The United Nations has four main purposes: maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations between nations, cooperating to solve international problems, and promoting respect for human rights. It is made up of over 30 affiliated organizations and provides a forum for countries to address global issues and balance national interests. While not a world government, the UN gives all member states, large and small, a voice to help resolve conflicts and formulate international policies on issues affecting humanity.

1. An introduction to
the United Nations
• Salim N
Asst. Professor and Head
PG Dept. of Public Administration
RGM Govt. College, Attappady

2. The United Nations has four purposes:
• to maintain international peace and security;
• to develop friendly relations among nations;
• to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human
rights;
• and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. Cooperating in this effort
are more than 30 affiliated organizations, known together as the UN system.

3. • The United Nations is not a world government, and it does not make laws.
• It does, however, provide the means to help resolve international conflicts
and formulate policies on matters affecting all of us.

4. • At the UN, all the Member States — large and small, rich and poor,
with differing political views and social systems — have a voice
and a vote in this process.
The United Nations gives the opportunity for countries to balance global
interdependence and national interests when addressing international problems.

5. • The UN system works to promote respect for human rights, reduce poverty,
fight disease and protect the environment.
• The United Nations leads international campaigns against drug trafficking
and terrorism.

6. • Throughout the world, the UN and its agencies help expand food
production, assist refugees, lead the fight against AIDS and set up
programmes to clear landmines, among others.

7. What is the United Nations?
• The United Nations is a unique organization of independent countries that have
come together to work for world peace and social progress.
• The Organization formally came into existence on 24 October 1945, with 51
countries considered founding Members.
• By the end of 2008, the membership of the UN had grown to 192 countries.
• Since its inception, no country has ever been expelled from membership. Indonesia
temporarily quit the UN in 1965 over a dispute with neighbouring Malaysia, but
returned the following year.

8. So, the United Nations is like a world
government?
• Wrong. Governments represent countries and peoples. The United Nations
represents neither a particular government nor any one nation.
• It represents all its Members and does only what the Member States decide
that it should do.

9. Origin
• The idea of the United Nations was born during World War II (1939-1945).
• World leaders who had collaborated to end the war felt a strong need for a
mechanism that would help bring peace and stop future wars.
• They realized that this was possible only if all nations worked together
through a global organization.
• The United Nations was to be that Organization.

10. • A similar organization, the League of Nations, was set up in 1919, following World
War I.
• Its main objective was to keep world peace.
• However, not every country joined the League.
• The United States, for example, was never a member. Others that had joined later
quit, and the League often failed to take action.
• Though it did not succeed, the League ignited a dream for a universal organization.
• The result was the United Nations.

11. The Atlantic charter:
• Even before the end of the war, in August 1941, the U.S. President, Franklin
Roosevelt, and the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, met on a
battleship, ‘the Cruiser’, in the mid-Altantic and drew up the Atlantic Charter
which was released on 14 August, 1941.

12. The Atlantic Charter had the following
objectives:
• (1) To maintain international peace and security;
• (2) To encourage international cooperation in the spheres of social,
economic and cultural developments;
• (3) To develop friendly relations among nations on principles of equal rights
and self- determination;
• (4) To recognise the fundamental rights of all people.

13. United Nations declaration or the
Washington declaration:
• On 1 January, 1942, representatives of 26 Allied countries met in Washington
and signed a Declaration of United Nations.
• The signatories endorsed the principles of the Atlantic Charter. This was the
first time that the term ‘United Nations’ was used.

14. The name “United Nations”
• The name “United Nations” was suggested by United States President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• It was first officially used in 1942, when representatives of 26 countries
signed the Declaration by United Nations.
• As a tribute to President Roosevelt, who died a few weeks before the signing
of the Charter, all those present at the San Francisco Conference agreed to
adopt the name “United Nations”.

15. • The UN Charter finally emerged after three major conferences—the
Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944), the Yalta Conference (1945) and the
San Francisco Conference (1945).
• At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference the representatives of four major
powers (Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and China) agreed on
proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the United Nations.

16. • They voted for an Assembly, a Security Council, a Secretariat and an
International Court. The Yalta Conference decided on the voting procedure
to be followed by the Security Council.

17. • Membership of the United Nations was to be opened to all peace- loving
states. Representatives of fifty nations met at San Francisco to sign the
Atlantic Charter. Poland signed it later and became one of the original 51
member states.
• The Charter had been ratified by the five big powers Britain, China, France,
the Soviet Union, and the United States and by a majority of the other
signatories.

18. • All nations pledged themselves to the UN Charter. In the UN Charter they
pledged “to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war” They
also promised to “promote social progress and better standards of life.”
• The Charter came into force on October 24, 1945 after a majority of the
signatories deposited their instruments of ratification.
• Since then every year, 24th October is celebrated as the United Nations Day.
• India had not achieved its independence by then and yet it became one of
the founder members of the United Nations.

19. Set of rules or principles that guides the
United Nations
• The Charter of the United Nations.
• It is a set of guidelines that explains the rights and duties of each Member
country, and what needs to be done to achieve the goals they have set for
themselves.
• When a nation becomes a Member of the UN, it accepts the aims and rules
of the Charter.

20. The UN Charter:
• The Charter is the Constitution of the United Nations Organisation.
• It was made in October 1944 by the Dumbarton Oaks (Washington DC)
Conference.
• It lays down the rules which govern the organisation and functions of the
UNO and all its organs.
• The Charter has a Preamble, 19 Chapters and 111 Articles which explain the
purposes, principles, organs, and operating methods of the UN.

21. Objectives of UN
• (1) To maintain international peace and security.
• (2) To develop friendly relations among nations on the basis of equality and
the principle of self-determination.
• (3) To foster worldwide cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural and
humanitarian problems.
• (4) To promote human rights and fundamental freedom for the people of
the world.

22. • (5) To serve as a centre where various nations can coordinate their activities
towards the attainment of the objectives of the United Nations.
• (6) To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

23. (B) Principles of the UN:
The principles are the means to achieve the objectives of the UN.
These are contained in Article 2 of the UN Charter:
• 1. All the member states are equal.
• 2. The member states shall fulfill their obligations to the UN honestly.
• 3. The member states shall settle their international disputes by peaceful
means.

24. • 4. The member states shall refrain in their international relations from the
threat or use of force against any other state.
• 5. The member states shall give to the UN every assistance in any action it
takes in accordance with the UN Charter.
• 6. The states which are not members of the UN, should also act in
accordance with these principles for the maintenance of international peace
and security.
• 7. No member state shall interfere in the internal affairs of any other state.

25. The United Nations Headquarters
• The United Nations Headquarters is an international zone.
• This means that the land on which the UN sits does not belong to just the United
States, the host country, but to all the Members of the United Nations.
• The UN has its own security officers who guard the area.
• It also has its own post office and issues its own stamps.
• These stamps can be used only from UN Headquarters or from UN offices in
Vienna and Geneva.

26. Headquarters of UN:
• The headquarters of UN is located at First Avenue, UN Plaza, New York the
USA.
• The UN building stand on a 17 acre tract of land donated, by John D
Rockfeller on Manhattan Island, a suburb of New York. It is a 39-storey
building which can house about 8000 employees.

27. The UN Flag:
• The UN General Assembly adopted the UN Flag on October 20, 1947. The
white UN emblem is superimposed on a light blue background.
• The emblem consists of the global map projected from the North Pole and
embraced in two Olive Branches (symbol of peace)

29. New Countries Membership in United
Nations
• Membership in the Organization, in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations, “is open to all peace-loving States that accept the obligations
contained in the United Nations Charter and, in the judgment of the
Organization, are able to carry out these obligations”.
• States are admitted to membership in the United Nations by decision of the
General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

30. Languages used by the UNO:
• The UN conducts its business in six official languages; Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish.

31. Financing of the UN
• The 192 Members of the United Nations pay for everything that the
Organization does.
• It has no other source of income.
• There are two types of budgets at the UN:
• The regular budget includes the core functions at its Headquarters in New
York and field offices around the world;

32. • The peacekeeping budget pays for various operations, often in “hot spots”
around the world.
• Payments to the UN for both budgets are compulsory.
• Members pay according to a scale of assessments agreed upon by all. This
scale is based on a country’s ability to pay, national income and population.

33. • The United Nations and all its agencies and funds spend about $30 billion
each year, or about $4 for each of the world's inhabitants.
• This is a very small sum compared to most government budgets and it is
less than three percent of the world's military spending.
• Yet for nearly two decades, the UN has faced financial difficulties and it has
been forced to cut back on important programs in all areas, even as new
mandates have arisen

34. • Many member states have not paid their full dues and have cut their
donations to the UN's voluntary funds. As of December 31, 2010, members'
arrears to the Regular Budget topped $348 million, of which the US owed
80%.

35. Is the United Nations a good value for the
money?
• The regular budget for the United Nations is approved by the General
Assembly for a two-year period.
• The budget approved for 2008-2009 was $4.17 billion, which pays for UN
activities, staff and basic infrastructure.
• Citizens of the United States spend approximately the same amount on cut
flowers and potted plants each year.

36. • For peacekeeping, the budget for the year from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008
was about $6.8 billion. This represented 0.5% of global military spending,
estimated at $1,339 billion in 2007.
• That amount would pay for the entire UN system for more
• than 65 years. Peacekeeping is far cheaper than war and is good value for
money!

37. • The four largest contributors to the United Nations – the US (22% of
the UN budget), China (12.005%), Japan (8.564%) and Germany (6.090%)
– together finance some 49% of the entire UN budget.