The United Nations A crash course Initiated this session; new to the EGP-GG-community, finding out how to work with it / As ‘International lawyer’ interested in looking at the world from a international legal and international organisational perspective / In 2020 the UN will exist 75 years; some things it has in common with the EU; people think it is bureaucratic, expensive and that it does not deliver / All of it is true, but it is ony half the story; these organisations are at the mercy of the member states to use theom or not use them for their purposes; memberstate governments use them as scapegoats for being incapable of providing solutions / They can be improved in terms of practical functioning of course, but to make the work we need to influence those taking the decisions / One difference between EU and UN is that the EU is under heavy attack, the UN is ‘forgotten’, not so much in what it does, but the system as such / I wanted to put the organisation back on the agenda.

The United Nations – a crash course Development of International diplomacy as a means of communication between nations, states Bilateral > multilateral // Ad hoc > permanent 1648 / Peace of Westphalia > ending the ‘wars of religion in Europe’ 1815 / The Congress of Vienna > after the Napoleonic wars > leading to a system of regular meetings 1865 / International Telecommunications Union 1874 / Universal Postal Union 1899-1907 / The Hague Peace Conferences 1902 / Permanent Court of Arbitration

The United Nations – a crash course 1919 / After the First World War the creation of the League of Nations at the Peace Conference of Paris as part of the Treaty of Versailles Objective: “to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security” Assembly – Council – Secretariat (Geneva) – Permanent Court – International Labour Organisation Membership: 42 founding members; US and SU absent / mainly European, some Latin American, Asian and African / 58 in 1934 System of ‘Mandates’ Failed to prevent Second World War Formally dissolved in 1946

The United Nations – a crash course During the Second World War plans were discussed for the creation of a new International Organisation 1941 / The Atlantic Charter (US – UK) on board the USS Augusta 1942 / The Declaration of the United Nations (signed by 26 countries) 1943 / Moscow and Teheran Conference 1944 / Dumbarton Oaks: the structure 1945 / Conference of Yalta: the voting 1945 / Conference of San Fransisco: Establishment of the United Nations

The United Nations – a crash course

The United Nations – a crash course Basic structure: 6 Main organs / Funds, Programmes, Specialized Agencies and others Main organs: General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, Secretariat Located in New York, Geneva, Vienna, The Hague, Addis Abeba, etc. Six official languages 11 Nobel Peace Prizes linked to the UN Total budget 22 to 25 billion USD / 5.5 for Secretariat, 7 for Peacekeeping activities

The United Nations – a crash course 51 founding member-states in 1945 / 76 member-states in 1955 / 117 member-states in 1965 / 144 member-states in 1975 / 159 member- states in 1985 UN played a very important role in the decolonisation-process 185 member-states in 1995 after breakup of SU and Yugoslavia 193 member-states in 2011 Non-members include Taiwan, Palestine, Kosovo..

The United Nations – a crash course The General Assembly All 193 member-states represented: one state one vote Meets from september to december each year Plenary sessions, as well as 6 committees Elects its own presidium per year Decisions on important questions 2/3 majority Decisions on other questions simple majority

The United Nations – a crash course The Security Council Primary responsibillity for peace and security Decisions binding on all member-states 15 members: 5 permanent, 10 elected for 2 year-periods Monthly rotating presidency Substantial decisions require 9 votes Incl. the concurring votes permanent members Sweden and Italy, Ukrain, Japan and Kazakhstan, Egypt, Ethiopia and Senegal, Bolivia and Uruguay

The United Nations – a crash course Economic and Social Council Advancing the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, environmental 54 member-states represented / one state one vote ‘Spider in the web’: coordinates, connects, moves forward, studies, reports, recommends etc. Functional commissions Regional commissions Standing committees; expert groups Relations with NGO’s: consultative status

The United Nations – a crash course International Court of Justice Principle judicial organ of the UN; deals with disputes between states Gives advisory (legal) opinions to other bodies of the UN System 15 Judges serving for terms of 9 years / Judges ad hoc per case ‘High moral character’, qualified for legal position, educated in international law Not representing their governments Around 165 cases / 26 Advisory Opinions Many cases with limited scope: maritime boundaries, frontier disputes, a road along the border, aerial herbicide spraying at the border, seizure of documents and data, diplomatic relations, extradition, etc. / Others more political: armed activities of Rwanda in The Congo, legality of the use of force (Yugoslavia vs the US, nuclear tests (new zealand vs france, / Advisory opinions also both more practical (a complaint filed against the ILO, immunity from legal process for a special rapporteur), but many heavily political (unilateral declaration of incependence of Kosovo, legal consequences of the wall on Palestine territory, legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, western sahara, south african presence in namibia etc.)

The United Nations – a crash course The Secretariat / The Secretary General

The United Nations – a crash course Secretariat Around 75.000 / 40.000 persons working for the UN Secretariat Around 34 % female staff Average age around 44 Unrepresented 19 / Underrepresented 42 / Overrepresented 28

The United Nations – a crash course Specialised Agencies, Funds and Programmes Programmes and Funds / part of the UN System / UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNCTAD, UNEP etc. Specialized agencies / autonomous entities working with the UN System / World Bank-IMF, WHO, UNESCO, ILO, FAO etc. / Also Telecommunication, Meteorology, Civilian Aviation, Intellectual Property, etc.