The United Nations

The United Nations
In 1945, delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco, California, to make plans
for an organization called the United Nations. World War II had just ended, millions of
people had died, and there was destruction everywhere. People hoped they could build
a future of world peace through this new organization.
The charter of the United Nations (UN) states the four main goals and purposes of
the organization.
They are
1) To work together for international peace and to solve international problems;
2) To develop friendly relations among nations;
3) To work together for human rights for everyone of all races, religions, languages,
and of both sexes; and
4) To build a center where nations can work together for these goals.
The United Nations has grown from an organization of 51 countries in 1945 to 191
nations in 2004. Today, almost every country that joins the United Nations signs an
agreement that says:
1) All members are equal.
2) All members promise to solve international problems in a peaceful way.
3) No member will use force against another member.
4) All members will help the UN in its actions.
5) The UN will not try to solve problems within countries except to enforce
international peace.
The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. This is where the
General Assembly, the main body of the United Nations, meets every year from
September to December. The General Assembly is made up of representatives from
each member country, who discuss issues related to peace and security and make
recommendations. However, the General Assembly doesn’t have the power to enforce
its recommendations. A second UN body, the 15-member Security Council, has the
main responsibility for maintaining international peace. Five members - Britain, China,
France, the Russian Federation, and the United States - are permanent members of the
Security Council. The remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly and
serve two-year terms. A third organ of the UN, the Economic and Social Council, is
responsible for the social and economic work of the UN.
Over the years, the United Nations has had some successes in its role of world
peacemaker. It has negotiated 172 peaceful settlements and helped to end two wars.
It has also helped to slow the spread of nuclear weapons by inspecting nuclear
facilities in 90 countries.
As a peacekeeper, the UN has also had a number of successes. Since 1945, UN
peacekeeping forces have been involved in 56 missions. They have supervised
ceasefires and the withdrawal of troops, and they have monitored elections. Over the
years, roughly 130 nations have participated in the peacekeeping missions. In 1988, the
UN Peacekeeping forces received the Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately, member
nations have been unwilling to give UN peacekeeping forces the independence and
financial support they need to be even more effective.
In evaluating the success of the UN, it’s important to keep in mind that the
organization had many functions in addition to preventing or ending wars. The United
Nations is really a “family” of related organizations, which are working to provide a
better life for people everywhere. One part of the UN family is UNICEF, an organization
that provides food, medical care, and many other services to poor children wherever
they live. Thanks to the efforts of UNICEF, the immunization rate of children in
developing countries has jumped from 5 percent in 1974 to more than 80 percent today.
Another part of the UN family is the World Health Organization (WHO), which develops
medical programs for people all over the world. In 1980, WHO announced that,after 13
years of work, it had succeeded in ridding the world of the disease smallpox.
To support its humanitarian efforts, the UN employs thousands of people all around
the world. They work as planners to increase production in farming and industry. They
provide medical services, improve education programs, and spread scientific
information. They develop programs that provide jobs and better living conditions. They
also help countries control their population growth.
The United Nations also organizes large international conferences, where people
meet to discuss important world issues. One conference was about the uses and
ownership of oceans; another was about women. The United Nations also designates a
specific problem for people to focus on each year. For example, the year 2003 was
declared the International Year of Fresh Water. During these special years, people work
together to find solutions to the designated problems.
Many people believe that the best way for the United Nations to work for world peace
is through its humanitarian activities. They hope that promoting contact and
communication among people will make wars less likely.
Words:
Delegate - a person chosen or elected by a g roup to s peak, v ote, etc. for them,
especially at a m
eeting.
Charter - a f ormal statement of the rights of a country's people, or of an
organization or a particular social g
roup, that is agreed by or demanded from a r uler or
government
Headquarter - to have the main o ffices of an organization in a p articular p lace
Representative - someone who speaks or does something o fficially for another
person or g
roup of people
Enforce - to make sure that people obey something such as a l aw or r ule
Maintain - to continue to have; to k eep in existence, or not allow to become less
Peacemaker - a person who t ries to stop people from arguing or fighting
Negotiated - happening or existing as a r esult of f ormal d iscussions
Settlement - an official agreement that f inishes an a rgument
Nuclear (weapons) - relating to the power produced when the c entral part of an
atom is d
ivided or j oined to another one
Peacekeeper - a person who t ries to prevent or stop arguments or fighting
between two or more people or groups
Supervise - to manage a department, project, etc. and make sure that things are
done correctly and according to the rules
Withdrawal (troops) - the a ct of s topping something from h appening or being
available
Prevent - to s top something from h appening or someone from doing something
Immunization - the process of protecting a person or a nimal from an infectious
disease by putting a substance into the body that makes it produce antibodies (=
proteins in the b
lood that fight disease)
Smallpox - an extremely infectious disease that causes a fever, spots on the skin,
eath.
and often d

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