Notes-Class 9-Political Science-Chapter-4-The United Nations(UN)-Maharashtra Board

Topics to be learn :

Background
Chronology of the establishment of the United Nations
Objectives of the United Nations
Structure of the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
United Nations and preservation of peace
The United Nations and India

The United Nations, an international organisation was established to ensure peace and security at the international level.

The United Nations: A Background :

After the First World War, the League of Nations was established as a mechanism to establish world peace. However, the League of Nations did not succeed.
In the Second World War, the use of nuclear weapons was made.
The idea that such destructive wars should be stopped and that it is the collective responsibility of all nations to maintain peace took roots.
The United Nations was established to instil this understanding among all nations.

Chronology of the establishment of the United Nations :

The Atlantic Charter (Treaty) was signed by Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of ‘England and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of America on 14th August, 1941.
A decision was taken to set up a permanent mechanism to establish international security after the Second World War.
In the conferences of the Allied Powers in 1944 and 1945, a draft treaty to establish an international organisation was prepared after detailed discussions.
At San Francisco, in 1945, representatives of fifty countries drafted the Charter of the United Nations.
The United Nations Charter was signed on 24^th October 1945 and the United Nations was established.

United Nations :

The United Nations is the world’s largest international organisation.
It is an international organisation of all sovereign nations.
In the beginning, only 50 countries were members of the United Nations. Today, this number has gone up to 193.
All these member nations come together on the platform of the United Nations.

The Objectives of the United Nations :

The Objectives of the United Nations :

To establish friendly relations among nations.
To enhance international security by solving international disputes.
To safeguard and foster human rights and freedom.
To enhance economic cooperation at the international level.

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Duties of member countries :

To respect the diplomatic privileges of sovereign nations.
Not to attack other countries.
To abide by international laws and treaties.

Principles of United Nations :

All member nations will have the same status. There is no discrimination among nations based on geographical size, economic or military power.
All member nations of the United Nations should respect the freedom and geographical unity of other member nations.
All member nations should solve their international disputes and disagreements by peaceful means.

Structure of the United Nations :

The headquarters of the United Nations is at New York.
English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic are the official languages of the United Nations.

The United Nations Charter describes the structure and functioning of the organisation :

The United Nations has six main organs :

(i) General Assembly :

(i) General Assembly :

All the member countries are members of the General Assembly.
The position and status of all countries, whether rich or poor; big or small, is the same.
The annual session of the General Assembly takes place from September to December. During the session, the General Assembly discusses issues like environment, disarmament, etc.
The decisions are in the form of resolutions and are taken by majority.
It is a platform for representatives of member nations to come together and discuss issues of global importance.

Functions of General Assembly :

To elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council.
To choose the United Nations Secretary General and the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in consultation with the Security Coundl
To pass the annual budget of the United Nations.

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(ii) Security Council :

(ii) Security Council :

There are 15 members in the Security Council.
America, Russia, England, France and China are five permanent members of the Security Council.
The five permanent members of the Security Council have been given negative vote, known as veto. It means that if a permanent member exercises veto power, the security council cannot take a decision.
Ten are non-permanent members. The non-permanent members are chosen every two years by the General Assembly.
All decisions require the assent of all five permanent members and four non-permanent members.
If even one of the five permanent members uses veto, i.e. negative vote, the decision cannot be taken.

Functions of Security Council :

To maintain international peace and security. The Security Council can suggest and resolve conflicts by (a) intervention to establish peace, (b) imposing economic sanctions (c) military action against the aggressor nation.
To prepare policies for arms control.
To recommend to the General Assembly appointments of the judges of the International Court of Justice and the Secretary General.

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(iii) Economic and Social Council :

(iii) Economic and Social Council :

The Council consists of 54 members, selected by the General Assembly for a term of three years.
Every year, one-third of the members are elected.
The decisions are taken by majority vote.
Its main objective is to co-ordinate the economic and social activities of the United Nations.

Functions of Economic and Social Council:

Initiate discussions at the global level on poverty, unemployment, economic and social inequality and suggest policies to tackle these problems.
Discuss and take decisions on empowerment of women, human rights and freedom, global trade, health related issues.
Make efforts to establish international cultural and educational cooperation.
Coordinate the functioning of the affiliated organisations.

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(iv) International Court of Justice :

(iv) International Court of Justice :

International Court of Justice is located at The Hague in the Netherlands.
It is the judicial branch of the United Nations.
It consists of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly on the recommendations of the Security Council for a period of nine years.

Functions :

To settle the disputes between two or more member nations of the United Nations.
To interpret international law authentically.
To advise the various organs or subsidiary bodies of the United Nations about legal issues.

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(v) Trusteeship Council :

(v) Trusteeship Council :

The responsibility of administration and development of the undeveloped territories was assigned to the developed countries as ‘Trust territories‘.
Once the Trust territories attain independence, help them to establish democracy.
With the grant of independence to Palau island in the Pacific on the 1st November, 1994, the work of the Trusteeship Council has ended.

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(vi) Secretariat :

(vi) Secretariat :

The Secretariat is the administrative organ of the United Nations.
It is headed by the Secretary General.
He is elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for five years.

The functions of the Secretary General :

To call international conferences on global problems like climate change, human rights, disarmament, etc.
To organise the meetings of the General Assembly and Security Council.
To compile information.
To supply information to the media.

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International Criminal Court:

· The International Criminal Court is an inter-governmental organisation and an international tribunal.

· Its headquarters are at The Hague in the Netherlands.

The International Criminal Court has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that are of concern to the international community.

Affiliated organisations :

Affiliated organisations :

Apart from six major organs, there are many affiliated organisations of the United Nations. They are called specialised agencies.

The following are some of these important agencies :

International Labour Organisation, (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Bank (WB), international Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

UNICEF :

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) works towards making nutritious food and health care available to children.
It has organised many workshops in India ﬁnd out measures to overcome malnutrition among babies and children.

UNESCO :

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation works towards peace and security in the world.
It does so by promoting cooperation between member countries in the fields of education, science and culture.

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Millennium Development Goals :

In the year 2000, the United Nations member nations decided development goals for the new millennium as under :

To eliminate poverty and hunger.
To make available the facilities of primary education.
To bring about women's empowerment.
To reduce infant mortality rate.
To take special care of the health of pregnant women.
To fight diseases like AIDS, malaria, etc.
To protect the environment and increase the cooperation between developed and developing countries.

United Nations and preservation of peace :

United Nations and preservation of peace :

The objective of the United Nations is to settle international conflicts peacefully.
The United Nations Charter lays down the ways and means to be employed to achieve this goal.
The United Nations makes efforts to ensure that violence does not erupt in strife-torn areas and normalcy is restored at the earliest.
It does so by starting schools, creating awareness among the people about human rights, makes social, economic, political facilities available, conducts elections, etc.

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United Nations Peacekeeping :

The peacekeeping activity of the United Nations involves creating appropriate circumstances favourable for bringing about permanent peace in strife-torn areas.
The peacekeeping forces are sent to these areas to restore normalcy.
United Nations does not have its own force. Member nations send their troops to participate in activities monitored by the United Nations.
To solve conflicts United Nations has sent its troops to Namibia, Somalia, Thailand and Yugoslavia. India has also sent her troops to participate in various activities of peace keeping forces.

The other supplementary activities are : prevention of conflict and mediation, actually establish peace, implement the measures of Protecting peace and peace building.

The United Nations and India ;

India is a founder member of the United Nations
India has raised the issues like decolonization disarmament, racism and the issues of the developing countries on the platform of the United Nations.
India was the first country to raise the questions of racism in 1946.
India has always sent her troops to participate in the United Nations peacekeeping forces. India has sent an all-women peacekeeping force as well.
India makes serious efforts to solve international conflicts by peaceful means.

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