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Exploring the United Nations

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Exploring the United Nations Exploring the United Nations Global citizenship is an awareness of the world as a global community, recognizing the rights and responsibilities of citizens within it and taking action The United Nations Its Structure, Goals and Accomplishments The U.N: Historical Background i) The League of Nations RIP: 1919-1946 ii) The UN – est. Oct 24,1945 - originally 51, now 193 The UN Structure The Secretariat ■ The executive branch of the UN which oversees programmes and policies and carries out day to day operations ■ The Secretariat employees @9,000 people ■ staff’s loyalty is to the UN, not an individual country Secretary General ■ “Chief Administrative Officer” of Secretariat ■ Nominated by, but not from, Security Council ■ Appointed by General ■ Trygve Lie (Norway) Assembly for five year ■ Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden) terms – can serve two ■ U Thant (Burma) ■ Kurt Waldheim (Austria) ■ Regional rotation, must ■ Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru) speak English or French ■ Boutros-Butros Ghali (Egypt) ■ Can be activist but ■ Kofi Annan (Ghana) neutral ■ Ban Ki-Moon (South Korea) ■ António Guterres (Portugal) See António Guterres: https://youtu.be/FNfSEI-kFEk General Assembly ■ Operates like a global town hall ■ Members can bring ideas forward to all for open discussion ■ 193 members, each with one vote ■ Approves budget, establishes agencies and programmes, elects members to serve on those agencies and coordinates programmes through various committees The Security Council ■ Responsible for maintaining international peace ■ 15 members: ■ 5 permanent: China, France, Russia, UK, US ■ 10 non-permanent members rotate – two year terms ■ 9 votes required to pass a resolution. Permanent members have a veto ■ Most powerful body of the UN Economic and Social Council Millennium Goals See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrSQcEcs8KM UN Programmes and Funds The UN system (unofficially, the "UN family") is made up of the UN itself and many affiliated programmes, funds, and specialized agencies, all with their own membership, leadership, and budget. Programmes and funds are financed through voluntary contributions (rather than mandatory contributions assessed based on GDP). A few examples of UN programmes and funds include: ● UNICEF: The United Nations Children's Fund ● UNHCR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ● WFP: The World Food Programme ● UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme UN Specialized Agencies UN specialized agencies are autonomous organizations that work with the United Nations. Some existed before WWI, some were associated with the League of Nations, while others were created almost simultaneously with the UN. Still more were created by the UN to meet emerging needs. Just a few examples of specialized agencies include: ● World Bank ● IMF: International Monetary Fund ● WHO: World Health Organization ● UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ● WFP: The World Food Programme ● UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme Human Rights ■ 1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights Conventions ■ 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women ■ 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development ■ 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The U.N: Accomplishments Signs of Success: Achievements: ■ Five Nobel prizes ■ avoided WWIII ■ Number of members ■ international law has tripled ■ human rights ■ Gained international ■ socio-economic respect development ■ democratization ■ decolonization.
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