United Nation And Its Organs

• The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the World War II.
• Its charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945 and came into existence on October 24, 1945 after 51 countries has signed the charter.
• Its predecessor, the League of Nations, created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was disbanded in 1946.
• Its mission is to maintain international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
• Headquarter - New York
• Official Languages - Arabic, English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian
• Members - 193 (Latest Member South Sudan)
• Secretary General - Antonio Guterres (Portugal)

UN organs 

1. UN-General Assembly

• It is the main deliberative organ and composed of all member states, each of which has one vote.
•  General Assembly appoints Secretary General of UN based on the recommendations given by Security Council.
• General Assembly elects Non-Permanent members in Security Council and elects Members for Social and Economic Council.Along with Security Council, General Assemble elects Judges to International Court of Justice.
• Decision on important questions such as those on peace and security, UN budget, admission, suspension and expulsion of members to various organs of UN requires special majority.
• Make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council.
• UN budget – United Nation is funded by its member states through compulsory and voluntary contributions.
• The size of each state’s compulsory contribution depends mainly on its economic strength, though its state of development and debt situation are also taken into account and member countries can make voluntary contribution to UNESCO, WHO, UN Programmes and Funds such as Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

2. United Nation Security Council (UNSC)

• The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of International peace and security.

• The council has 15 members : 5 Permanent – US, UK, Russia, France and China and 10 members elected by the General Assembly for 2-year terms.
  
  
• While other organs of the UN can only make ―recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions on member states.
• All the members have one vote and permanent members have veto power.
• Decisions on procedural matters should have vote of at least 9 of the 15 members and decision on substantive matters require nine votes and the absence of negative vote by any of the 5 permanent members.
• The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month.
•  G4 Nations – 4 countries bids for permanent seats in UNSC. Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.
•  Uniting for Consensus (Coffee Club) – These are group of countries who are opposing the expansion of permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council under the leadership of Italy.
•  Other Members in Coffee Club - Spain, Malto, San Marino , Pakistan , South Korea, Canada , Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Turkey.

3. Economic and Social Council

• It is the principal organ to coordinate the economic, social and related work of the United Nations and the specialized agencies and institutions.
• It has 54 members, which are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term and Seats in the council are allocated based on geographical representation.
• The president is elected for a one-year term and voting in the Council is by simple majority; each member has one vote.

4. Secretariat

• It undertakes the day-to-day work of the UN, administering the programmes and policies of the organization.
• It is headed by the Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide.

5. International Court of Justice

• It is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It is located at The Hague, in the Netherlands.
• It settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions to the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
• It is composed of 15 judges appointed by the General assembly with the term of 9 years. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation.
• It hear cases related to war crimes, illegal state interference, ethnic cleansing, and other issues.
• The Court settles legal disputes between nations only and not between individuals, in accordance with international law. If a country does not wish to take part in a proceeding it does not have to do so, unless required by special treaty provisions. Once a country accepts the Court's jurisdiction, it must comply with its decision.
• The Court can only hear a dispute when requested to do so by one or more States. It cannot deal with a dispute of its own motion.