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United Nations

is an international organization founded on 24 October 1945 to promote international cooperation.

It replaced the League of Nations, and was established after World War II to prevent similar conflicts.
At its founding, the UN had 51 member states and there are currently 193 UN members. In addition
to member states, some international organizations and inter-state organizations have permanent
observer status with offices at UN Headquarters, and some have observer status only.[2] The Vatican
and Palestine are non-member states and are "Permanent" observers (See Holy The Vatican has a
"permanent" representative at the UN, while Palestine has a "permanent" office at the UN).[3]

The United Nations Headquarters is located in New York, United States, and has extraterritoriality
rights. Other main offices are located in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is funded
from assessed, and voluntary donations from its member states.

The main objectives of the UN are:

1. Maintain world peace and security.

2. Promote and encourage fraternal relations among nations through respect for human rights.

3. Foster international cooperation in economic, social, cultural and environmental

development.

4. Become the center for harmonizing all joint actions against countries that endanger world
peace.

5. Provide humanitarian assistance in the event of famine, natural disasters and armed conflict.

During World War II, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt began talks on a successor body
to the League of Nations with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard the battleship Augusta
in Newfoundland Bay. The United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in April-June 1945.
The Charter entered into force on October 24, 1945, and the UN began operations. The first General
Assembly - attended by representatives from 51 countries - did not take place until January 10, 1946
at Church House, London.

The UN's mission to maintain world peace was initially difficult to accomplish due to the Cold War
between the United States and the Soviet Union. The UN participated in military operations in the
Korean War and Operation United Nations in the Congo, and approved the establishment of the
state of Israel in 1947. The organization's membership expanded rapidly after the decolonization
period in the 1960s, and by the 1970s the budget for economic and social development programs far
exceeded that for peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN launched military and
peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world with varying results.

The UN won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and several of its officers and agencies have also been
awarded the prize. However, there are differing opinions on the effectiveness of the UN. Some
commentators believe the organization is instrumental in maintaining peace, and promoting human
development, while others feel it is ineffective, corrupt, or biased.

History

File:Chile signs UN Charter 1945.jpgSigning of the UN Charter in San Francisco, 1945.

The League of Nations was deemed to have failed to prevent the outbreak of World War II (1939-
1945). In order to prevent the outbreak of the Third World War that all mankind did not want, in
1945 the United Nations was established to replace the failed League of Nations in order to maintain
international peace, and promote cooperation in solving international economic, social, and
humanitarian problems.

The initial concrete plans for this new world organization began under the auspices of the US State
Department in 1939. Franklin D. Roosevelt is credited with coining the term "United Nations" to
describe the Allied nations. The term was first officially used on January 1, 1942, when 26
governments pledging to continue the war effort signed the Atlantic Charter. The four agreements of
the Atlantic Charter were:

1. No attempt at territorial expansion is allowed.

2. Every nation has the right to determine its own business.

3. Every nation has the right to participate in world trade.

4. World peace must be created so that every nation lives free from fear and poverty.

As a follow-up to the Atlantic Charter, on April 25, 1945, the UN Conference on International
Organizations was held in San Francisco, attended by 50 governments, and a number of non-
governmental organizations involved in drafting the Charter of the United Nations (Declaration of
the United Nations). The UN was officially established on October 24, 1945 upon ratification of the
Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council -France, the Republic of China, the
Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States and a majority of the other 46 member
states.

The first General Assembly, with 51 state representatives, and the Security Council, was held at
Westminster Central Hall in London in January 1946.[4] The organization's seat initially used a building
owned by the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation in Lake Success, New York, from 1946 to 1952. It was
used until the UN Headquarters building in Manhattan was completed.

Since its establishment, much controversy, and criticism has been directed at the UN. In the United
States, an early rival of the UN was the John Birch Society, which started the "get US out of the UN"
campaign in 1959, and alleged that the goal of the UN was to establish a "One World Government".

After the end of the Second World War, the French Independence Committee was belatedly
recognized by the US as the official French government, so France was initially excluded from the
conference discussing the creation of the UN. Charles de Gaulle satirized the UN by calling it le
machin (in Indonesian: "The One"), and was unconvinced that a global security alliance would help
maintain world peace, preferring to believe in direct defense treaties between countries. [5]

Legal basis for establishment

Shortly after its establishment the UN sought recognition as an international legal entity in order to
receive "Indemnity to the UN for Injuries Suffered".[6] with an opinion from the International Court of
Justice (ICJ). The question that arose was "Does the UN, as an organization, have the right to pursue
an international claim against a particular government for injuries suffered by the UN, allegedly
caused by that state/government?".

The Court stated: This Organization (UN) intends to exercise rights, and obligations, and in fact is
capable of exercising obligations, and receiving certain rights which can only be explained if it has a
large capacity of international personality, and is capable of operating in the international sphere.
Thus, the Court has come to the conclusion that this Organization (UN) is an International Legal
Entity.

Official language

The UN has 6 official languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish - which are
used in intergovernmental meetings and the production of documents. [7] which are used in
intergovernmental meetings, and the production of documents. The Security Council uses two
working languages, English and French, while the General Assembly uses three working languages,
English, French and Spanish.[8]

Four of the official languages are the national languages of the permanent members of the Security
Council (the United Kingdom, and the United States each use English as a primary language) while
Spanish and Arabic are the languages of the two largest blocs of official languages outside the
permanent member states (Spanish is an official language in 20 countries, while Arabic in 26).

Five of the official languages were chosen when the UN was founded; Arabic was added later in
1973. The UN Editorial Manual states that the standard for English documents is to use British
English with Oxford Spelling.

Standard Chinese writing uses simplified Hanzi, previously using traditional Hanzi until 1971 when
the UN representation of "China" changed from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of
China.