UNderstanding the United Nations

By Tara Kwan on August 29, 2015

The UN flag flying proudly. Source: UN.org

The UN was a hot news topic earlier this summer when news broke out that one of its interns, a New Zealander by the name of David Hyde, was found to be living in a tent while doing his unpaid internship with the UN in Geneva. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the acronym “UN”, it stands for United Nations and here are 7 basic facts about the UN to help you gain better UNderstanding of the United Nations- what it is and what it does.

1. The term “United Nations” was coined by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt first used this term in the Declaration of the United Nations of January 1, 1942 during World War II where representatives from 26 nations came together and pledged that their governments would continue to cooperate with each other to fight the Axis Powers.

2. The UN was founded in 1945 and its main headquarters is in New York. 

Prior to the UN, the League of Nations was formed in 1919 in the aftermath of World War I as a provision in the Treaty of Versailles in order to “promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security”. However, the League of Nations was ineffective in its goals and it ceased to function after its failure to prevent World War II. After World War II, there was another attempt to establish a similar organization. Representatives from 50 countries gathered in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to create the United Nations Charter.

The United Nations was officially established when China, France, the Soviet Union, United States, and a majority of the countries ratified it on October 24, 2015. To this day, the United Nations Day is celebrated every October 24th of the year. The main UN headquarters are in New York City in New York but there are other offices in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna.

Essentially, the UN is an international organization with the goals as stated in the United Nations Charter to “maintain international peace and security”, “develop friendly relations among nations”, “to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems”, and “be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends”.

3. The UN has 193 Member States.

A common misconception all countries are members of the UN. However, this is not the case as, according to the U.S. State Department, there are 195 independent states in the world and the UN has 193 Member States. States become Member States by a decision made by the General Assembly upon a recommendation by the Security Council. All Member States are a part of the General Assembly.

193 Member States is quite a big number so they are not listed out. If you are curious about which countries are actually member states, please click here.

4. The UN has 6 Main Organs which it is composed of.

The UN is made up of 6 different main bodies: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. These main organs were established when the UN was founded in 1945. For a more detailed description of what each main organ does, please click here.

5. The Secretary-General is seen as the leader of the UN.

The Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat and described by the UN Charter as the “chief administrative officer” of the organization who shall act in that capacity and perform “such other functions as are entrusted” to him or her by the UN’s main organs. The Secretary-General also symbolizes the UN’s ideals and is a spokesperson for the interest of the world’s people, especially the poor and vulnerable.

The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly following a recommendation by the Security Council so he or she can by any of the 5 permanent members by the Security Council. Each term lasts 5 years and there are no term limits but no one has served more than 2 terms yet.

The current and 8th Secretary-General is Republic of Korea’s Ban-Ki Moon who has held the office since January 1, 2007.

6. The UN has 6 official languages.

The official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The 6 languages are vital to the UN as the correct interpretation and translation of these languages ensure clear communication of global issues. Delegates may speak any one of these official languages and they are translated simultaneously in the other official languages. Most UN documents are translated in these 6 official languages as well.

7. The UN has a logo and flag.

A team of designer led by Oliver Lincoln Lundquist designed the original UN logo during the United Nations Conference on International Organization in 1945 and it was approved on December 7, 1946. The design is “a map of the world representing an azimuthal equidistant projection centred on the North Pole, inscribed in a wreath consisting of crossed conventionalized branches of the olive tree, in gold on a field of smoke-blue with all water areas in white. The projection of the map extends to 60 degrees south latitude, and includes five concentric circles”. The UN flag has the UN logo in white on a light blue field.

For more information about the UN, you can visit its website at http://www.un.org/en/index.html.

Sources: United Nations, CNN, U.S. State Department, and Washington Post

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