United Nations Part Two Continue

Introduction In Part 1 the first attempt to create a worldwide organisation was examined. The League of Nations had failed to prevent another global conflict, but it had shown the way forward. When this second world wide war was over it would be time to try again. Continue

The First Steps The first step towards the creation of the future UNITED NATIONS was made in 1942 by the nations who had allied together to fight the aggression of Germany, Japan and Italy. This was followed by the Moscow Declaration of 1943 which began to set out what the allied nations wanted to achieve. Continue

Dumbarton Oaks The main proposals for the future UNITED NATIONS were worked out a conference in 1944 held at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, USA. The final agreements were made at the conference of 3 of the main Allied leaders at Yalta in 1945. Continue

The Conference It was agreed that every nation would be invited to send representatives to a conference where the final Charter of the United Nations would be agreed. This conference was held in…. London Moscow San Francisco

United Nations Charter Everyone agreed that the new United Nations organization had to be more effective than the League of Nations had been. The problem was how to make this happen. The League had failed because the powerful nations had walked out if they disagreed – there had to be a way to stop this happening again. Continue

Securing Agreement The League of Nations had always had problems in getting agreement because under its rules everyone had to agree and that was not only difficult, but took a very long time. It meant that the League could not react quickly to a crisis. It was proposed that the United Nations should have a smaller decision-making body that would be able to work much faster. This was to be the … Security Council UN Secretariat

The Structure of the United Nations The UN has a GENERAL ASSEMBLY at which every member nation has delegates. It has regular meetings, but can also have emergency meetings if the need arises. Each nation has a vote and although a simple majority is accepted for most issues, for very important matters there has to be a two thirds majority. Continue

The General Assembly The assembly has a President who is elected by the member nations. The World is divided into regions and each region, in turn, provides the President. The General Assembly can deal with any subject except one. Peace and Security Finance

The Security Council The Security Council can debate any matter. It can make decisions, but, if it made a decision that one of the major powers did not like, then they would be very unhappy. If they were very unhappy what might happen? Leave the UN Protest

The Veto The solution to this problem was to prevent the Security Council making a decision that one of the powerful nations did not like. The 5 permanent members were given the power to VETO any decision that they did not like. This stopped the Security Council from making a decision, but it also made it unnecessary for a nation to leave the UN. Continue

Other UN Organisations The UN system is based on 5 major organizations. Two of them, the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and the SECURITY COUNCIL have already been examined. The other 3 are:- The UN Secretariat The International Court of Justice The Economic & Social Council Continue

A nation on the Security Council The Secretariat The secretariat is made up of the people who run the United Nations organization. The most important person is the Secretary General. The Secretary General serves for one or two terms of 5 years. They are recommended to the General Assembly by the Security Council. The Secretary General must be from.. Any country Any neutral country A nation on the Security Council

UN Headquarters The UN Headquarters is in Manhattan, New York, USA and this is where the General Assembly and Security Council meet. The UN also has main offices in 3 other cities, 2 in Europe and 1 in Africa. The African office is in… Liberia Tunisia Kenya

Other UN Agencies The UN Charter requires the organization to do all it can to ensure the health and well-being of everyone in the World. The UN has several agencies to do this. World Bank WHO (World Health Organization) World Food Programme UNESCO (United Nations Economic, Social & Cultural Organization) UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) One of these agencies receives funds from the UN; which one? UNESCO WHO UNICEF

Who pays for the UN? Each member country pays a contribution to the work of the United Nations. The amount they pay is based on the nation’s income, so richer countries pay more. Where the UN has to do a major job it has to ask the members for extra funding. The ordinary UN budget for a year is roughly how big? $500 Million $2000 Million $1000 Million

Summary You should now have a basic understanding of what the UN is, what it does and how it is organized. You may need this information when you start to see how the United Nations might respond to a disaster. Continue

How much do you understand? You have completed this activity!

San Francisco This is correct! The United States agreed to hold the conference in San Francisco as they had the resources to host such a big conference and San Francisco could easily be reached by ship, by plane and by train. Continue

Security Council This is correct. The answer was to create a smaller group, known as the Security Council, which would be made up of permanent members and temporary members chosen by all the other nations. The permanent members were the USSR, UK, USA, China and France. The way in which the Security Council works will be looked at later. Continue

Peace and Security This is correct! Issues of peace and security are the concern of the Security Council. The Council has 15 members. 5 are permanent members and 10 are elected on a regional basis to serve for 2 years. Continue

Leave the UN This is correct. This was the problem that defeated the League of Nations. There had to be a way to prevent a powerful nation walking out of the United Nations. Continue

From any country This is correct. In the UN Charter it is quite clear that the Secretary General can be from any country. However, it has become the accepted rule that the Secretary General comes from a neutral country and from the different regions of the World in turn. Continue

Kenya This is correct. The UN’s major office is in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. The other major offices are in Geneva in Switzerland and Vienna in Austria. Continue

UNESCO This is correct. This agency was built to carry on the work of the League of Nations in promoting peace through understanding of other people and cultures. It receives UN funding. Continue

$2000 Million This is about right. Continue

Moscow This is incorrect Moscow would have been a difficult location for the conference as much of Russia had been a battlefield until 1943 and there had been much damage. Continue

London This is incorrect. London had been badly damaged by air attack during the war. In 1945 it did not have the resources to hold such a big conference. Continue

The UN Secretariat This is incorrect. This is the staff of the organisation who deal with all the regular administration issues. They are not leaders or representatives of member nations and thus cannot make decisions. Continue

Finance This is incorrect. The General Assembly is very concerned with financial matters as it controls the UN budget. Continue

Protest This is incorrect. Powerful nations would certainly protest. They would also be very likely to refuse to obey a Security Council decision if they felt it was putting their nation in some danger. Continue

From any neutral country This is incorrect. In the UN Charter it is clear that the Secretary General can be from any country, but they must be recommended by the Security Council. Continue

From a nation represented on the Security Council This is incorrect. The UN Charter does not require the Secretary General to be from a nation on the Security Council, although the permanent members do have the power of VETO on any recommendation. Continue

Tunisia This is not correct. The UN has no major office in this country, but its agencies have offices in many parts of the world. Continue

Liberia This is not correct. The UN has no major office in this country, but its agencies have offices in many parts of the world. Continue

WHO This is incorrect. This agency is dedicated to improving the health of everyone by controlling disease and developing heath care. It no receives UN funding. Continue

UNICEF This is incorrect. This agency, which is dedicated to helping children anywhere in the world is funded in two ways. Where there is a UNICEF branch in a country it may receive funding from the government of that country. However, much of its funding comes from donations. Continue

$500 Million This amount is far too small! Continue

$1000 Million This amount is not enough! Continue