretariat

A) General Assembly:-

Introduction:- This is the main organ of the UN. It is “a deliberative, an overseeing, reviewing and criticizing organ” and may be regarded as a Parliament of nations.

Headquarters: -New York is the headquarters of the General Assembly.

Membership:- All the member states of the UN are the member of the General Assembly, each member having only one vote.

Purpose:-

a) The General Assembly can discuss any matter within the scope of the

Charter, except those with which the Security Council may be dealing.

b) In respect of ordinary matters a simple majority is decisive, but in respect of

Important questions a majority of two-third vote is required.

c) It has been an election body and also empowered to elect the nonPermanent members of the Security Council and all members of the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and social council.

d) The General Assembly controls the UN budget.

Committee:- General Assembly has six main committees on which every member State is represented. The committees are:

Disarmament and International Security Committee;
Economic and Financial Committee;
Social Humanitarian and cultural committee;
Special political and Decolonization committee;
Administrative and Budgetary committee; and
Legal committee.

B) The Security Council (UNSC):-

Introduction:- This organ is entrusted with the “Primary responsibility for the maintenance of international Peace and Security”.

Headquarters: -The headquarters of the Security Council is situated in New York.

Membership:- The council consists of 15 members. Five (5) permanent members (China, France, Russia UK and USA) and ten (10) non-permanent members.The non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for a two (2) years term by a two-thirds majority of the members present.

The non-permanent members are elected on the bellow mentioned manner:-

i) Five (5) members from the Afro-Asian

ii) Two (2) members from the Latin-American countries.

iii) Two (2) members from the West –European Countries;

iv) One (1) member from the East-European countries;

On rotation basis ten (10) non-permanent members retire every two years.The retire members are not eligible for immediate re-election.

Presidency:- The Presidency of the council rotates monthly according to the English alphabetical order of member names.On 1^st October, 1991 India assumed presidency of the Security Council.

India as a Non-Permanent member:- India has been elected and represented as a non-permanent member of the Security Council during 1951-52’ 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977-78, 1984-85,1991-92, 2011-12 and 2021-22.

Role and functions of the security council:-

Maintaining international peace and security;
Admission of new members, suspension or expulsion of old members;
In association of General Assembly it elects Judges of the International Court of Justice.
Regarding decision making, each member of the council has one vote. Decisions on procedural questions are made by an affirmative vote of at least nine (a) members. But in the case of Substantive matters the concurring votes of all the five permanent members must be included in the majority of nine. Furthermore, each of the Big Five has the right to ‘veto’ for any proposed action of the Security Council with which it does not agree.
Security Council continuously operates as an executive body.

C) The Economic and social council:-

Introduction: - The Economic and social council seeks to build a world of greater stability and well being, to create a spirit of universal respect for ‘human rights’ and to promote a higher, cultural and educational standard.

Headquarters: -New York is the headquarters of The Economic and social council.

Membership:- This council is composed of 54 member countries elected by a two thirds majority of the General Assembly.

Term of office:- Every year one third of this council is elected to serve for a period of three years. Within this one-third of the members [i.e. eighteen (18)] retire annually.

Role and Function:-

It carries the functions of the UN. Basically, to the economic, social, cultural, educational and health related matters.
It has set up various commissions to study special subjects. These are U.N.R.R.A (U.N Relief and Rehabilitation Administration); F.A.O (Food and Agricultural Organization); the International Labor Organization. Among the many specialized agencies UNESCO (U.N Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is the most prominent one.
It is taking a great initiative to eradicate illiteracy in many parts of the world.

Economic Commission:- The Economic and social council has several regional Economic Commissions. These are:

Economic and social commission for Asia (ESCAP).Headquarter is located at Bangkok.
Economic Commission of Europe (ECE). Headquarter of E C E is at Geneva.
Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA). Headquarter of E C L A is at Santiago (Chile).
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Headquarter of E C A is situated at Addis Ababa.
Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA). Headquarter is at Baghdad.

D) International Court of Justice (ICJ):-

Introduction:-The charter of the United Nations established the International court of Justice (ICJ) as the premier judicial organ of the United Nations. It adjudicates the international dispute as per the provisions of the statute of I C J. All the UN members are ipso facto parties to the statute of the court.

Date of establishment: -International court of Justice was established on 1945 by the UN Charter.

Headquarters: -The headquarters of the I C J is located at the peace palace in the Hague (Netherland).

Membership: -As per Article 3 of the statute of the International court of Justice “The court shall consist of fifteen members” and no two members or judges can be of the same nationality. As per Article 4 the members or the judges of the court shall be elected by the General Assembly and by the Security Council.

Term of office: -As per Article 21 of the statute of ICJ the President and Vice – President of the court is elected for a period of three years and they may be re-elected.

As per Article 13 the judges are elected for a term of nine years and they may be re-elected after the expiry of their term.

Objectives & Functions of ICJ: -The main function of ICJ:-

i) To provide advisory opinions on any legal questions referred to it by the General Assembly and the Security Council.
ii) To settle the legal disputes which is raised by the states in accordance with the prevalent international law.

Indian Judges of International court of Justice (I C J): -

S.L	Name of Judge	Tenure	Country
1.	Sir Benegal Narsing Rao (B.N. Rao)	1952-1953	India
2.	Nagendra Singh	1973-1988	India
3.	Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (R.S. Pathak)	1989-1991	India
4.	Dalveer Bhandari	2012 -	India

E) Trusteeship Council (TC):-

Trusteeship Council is one of the major organs of the UNO. It makes a new platform between the colonial powers to the dependent peoples. Territories or areas which have been detached from enemy states due to the Second World War are administered under the trusteeship system. The terms of trusteeship were settled by negotiations between the U.N.O and the controlling state but the basis of all administration must be the interests of the native in habitants. United Nations established the Trusteeship council for the development of self-government or independence and also for the promotion of economic and social advancement of dependent territories.

Year of Establishment: - In the year 1945 Trusteeship Council was established.

Ceased its operation: -In 1994 the Trusteeship Council cased its operation due to the Independence of Palau, the last of the original eleven (II) trust territories.

Last Eleven (11) trust territories: -UN Trusteeship council administered eleven trust territories .These are:

S.L	Territory / Area	Administration
1.	Tanganyika	Great Britain (U.K)
2.	Cameroons	Great Britain (U.K)
3.	Togoland	Great Britain (U.K)
4.	Cameroons	France
5.	Togoland	France
6.	Rwanda-Urundi	Belgium
7.	New Guinea	Australia
8.	Western Samoa	New Zealand
9.	Trust territory of pacific islands	United states
10.	Nauru	Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain
11.	Italian Somaliland	Italy

Headquarters: -The headquarters is situated in New York

Membership: -There are five permanent members. These are China, France, Russia, UK and USA.

Objectives: -The objectives of the Trusteeship council are as follows:

Development of self government and to secure independence of the dependent territories.
Promotion of economic and social advancement of the dependent territories.

Uplift the dependent territories from colonies to sovereign nations.

Achievement of Trusteeship Council: -

The most remarkable achievement of Trusteeship Council is that all the dependent territories are achieved independence or joined independent countries. So, Trusteeship Council ceased its operation on 1994.

F) The Secretariat:-

The secretariat is composed by the working staff of the organization. Secretary General is the chief administrative officer. Secretary – general is appointed by the general Assembly on the Recommendation of the Security Council.

Tenure:- The tenure of the secretary general is five years .He is eligible for reelection after the expire

of his term.

Membership:- There are approximately 400 members. International civil servants are the member of the Secretariat. They are working for the interest of the UN.

Objective & Function:- The Secretariat supervises and co- ordinates the activities of the UNO as a

Chief Administrative Officer. The secretariat makes an annual report to the Assembly and brings the attention of the Security Council in any matter.

Achievement of UNO :- In the nutshell it is Imperative to say that the Scope and function of theUNO are more broader and extensive. Its membership is also more representative than League of Nation. With the help of long and explicit charter the UN deals with the dispute among the Iran and Soviet Union; Syria and Lebanon ; Palestine and Lebanon; India and Pakistan; Russia and U.S.A to maintain international peace and Security .During last four Decades the UN has proved Itself as a peace keeping agency. It controlled war in Kashmir, Palestine, Indonesia, Greece, Egypt and Korea and also successful to evacuated foreign troops from Burma, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
Failures of UNO :- Apart from the several achievements of the U.N.O it has some weak points

also. The rights of absolute veto, non-inclusion of India as perment member are the major setbacks of The U.N.O. UN could not resolve the world burning Issues year after year due to the lack of unanimity among the Big Five.In conclusion, we have to remember the words of Mr. Trygve lie, the first secretary – General of the U.N.O: “The United Nations has not been able to resolve great power difference, but the conflict has been kept within peaceful bounds and the way prepared for further peaceful Settlement”

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