International Organizations

Introduction

· The United Nations Organization or simply UNO/UN is regarded as the most important international organization in today’s world.

· International organizations help with matters of war and peace as well as help countries create better living conditions for us all.

· An international organization can help to produce information and ideas about how to cooperate each other experience overall growth.

· An international organization can also provide mechanisms, rules, and a bureaucracy, to help members have more confidence that the costs will be shared properly and to benefit governments.

· In 1945, the UN was founded as a successor to the League of Nations.

· The UN’s perspective is to bring countries together to improve the prospects of social and economic development all over the world.

Structure of the UNO

· There are five important bodies of UNO, as shown in the following diagram −

· In the UN Security Council, there are five permanent members and tennon-permanent members.

· The five permanent members are −

• The United States,
• Russia,
• The United Kingdom,
• France, and
• China.

· All these five members have the veto power.

· The non-permanent members serve for only two years at a time and give way to newly elected members.

· The non-permanent members are elected in a manner so that they represent all continents of the world.

· In the UN General Assembly, all members have one vote each.

· The Secretary-General is the head of the UN.

Functions of UN

· The major functions of the UN are −

o Creation of a Peacebuilding Commission.

o Acceptance of the responsibility to the international community in case of failures of national governments to protect their own citizens from atrocities.

o Establishment of a Human Rights Council (operational since 19 June 2006).

o Condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, etc.

Agencies of UN

· The UN consists of many different structures and agencies (collectively known as UN Family – shown in the map given below) and they have specialized role to play. For example −

o World Health Organization (WHO),

o United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),

o United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC),

o United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),

o United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),

o United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), etc.