Indian Polity - International Organizations


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Introduction

  • The United Nations Organization or simply UNO/UN is regarded as the most important international organization in today’s world.

  • International organizations help with matters of war and peace as well as help countries create better living conditions for us all.

UN
  • An international organization can help to produce information and ideas about how to cooperate each other experience overall growth.

  • An international organization can also provide mechanisms, rules, and a bureaucracy, to help members have more confidence that the costs will be shared properly and to benefit governments.

  • In 1945, the UN was founded as a successor to the League of Nations.

  • The UN’s perspective is to bring countries together to improve the prospects of social and economic development all over the world.

Structure of the UNO

  • There are five important bodies of UNO, as shown in the following diagram −

Structure of UNO
  • In the UN Security Council, there are five permanent members and ten non-permanent members.

  • The five permanent members are −

    • The United States,
    • Russia,
    • The United Kingdom,
    • France, and
    • China.
  • All these five members have the veto power.

  • The non-permanent members serve for only two years at a time and give way to newly elected members.

  • The non-permanent members are elected in a manner so that they represent all continents of the world.

  • In the UN General Assembly, all members have one vote each.

  • The Secretary-General is the head of the UN.

Functions of UN

  • The major functions of the UN are −

    • Creation of a Peacebuilding Commission.

    • Acceptance of the responsibility to the international community in case of failures of national governments to protect their own citizens from atrocities.

    • Establishment of a Human Rights Council (operational since 19 June 2006).

    • Condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, etc.

Agencies of UN

  • The UN consists of many different structures and agencies (collectively known as UN Family – shown in the map given below) and they have specialized role to play. For example −

    • World Health Organization (WHO),

    • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),

    • United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC),

    • United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),

    • United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),

    • United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), etc.

UN Agencies
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