UNITE DUnited Nations It is often said that if we did not have the United Nations, it would have to be invented, but what exactly is it and what does it do? And what authority does it have? The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, at the end of the Second World War At that time 51 countries were members of the organisation, but that number has now grown to 189 (nearly all of the countries in the world), known as 'Member States'.The organisation is based in New York When they join the UN, all Member States agree to accept an international agreement called the UN Charter This document contains the aims and beliefs of the UN, the way that it is organised and the standards of behaviour that are expected of its members The Charter states that the four main objectives of the UN are: to maintain international peace and security to develop friendly relations between countries to co-operate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights to be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations So how is it all organised? Nowadays five main bodies the work of the United Nations The General Assembly is a sort of international parliament Representatives of all the Member States meet to discuss the world's problems, what should be done about them, and the administration of the whole United Nations Organisation The General Assembly meets at least once a year (in September) - or more often if there are serious problems to discuss Each Member State has one vote in any decision and important decisions can only be taken with the agreement of two thirds of the representatives The Assembly's decisions are recommendations - a government can't be forced to what the Assembly says, but these recommendations are powerful because they represent world opinion on any particular issue The Security Council is the part of the UN which is responsible for international peace and security There are 15 members of the Security Council Five members are permanent (The Russian Federation, The United Kingdom, The United States, France and China) and the other 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for a period of two years At the moment, the temporary members are Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, The Syrian Arab Republic, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea and Ireland Each member has one vote Important decisions can only be made if there are nine votes in favour, and this must include the votes of each one of the five permanent members The Security Council is the only part of the UN that can force Member States to accept its decisions or 'resolutions' If a Member State does not accept a resolution then the UN will first try to solve the problem in a peaceful way However, if the situation continues it can agree to military action against the government involved The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the part of the UN which co-ordinates the work of all the UN agencies, commissions and programmes operating all over the world All of these together are known as 'The United Nations Family of Organisations' This includes organisations such as The United Nations Children's Fund, (UNICEF) , The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) both based in Paris, France, and The World Health Organization, (WHO) based in Geneva, Switzerland ECOSOC covers all the UN work in areas such as economic and social progress, health, culture, education, human rights, crime, outer space, the environment, and many more The Council has 54 members elected by the General Assembly for periods of three years The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is the UN court It started in 1946 The 15 judges (who must all be of different nationalities) are elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council The court makes decisions about disputes between countries according to international law, and also gives legal opinions to the General Assembly and Security Council when necessary Member States can't be forced to take part in Court of Justice investigations but if they agree to participate they must accept the Court's final decision The Secretariat does all of the day-to-day administration of the UN Organisation Nearly 9,000 people of many different nationalities work in this section in offices all over the world The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General, who is also the 'public face' of the UN The current Secretary-General is Kofi Annan from Ghana The Secretary-General is a highly respected world figure top Your turn What you think of this article? Do you agree with what it says? Your texts Mélissa writes “This article shows us the institutions of the United Nations However, in fact, we see that the first aim of this organization, peace and security, has not been reached Countries are still at war (for example in Darfour) and people are still dying from starvation For me, this organization that the five permanent members wanted in 1945, after the Second World War, is a pious wish!” top Giovanni writes “I don’t completely agree with Nur It’s true that the UNO has not enough power to realize its purposes, but I don’t think that it’s under the control of the US Kofi Annan has often criticized the politics of the US; furthermore, China and Russian are permanent members of the Security Council, and those States are absolutely against the politics of the US … I really think that, at the moment, in the most important questions – first of all peace – the UNO is an organization which often operates against the politics of the US In fact, the attack against Iraq was not established or supported by the UNO.” top Nur writes “This article was based on general information about the UNO, which can be better for children, but I think the UN is itself not an independent organization, because it has no power to its job The UN seems to me as an instrument in the hands of great powers, particularly the US But to me it does not make any sense what the UN is.” top Maria writes “The article is easy to understand and explains in a few words the origin of the UN and its principals functions However, it could be interesting to explain and give examples of their activities and results Since 1945, which have been the most important and successful?” top BuiDuyQuang writes “The UN is very good for children But it doesn’t have enough respect for many countries UNESCO is very useful for people They can know about famous places if they want to visit My country has join the WHO in November I think the UN can make peace between country and country And help the poor We can know the UN is the organization of the world.” top Sana M Kadim writes "In my opinion the Security Council does nothing, since they cannot take any action without the agreement of the five main members Mostly one of those is sharing one of the security problems which happen all over the world." The untied nations It was the house at the end of the street; the one where nobody wanted to live The landlord who owned the house always worried about it He wanted to rent the house, but nobody wanted to live there It was at the wrong end of the street, people said It was too dark, they said It was too damp The rooms are too small It’s in the wrong part of the city That’s what all the people said when they came to look at the old house at the end of the street Nobody wanted to rent the house; nobody wanted to live in the wrong part of the city The landlord thought about what to It was easier to rent flats, he thought, so he turned the big old house into small flats Seeing as people from the city didn’t want to live there, the landlord asked people from outside the city to live there His idea was a success soon, people came to live in the big old house Two Polish girls, Agnieska and Magda came to live in the small flat on the ground floor A French woman called Elodie came to live in the big flat on the top floor Her boyfriend, who came from Morocco and was called Mourad came to live with her An Australian boy called Hugh moved into one of the flats on the second floor, but he didn’t work (he was an artist and spent all of his days painting, but he didn’t sell any of his paintings so he didn’t have much money) so soon he asked a friend of his, a German guy called Knut to move in with him and help him pay the rent (Knut was an artist too, and sometimes Knut sold a painting, so he had some money, at least) A man from Zimbabwe called Dave moved into the other flat He was waiting for his wife and son to get their visas so they could come and live with him All these people didn’t mind that the house was at the wrong end of the street, it was no problem for them that it was a bit too dark, they didn’t care that there was no garden, nor that the rooms were too small The fact that the house was in the wrong part of the city meant nothing to them They liked living in the big old house which was now a big block of small flats It was cheap, they said They didn’t like the city where nobody had made them feel welcome They liked living in the big old house where everybody came from somewhere else, and where, soon enough, everyone became friends Hugh and Knut invited the other people to come and look at their paintings, and everybody said they liked them a lot, but nobody bought them Elodie and Mourad decided to cook a big meal for everybody in the house They made a mixture of French and Moroccan food, which everybody thought was delicious Dave showed everyone pictures of his wife and his son, and Agnieska offered to help him try and get visas for them so they could come and live in the big house too For a while, it was great Everybody was very happy “We should call this house ‘The unofficial United Nations’” they joked However, things changed After a while, everybody got fed up of the smells of Elodie and Mourad’s cooking coming from upstairs “Everything smells of garlic!” they complained “The whole house smells of garlic!” After a while, everybody got fed up of the loud music that Hugh and Knut always had on while they were working “There’s never any peace or quiet in this building!” they complained “Those two lazy artists just sit around listening to loud music all the time!” After a while, Agnieska and Magda stopped being friendly with the other people in the building, and invited lots of their own Polish friends over to their flat on the ground floor They had parties that finished very late at night They drank lots of vodka and made a lot of noise Soon, the other people in the building were complaining “We can’t sleep at night!” they said “There’s always too much noise from the Polish parties!” Dave felt very sad about the situation He remembered the time when they were the unofficial United Nations He had liked it He thought that he had found friends and people who could help him at a time when he was on his own, far away from his family Dave wanted to change the situation He decided to something about it Dave decided to have a meeting He told everybody who lived in the building to come and meet in his flat “We need to talk about our problems!” Fortunately, everyone agreed So Dave from Zimbabwe sat down next to Knut from Germany who sat next to Hugh from Australia who sat next to Elodie from France who sat next to Mourad from Morocco who sat next to Agnieska and Magda from Poland “What are we going to do?” asked Dave “We used to be friends, and now we’re all arguing all the time!” Everyone started to shout “It’s the Polish parties all night!” “It’s the noisy music all day!” “It’s the smell of garlic all day and all night!” “Wait! Wait! Wait!” shouted Dave, shouting even louder than all the other people “Please be quiet! We have to work together to solve our problems If we can’t work together, then we will all be alone forever.” Everyone was very quiet They all knew that Dave was right “So here is my suggestion Agnieska and Magda – no more than one party a month And you have to invite us all! Elodie, Mourad please put less garlic in your food! And invite us to dinner more often! Knut and Hugh – please buy some headphones.” Everybody was still silent “I think we need to vote on these issues” said Dave “Everybody who thinks that Agnieska and Magda should agree, raise your hands.” Five people raised their hands “Motion carried!” said Dave “Everyone who thinks that Elodie and Mourad should take it easy on the garlic and invite us to dinner more often, raise your hands!” Five hands raised “Motion carried!” said Dave “Everybody who thinks that Knut and Hugh should buy some headphones, raise your hands!” Five hands went up “Motion carried!” “And everybody who thinks Dave should be our leader, raise your hands!” shouted Elodie Six hands went up “Congratulations Dave!”, said Elodie, “You are the first leader of the Untied Nations ... is the part of the UN which co-ordinates the work of all the UN agencies, commissions and programmes operating all over the world All of these together are known as 'The United Nations Family of. .. think that it’s under the control of the US Kofi Annan has often criticized the politics of the US; furthermore, China and Russian are permanent members of the Security Council, and those States are... one of those is sharing one of the security problems which happen all over the world." The untied nations It was the house at the end of the street; the one where nobody wanted to live The landlord