The United Nations (UN): what is it and how does it work

The United Nations (UN): what is it and how does it work

Last Tuesday in new York opened the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, but all the fun planned for this week.

For example, today, Donald trump for the first time gave a short speech at the headquarters of the UN summit, dedicated to the reform of the organization. Incidentally, the initiator of this meeting was the United States.

The United Nations (UN): what is it and how does it work

The President criticized the UN for “bureaucracy and bad governance”and made it clear that the annual contributions to the budget of the organization are for the United States, the largest contributor of the UN, the “disproportionate burden”.

On the need for “effective and meaningful reform,” said antónio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General. The summit was attended by representatives of more than 120 countries.

But before to change anything, it would be good to refresh your memoryas to what was created by the United Nations. And talk about this further.

First, it is worth mentioning that the UN was founded by combining the efforts of USA, USSR, Britain, China and France to maintain peace and security during the Second world war.

For several years, representatives of anti-Hitler coalition met regularly in different parts of the world at conferences, and the outcome of these meetings was the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations. This happened on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco.

The Charter entered into force already after the war, on 24 October 1945. Now this date is celebrated worldwide as United Nations Day.

Now the organization is composed of 193 States, and she, as claimed by Soviet and Russian scientist and international lawyer Lukashuk I. I., “represents the core of the global system of international organizations”.

One of the important achievements of the UN was the adoption in 1948 of the universal Declaration of human rights proclaimed the necessity of protecting the right to life, liberty and personal integrity of each individual.

The main organs of the UN are:

  • The General Assembly
  • The Security Council
  • The economic and Social Council
  • The trusteeship Council
  • The International Court Of Justice
  • The Secretariat

Consider the most important. First of all, we should start with the General Assembly, which became the only body of the UN, where consist of all member States and have a equal position.

During its annual ordinary, special and extraordinary sessions of the General Assembly exercises control over the activities of other bodies and make decisions on issues of international peace and security.

However, they are not legally binding, rather a recommendation for member States and the Security Council.

In turn, the Security Council is a permanent body, which has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, and is the chief Executive body of the UN. His actions are official actions of the United Nations.

And in contrast to the decisions of the General Assembly, some Security Council decisions are legally binding.

According to article 34 of the UN Charter, the Security Council may investigate any dispute or any situationwhich might lead to international friction or cause dispute, for determining whether or not the continuation of this dispute or situation threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

As for violators of international peace and security, the security Council has the right to apply economic and military measures.

For example, in 2006 it adopted a resolution which banned the import of nuclear technology in Iran and led to the freezing of Bank accounts of companies associated with the nuclear programme of the state. And in 2011, the Security Council imposed sanctions against the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

The Security Council consists of 15 member States, five of them (USA, Russia, Britain, China, France) are permanent and have veto power, and the rest are elected by the General Assembly for two years.

The chief Executive officer of the UN is the Secretary-General, who is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The term of office is five years.

Every year he prepares for Assembly a report on the work of the entire organization, shall appoint the staff of the UN Secretariat, reports to the Security Council on issues that he believes could threaten the world, and can be a mediator in the dispensation of conflict situations between States.

From 1 January 2017 this position is held by antónio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal.

Donald trump was not the first, who chided the UN bureaucracy and pointed to high spending from the budget. It has long been known weaknesses of the organization.

In addition, you can even specify that NATO is gradually «overshadows» the UN, when the situation requires action to prevent war.

In fact, a growing need for change in the structure and work of the UN say is not the first year. Among the reforms proposed by the working group of the General Assembly, is the enlargement of the Security Council to 20and increasing the number of its permanent members (by including Japan, Brazil, Germany and India).

Recently quite often discussed the possibility of introducing in the composition of the Security Council countries with an Islamic majority, but opinions differ on this issue.

Also an important direction for UN reform is the enhancement of its authority by extending the powers of the organization.

Source