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United Nations

Introduction:

  • The United Nations (UN) is a global organisation that was established in 1945. There are currently 193 countries.
  • Its mission and work are directed by the founding Charter’s aims and principles, which are carried out through its numerous organisations and specialised agencies.
  • Maintaining international peace and security, safeguarding human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, fostering sustainable development, and respecting international law are among its responsibilities.

History of UN Foundation:

  • The International Peace Conference was held in The Hague in 1899 to develop mechanisms for peacefully resolving crises, averting wars, and codifying military norms.
  • It ratified the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes Convention and founded the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which started operations in 1902. This court served as a predecessor to the United Nations International Court of Justice.
  • The League of Nations, founded in the aftermath of World War I and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles “to promote international cooperation and achieve peace and security,” was the precursor of the United Nations.
  • The International Labour Organization (ILO) was established as an affiliated agency of the League in 1919 as part of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States originated the term “United Nations.” In 1942, 26 nations signed The Declaration of the United Nations, vowing their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis) and prohibiting them from making separate peace agreements.
  • Representatives from 50 countries attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco (USA) in 1945, when the United Nations Charter was signed.
  • The United Nations Charter of 1945 serves as the intergovernmental organization’s founding document.

Components:

The main organs of the UN are

  1. the General Assembly,
  2. the Security Council,
  3. the Economic and Social Council,
  4. the Trusteeship Council,
  5. the International Court of Justice,
  6. the UN Secretariat.

All the 6 were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

 

General Assembly:

  • The General Assembly is the United Nations’ main deliberative, policymaking, and representative body.
  • The General Assembly is the only UN body with universal representation, with all 193 UN Member States represented.
  • UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States with veto power.
  • Every year in September, the whole United Nations membership gathers in New York’s General Assembly Hall for the annual General Assembly session and general debate, to which many heads of state attend and speak.
  • A two-thirds majority of the General Assembly is required to make decisions on crucial issues like as peace and security, admission of new members, and budgetary matters.
  • Other questions are decided by a simple majority.
  • The President of the General Assembly is elected by the assembly every year for a one-year term.

 

 

6 Main Committees:

  • Draft resolutions can be prepared for the General Assembly by its six main committees: (1) First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), (2) Second Committee (Economic and Financial), (3) Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural), (4) Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), (5) Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), (6)Sixth Committee (Legal).
  • Each Member State may have one representative on each Main Committee and any other committee that may be formed and on which all Member States have the right to participate.
  • These committees may also be staffed by advisers, technical advisers, experts, or other people of similar rank appointed by member states.

 

Security Council:

  • Under the UN Charter, it has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.
  • The Security Council has fifteen members, with five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly on a regional basis.
  • “Veto power” refers to the permanent member’s ability to veto (reject) any Security Council resolution.
  • The five states’ absolute veto power has been viewed as the UN’s most undemocratic feature.
  • Critics also contend that the use of the veto is the primary reason for international inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 1945, however, the United States refused to join the UN unless it was granted a veto. The League of Nations’ ineffectiveness was exacerbated by the United States’ absence. Supporters of the veto power see it as a protection against US dominance, a supporter of international stability, and a check on military actions.

 

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):

  • It is the main organisation in charge of policy coordination, review, discourse, and recommendations on economic, social, and environmental concerns, as well as the achievement of globally accepted development goals.
  • It has 54 members that are elected by the General Assembly for three-year periods that overlap.
  • It is the United Nations’ central venue for sustainable development study, debate, and innovative thinking.
  • ECOSOC organises its activities each year on a worldwide issue important to sustainable development. This assures that ECOSOC’s diverse partners, as well as the UN development system as a whole, are paying attention.
  • It oversees the operation of the UN’s 14 specialised agencies, ten functional commissions, and five regional commissions, as well as receiving reports from nine UN funds and programmes and making policy recommendations to the UN system and Member States.

 

Trusteeship Council:

  • The United Nations Charter, Chapter XIII, established it in 1945.
  • The Trusteeship Council of the United Nations has administrative power over non-self-governing territories.
  • A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for specific regions that were transferred from one country to another after World War I, or legal instruments that included the internationally agreed-upon terms for managing the territory on behalf of the League of Nations.
  • When the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946, United Nations trust areas were established to replace the remaining League of Nations mandates.
  • It had to offer international oversight for 11 Trust Territories that had been put under the administration of seven Member States, as well as ensuring that proper preparations for self-government and independence were made.
  • By 1994, all Trust Territories had gained autonomy or self-government. On November 1, 1994, the Trusteeship Council ceased operations.

 

International Court of Justice (ICJ):

  • The International Court of Justice is the United Nations’ main judicial body. The United Nations Charter established it in June 1945, and it began functioning in April 1946.
  • The ICJ is the successor to the League of Nations’ Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was created in 1920.

 

Secretariat:

  • The Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members make up the Secretariat, which carries out the UN’s day-to-day work as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization’s other primary organs.
  • The Secretary-General is the Organization’s chief administrative officer, selected by the General Assembly on the Security Council’s recommendation for a five-year, renewable term.
  • Staff personnel of the United Nations are hired both internationally and locally, and they operate in duty stations and on peacekeeping missions all around the world.

 

Funds, Programmes, Specialized Agencies and Others:

  • The United Nations system, commonly referred to as the “UN family,” is made up of the UN itself (6 main organs) as well as several linked programmes, funds, and specialised organisations, each having its own membership, leadership, and budget.

 

Funds and Programmes:

  • The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
  • The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
  • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment)
  • United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
  • World Food Programme (WFP)

 

UN Specialized Agencies:

  • The United Nations specialised agencies are independent entities that collaborate with the UN. Negotiated agreements were used to bring all of them into contact with the UN.
  • Some existed even before World War One. Some of them were linked to the League of Nations. Others were born roughly simultaneously with the United Nations. Others were developed by the United Nations to address new needs.
  • The UN Charter’s Articles 57 and 63 allow for the establishment of specialised agencies.

Example:

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  • International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
  • International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
  • International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • World Bank
  • International Maritime Organization (IMO)
  • International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
  • United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

 

India and the UN:

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):

 began activities in India in 1948 with the goal of transforming India’s food and farm sectors through technical assistance and policy development support.

FAO has made significant progress in addressing challenges such as food security, nutrition, livelihoods, rural development, and sustainable agriculture over the years. The FAO’s principal focus will be on enhancing India’s sustainable agriculture practises, with the Sustainable Development Goals in full swing.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): and the Government of India have made substantial progress in commercialising smallholding agriculture and strengthening small farmers’ capacity to enhance incomes from market opportunities.

Women have also gained access to financial services as a result of IFAD-supported programmes that linked women’s self-help groups with commercial banks.

The Asian and Pacific Centre for Technology Transfer (APCTT) is a UNESCAP regional institute that was founded in 1977. It specialises in technology transfer, information management, and innovation management.

India has been cooperating closely with the International Monetary Fund.

UNESCO:

India has a long history with the organisation. Since 1946, India has been re-elected to the UNESCO Executive Board on a regular basis.

In 2012, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development was formed as a UNESCO Category I Institute dedicated to education for peace and sustainable development (MGIEP). It is situated in the city of New Delhi.

India too has a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

WHO (World Health Organization):

WHO has been collaborating with the Indian government to enhance health outcomes. It has been crucial in the eradication of diseases such as cholera and the control of others like as malaria, tuberculosis, and others.

 

India’s Contribution towards the UN:

  • India has been a member of the United Nations since its foundation. India was the first country to bring up the subject of racism and apartheid in South Africa at the United Nations in 1946.
  • In 1948, India was a key contributor to the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Read more about Hansa Mehta’s contribution in this regard.
  • In 1953, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, an Indian, became the UNGA’s first female president.
  • India has made significant contributions to UN Peacekeeping Missions around the world.
  • India has dispatched peacekeeping soldiers to Korea, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Angola, Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda, Lebanon, and South Sudan, among other places.
  • India has consistently been one of the largest soldier contributors to the missions.
  • The nonviolence ideas of Mahatma Gandhi resonate strongly with the UN’s principles. The United Nations designated Gandhi’s birthday, October 2, as the “International Day of Nonviolence” in 2007.
  • The United Nations General Assembly recognised June 21st to be International Yoga Day in 2014.

 

UN Challenges & Reforms:

UN Administrative & Financial-Resources Challenges:

  • Development Reform: A new generation of country teams, centred on a strategic UN Development Assistance Framework and led by an impartial, independent, and empowered resident coordinator, will be required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030), which will necessitate significant changes to the UN Development System (UNDS).
  • To meet global issues and stay relevant in a fast-changing world, the UN must empower management and staff, simplify processes, boost accountability and transparency, and improve the delivery of our mandates.
  • In the running of the entire UN system, there are issues about boosting efficiency, avoiding duplication, and minimising waste.
  • Financial Resources: The capacity to pay principle should be the essential underpinning of Member States’ contributions.
  • Because payment delays have generated an unprecedented financial crisis in the UN system, Member States should pay their contributions unconditionally, in full, and on schedule.
  • Financial changes are crucial to the world body’s future. The UN’s activities and role would decline if it had appropriate resources.

 

 

 

Peace and Security issues:

  • Poverty, disease, and environmental breakdown (the threats to human security identified in the Millennium Development Goals), conflict between states, violence and massive human rights violations within states, terrorism threats from organised crime, and the proliferation of weapons – particularly WMD, but also conventional – are among the potential threats to peace and security that the UN must deal with.
  • Terrorism: Countries that assist organisations that are popularly associated with terrorism, such as Pakistan, are not held specifically responsible for their conduct. The United Nations still lacks a precise definition of terrorism and has no plans to develop one.
  • Nuclear Proliferation: 190 countries joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970. Despite the treaty, nuclear weapons stockpiles remain large, and several countries continue to develop these lethal weapons. The failure of the non-proliferation treaty demonstrates the UN’s ineffectiveness and inability to enforce critical laws and regulations on violating countries.

 

Security Council reforms:

  • The Security Council’s composition has stayed virtually unchanged, despite the fact that the UN General Assembly’s membership has grown significantly.
  • The Security Council was increased from 11 to 15 members in 1965. The number of permanent members remained unchanged. The Council’s size has remained unchanged since then.
  • The Council’s representative character has been harmed as a result of this. An expanded Council will have more political influence and legitimacy since it will be more representative.
  • Along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan, India has been advocating for UN Security Council reform (G-4). The four countries are backing each other’s aspirations for permanent seats in the United Nations’ top council.
  • Any expansion of permanent members’ category must be based on an agreed criteria, rather than be a pre-determined selection.

 

UNSC Veto Power:

  • It is frequently stated that the UN’s efficacy and responsiveness to international security concerns is contingent on the UNSC veto being used wisely.
  • Veto Authority: The five permanent members have veto power, which means that if one of them votes no, the Council resolution will not be adopted, regardless of worldwide support. Even if the other fourteen countries vote in favour, a single veto will defeat this massive display of support.
  • There are several suggestions for the future of Veto power:
  • limiting the use of the veto to important national security problems; seeking multi-state agreement before wielding the veto; removing the veto entirely.
  • Any veto reform will be extremely difficult:
  • Articles 108 and 109 of the United Nations Charter offer the P5 (5 permanent members) veto power over any Charter revisions, requiring them to approve any changes to the UNSC veto power they wield.

 

Non-Conventional Challenges:

Since its inception, the United Nations has worked to maintain peace, protect human rights, create a framework for international justice, and promote economic and social growth. Climate change, refugees, and population ageing are all new domains in which it must work.

Climate Change: The effects of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in size, ranging from altering weather patterns that jeopardise food production to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding. Adapting to these repercussions in the future will be more difficult and costly if dramatic action is not taken today.

Growing population: Within the next 15 years, the world’s population is expected to grow by more than one billion people, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, then 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion by 2100.

To avoid reaching unsustainable levels, the global population growth rate must be drastically slowed.

Population Aging: It is on track to become one of the most significant social transformations of the twenty-first century, affecting nearly every aspect of society, including labour and financial markets, demand for goods and services such as housing, transportation, and social protection, as well as family structures and intergenerational ties.

Refugees: The world is experiencing unprecedented levels of displacement.

At the end of 2016, violence and persecution prompted an unprecedented 65.6 million people to flee their homes around the world.

Nearly 22.5 million refugees, more than half of whom are under the age of 18, are among them.

There are also ten million stateless persons who have been denied a nationality and essential rights like education, healthcare, employment, and mobility.

 

Conclusion:

  • Despite its numerous flaws, the United Nations has played a critical role in making human society more civilised, peaceful, and secure since its inception during the Second World War.
  • As the world’s greatest democratic body of all nations, the United Nations bears a significant responsibility to humanity in terms of fostering democratic societies, assisting people living in extreme poverty, and conserving the Earth’s ecosystem in the face of climate change.

MCQs for practice:

 

  1. Consider the following statements regarding United Nations:
  2. The United Nations (UN) is a global organisation that was established in 1945.
  3. It has currently 193 countries.
  4. All the members of UNSC have Veto power.

Select the incorrect statement:

  1. 1 only
  2. 1&2 only
  3. 3 only
  4. 1&3 only

 

Correct answer: C

 

  • The United Nations (UN) is a global organisation that was established in 1945. There are currently 193 countries.
  • Its mission and work are directed by the founding Charter’s aims and principles, which are carried out through its numerous organisations and specialised agencies.
  • UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States with veto power.

 

 

  1. Which of the following are main organs functioning of the UN are
  2. the Security Council,
  3. the Economic and Social Council,
  4. the Trusteeship Council,
  5. the International Court of Justice,

Select the correct option:

  1. 1, 2, 3 only
  2. 2, 3, 4 only
  3. 1, 2, 4 only
  4. All of the above

Correct answer: C

Main organs of the UN are

  1. the General Assembly,
  2. the Security Council,
  3. the Economic and Social Council,
  4. the Trusteeship Council,
  5. the International Court of Justice,
  6. the UN Secretariat.

 

Trusteeship Council:

  • The United Nations Charter, Chapter XIII, established it in 1945.
  • The Trusteeship Council of the United Nations has administrative power over non-self-governing territories.
  • A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for specific regions that were transferred from one country to another after World War I, or legal instruments that included the internationally agreed-upon terms for managing the territory on behalf of the League of Nations.
  • When the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946, United Nations trust areas were established to replace the remaining League of Nations mandates.
  • It had to offer international oversight for 11 Trust Territories that had been put under the administration of seven Member States, as well as ensuring that proper preparations for self-government and independence were made.
  • By 1994, all Trust Territories had gained autonomy or self-government. On November 1, 1994, the Trusteeship Council ceased operations.