United Nations Information
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, and human rights issues. It was founded in 1945 with the signing of the United Nations Charter by 51 countries.
The UN was founded after the end of World War II (October 24,1945) by the victorious Allied Powers in the hope that it would act to intervene in conflicts between nations and thereby avoid war. The organization's structure still reflects in some ways the circumstances of its founding. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each of which has veto power on any UN resolution, are the main victors of World War II or their successor states: the People's Republic of China (formerly the Republic of China), France, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, and the United States.
There are currently 193 United Nations member states, encompassing almost every recognized independent state. From its headquarters in New York City, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout each year. The United Nations is divided into five major administrative organs - the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the Economic and Social Council. Additional bodies deal with the governance of all other United Nations system organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who attained the post on 1 January 2007. The newest Member State is South Sudan. It was added on July 2011.
More about the United Nations...Selected article
The United Nations General Assembly (GA, UNGA) is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. The General Assembly meets under its president in regular yearly sessions which last from September to December, although it can reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. Voting in the General Assembly on important questions – recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; budgetary matters – is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country has one vote. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.
More articles...Selected biography
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (born 14 November 1922) is an Egyptian diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1992 to 1 January 1997. Before being elected in 1991, he was Egypt's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and played a part in the peace agreements between Egypt and Israel.
Serving only one five-year term at the UN, Boutros-Ghali's time in office was controversial, and he became entangled in controversies relating to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, the Angolan civil war, and the Yugoslav wars. A 1996 resolution granting him a second term was vetoed by the United States, and he was subsequently succeed by Kofi Annan the following year.
More biographies...Selected image
| At the UN Security Council in February 2003, Colin Powell, then United States Secretary of State, holds up a model vial of anthrax, while arguing that Iraq is likely to possess Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Photo credit: United States Government |
Selected quote
| "The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." — Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General from 1953 to 1961 |
News
Wikinews on the United Nations- March 30: Report indicates continued severe weather problems still looming
- March 18: Imminent danger of famine in the Sahel
- March 18: North Korea plans to launch long-range rocket
- March 5: UNICEF: An increasing number of children are living in slums
- March 4: China asks Syrian regime and opposition to cease fire
- February 20: UK politician foresees nuclear Iran triggering new Middle Eastern cold war
- February 5: UN resolution on Syria vetoed by Russia and China
- January 29: New York police confirm cocaine shipment seizure at UN Headquarters
- January 13: Observing the 2012 Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the US, and wider world
- January 3: Two Syrian journalists killed around New Year's Day
Did you know?
- ...that the Palais des Nations in Geneva was the headquarters of the UN's predecessor organization, the League of Nations?
- ...that the term "United Nations" was first used by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II to mean the Allied powers?
- ...that the 2005 World Summit at the UN headquarters was the largest gathering of world leaders in history? More DYKs...
Things you can do
- To create: Index of thematic areas to help sorting out resolutions, see screen-scraped examples
- To expand: Anything in , Security Council Resolutions, General Assembly Resolutions, Canada and the United Nations
- To de-redlink: List of UN peacekeeping missions, International observance,
- To tag: Complete Category:United Nations General Assembly observers and find other categories, any articles that appear in the UN footer with project notice, pages that link to the UN Portal, stub tags to any short UN related articles that need them
Other projects
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Topics
UN
- United Nations General Assembly - United Nations General Assembly resolution - President of the United Nations General Assembly - United Nations member states - United Nations General Assembly observers - List of emergency special sessions of the United Nations General Assembly - International Law Commission - Peacebuilding Commission - United Nations Human Rights Council - United Nations Population Fund - United Nations Commission on International Trade Law - United Nations Administrative Tribunal - United Nations Convention Against Torture - Sixth Committee (Legal)
- United Nations Security Council - United Nations Security Council veto power - List of elected members of the United Nations Security Council - United Nations Security Council resolution - Timeline of United Nations peacekeeping missions - International Criminal Court - Counter-Terrorism Committee - Oil-for-Food Programme - United Nations Protection Force - United Nations Special Commission - United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission - United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
- United Nations Secretariat - United Nations Secretariat Building - United Nations Interpretation Service - United Nations Statistical Commission - Commission on Population and Development
- International Court of Justice - Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice - List of International Court of Justice cases - Judges of the International Court of Justice
- Economic and Social Council - United Nations Commission on Human Rights - Commission on Sustainable Development - United Nations Commission on the Status of Women - United Nations Statistical Commission - United Nations Statistics Division
Specialized agencies
- United Nations Atomic Energy Commission - United Nations Compensation Commission - Food and Agriculture Organization - International Agency for Research on Cancer - International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology - International Fund for Agriculture Development - International Labour Organization - International Maritime Organization - International Monetary Fund - International Refugee Organization - International Trade Centre - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS - Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Peacebuilding Commission - UNESCO - United Nations Children's Fund - United Nations Commission on Human Rights - United Nations Commission on International Trade Law - United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space - United Nations Department of Political Affairs - United Nations Development Programme - United Nations Environment Programme - United Nations International Drug Control Programme - UNOSAT - United Nations Population Fund - United Nations University - United Nations Volunteers - World Bank - World Health Organization - World Intellectual Property Organization - World Meteorological Organization - World Tourism Organization - more...
Functions
- Diplomacy - Secretary-General of the United Nations - List of ambassadors to the United Nations - List of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations
- Peacekeeping, security and disarmament - List of United Nations peacekeeping missions - Timeline of United Nations peacekeeping missions - Department of Peacekeeping Operations - General Assembly First Committee - United Nations Medal - Peace enforcement
- Human rights - Universal Declaration of Human Rights - United Nations Human Rights Council - United Nations Commission on Human Rights - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Convention on the Rights of the Child - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women - International human rights instruments
- Social and economic development - Millennium Development Goals - United Nations Development Programme - UNAIDS - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - World Bank Group - International Monetary Fund - Bretton Woods system - Human Development Index - United Nations Millennium Declaration - List of delegates to the Millennium Summit - Commission on Sustainable Development - Rome Statute
- Decolonization - Trusteeship Council - Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples - Special Committee on Decolonization - United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories
History
- History of the United Nations - League of Nations - Declaration by United Nations - United Nations Conference on International Organization - Dumbarton Oaks Conference - Charter of the United Nations - Oil-for-Food Programme
Categories
▼ United Nations ► United Nations awards ► United Nations Charter ► United Nations conferences ► United Nations documents ► United Nations geoscheme ► History of the United Nations ► International Atomic Energy Agency ► United Nations-related lists ► United Nations media ► Member states of the United Nations ► Model United Nations ► UN numbers ► United Nations observances ► Organizations established by the United Nations ► United Nations organs ► United Nations peacekeeping ► United Nations people ► United Nations posts ► United Nations properties ► United Nations relations ► United Nations schools ► United Nations General Assembly subsidiary organs ►Associated Wikimedia
| UN on Wikinews | UN on Wikiquote | UN on Wikibooks | UN on Wikisource | UN on Wiktionary | UN on Wikiversity | UN on Commons |
| News | Quotations | Manuals & Texts | Texts | Definitions | Resources | Images & Media |
- What are portals?
- List of portals
- Featured portals
Categories:
|