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The Charter states that the four main objectives of the UN are: 1 to maintain international peace and security 2 to develop friendly relations between countries 3 to co-operate in solvin

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It is often said that if we did not have the United Nations, it would have to be invented, but what exactly is it and what does it do? And what authority does it have?

The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, at the end of the Second World War At that time 51 countries were members of the organisation, but that number has now grown to 189 (nearly all of the countries in the world), known as 'Member States'.The

organisation is based in New York

When they join the UN, all Member States agree to accept an

international agreement called the UN Charter This document

contains the aims and beliefs of the UN, the way that it is organised and the standards of behaviour that are expected of its members The Charter states that the four main objectives of the UN are:

1 to maintain international peace and security

2 to develop friendly relations between countries

3 to co-operate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights

4 to be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations

So how is it all organised?

Nowadays five main bodies do the work of the United Nations

The General Assembly is a sort of international parliament

Representatives of all the Member States meet to discuss the

world's problems, what should be done about them, and the

administration of the whole United Nations Organisation The

General Assembly meets at least once a year (in September) - or more often if there are serious problems to discuss Each Member State has one vote in any decision and important decisions can only

be taken with the agreement of two thirds of the representatives The Assembly's decisions are recommendations - a government can't be forced to do what the Assembly says, but these

recommendations are powerful because they represent world

opinion on any particular issue

The Security Council is the part of the UN which is responsible for international peace and security There are 15 members of the Security Council Five members are permanent (The Russian

Federation, The United Kingdom, The United States, France and China) and the other 10 members are elected by the General

Assembly for a period of two years At the moment, the temporary

members are Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, The Syrian Arab Republic, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea and Ireland Each member has one vote Important decisions can only be made

if there are nine votes in favour, and this must include the votes of each one of the five permanent members The Security Council is the only part of the UN that can force Member States to accept its decisions or 'resolutions' If a Member State does not accept a

resolution then the UN will first try to solve the problem in a

peaceful way However, if the situation continues it can agree to military action against the government involved

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the part of the

UN which co-ordinates the work of all the UN agencies, commissions

and programmes operating all over the world All of these together are known as 'The United Nations Family of Organisations' This

includes organisations such as The United Nations Children's Fund, (UNICEF) , The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) both based in Paris, France, and The World Health Organization, (WHO) based in Geneva, Switzerland ECOSOC covers all the UN work in areas such as economic and social

progress, health, culture, education, human rights, crime, outer space, the environment, and many more The Council has 54

members elected by the General Assembly for periods of three

years

The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague,

Netherlands, is the UN court It started in 1946 The 15 judges

(who must all be of different nationalities) are elected by the

General Assembly and the Security Council The court makes

decisions about disputes between countries according to

international law, and also gives legal opinions to the General

Assembly and Security Council when necessary Member States

can't be forced to take part in Court of Justice investigations but if

they do agree to participate they must accept the Court's final decision

The Secretariat does all of the day-to-day administration of the

UN Organisation Nearly 9,000 people of many different

nationalities work in this section in offices all over the world The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General, who is also the 'public face' of the UN The current Secretary-General is Kofi Annan from Ghana The Secretary-General is a highly respected world figure

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Your turn

What do you think of this article? Do you agree with what it says?

Your texts

Mélissa writes “This article shows us the institutions of the United

Nations However, in fact, we see that the first aim of this

organization, peace and security, has not been reached Countries are still at war (for example in Darfour) and people are still dying from starvation

For me, this organization that the five permanent members wanted

in 1945, after the Second World War, is a pious wish!”

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Giovanni writes “I don’t completely agree with Nur It’s true that the UNO has not enough power to realize its purposes, but I don’t think that it’s under the control of the US Kofi Annan has often criticized the politics of the US; furthermore, China and Russian are permanent members of the Security Council, and those States are absolutely against the politics of the US … I really think that, at the moment, in the most important questions – first of all peace – the UNO is an organization which often operates against the politics of the US In fact, the attack against Iraq was not established or

supported by the UNO.”

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Nur writes “This article was based on general information about the UNO, which can be better for children, but I think the UN is itself

not an independent organization, because it has no power to do its job The UN seems to me as an instrument in the hands of great

powers, particularly the US But to me it does not make any sense what the UN is.”

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Maria writes “The article is easy to understand and explains in a few words the origin of the UN and its principals functions

However, it could be interesting to explain and give examples of their activities and results Since 1945, which have been the most important and successful?”

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BuiDuyQuang writes “The UN is very good for children But it doesn’t have enough respect for many countries UNESCO is very useful for people They can know about famous places if they want

to visit My country has join the WHO in November I think the UN can make peace between country and country And help the poor

We can know the UN is the organization of the world.”

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Sana M Kadim writes "In my opinion the Security Council does nothing, since they cannot take any action without the agreement

of the five main members Mostly one of those is sharing one of the security problems which happen all over the world."

The untied nations

It was the house at the end of the street; the one where nobody wanted to live The landlord who owned the house always worried about it He wanted to rent the house, but nobody wanted to live there It was at the wrong end of the street, people said It was too dark, they said It was too damp The rooms are too small It’s in the wrong part of the city That’s what all the people said when they came to look at the old house at the end of the street Nobody

wanted to rent the house; nobody wanted to live in the wrong part

of the city

The landlord thought about what to do It was easier to rent flats,

he thought, so he turned the big old house into small flats Seeing

as people from the city didn’t want to live there, the landlord asked people from outside the city to live there His idea was a success - soon, people came to live in the big old house Two Polish girls, Agnieska and Magda came to live in the small flat on the ground floor A French woman called Elodie came to live in the big flat on the top floor Her boyfriend, who came from Morocco and was called Mourad came to live with her An Australian boy called Hugh moved into one of the flats on the second floor, but he didn’t work (he was

an artist and spent all of his days painting, but he didn’t sell any of his paintings so he didn’t have much money) so soon he asked a friend of his, a German guy called Knut to move in with him and help him pay the rent (Knut was an artist too, and sometimes Knut sold a painting, so he had some money, at least) A man from

Zimbabwe called Dave moved into the other flat He was waiting for his wife and son to get their visas so they could come and live with him

All these people didn’t mind that the house was at the wrong end of the street, it was no problem for them that it was a bit too dark, they didn’t care that there was no garden, nor that the rooms were too small The fact that the house was in the wrong part of the city meant nothing to them They liked living in the big old house which was now a big block of small flats It was cheap, they said They didn’t like the city where nobody had made them feel welcome They liked living in the big old house where everybody came from somewhere else, and where, soon enough, everyone became

friends

Hugh and Knut invited the other people to come and look at their

paintings, and everybody said they liked them a lot, but nobody bought them Elodie and Mourad decided to cook a big meal for everybody in the house They made a mixture of French and

Moroccan food, which everybody thought was delicious Dave

showed everyone pictures of his wife and his son, and Agnieska offered to help him try and get visas for them so they could come and live in the big house too

For a while, it was great Everybody was very happy “We should call this house ‘The unofficial United Nations’” they joked

However, things changed After a while, everybody got fed up of the smells of Elodie and Mourad’s cooking coming from upstairs

“Everything smells of garlic!” they complained “The whole house

smells of garlic!”

After a while, everybody got fed up of the loud music that Hugh and Knut always had on while they were working “There’s never any peace or quiet in this building!” they complained “Those two lazy

artists just sit around listening to loud music all the time!”

After a while, Agnieska and Magda stopped being friendly with the other people in the building, and invited lots of their own Polish

friends over to their flat on the ground floor They had parties that finished very late at night They drank lots of vodka and made a lot

of noise Soon, the other people in the building were complaining

“We can’t sleep at night!” they said “There’s always too much noise from the Polish parties!”

Dave felt very sad about the situation He remembered the time when they were the unofficial United Nations He had liked it He thought that he had found friends and people who could help him at

a time when he was on his own, far away from his family Dave wanted to change the situation He decided to do something about

it Dave decided to have a meeting He told everybody who lived in the building to come and meet in his flat “We need to talk about our problems!” Fortunately, everyone agreed

So Dave from Zimbabwe sat down next to Knut from Germany who sat next to Hugh from Australia who sat next to Elodie from France who sat next to Mourad from Morocco who sat next to Agnieska and Magda from Poland

“What are we going to do?” asked Dave “We used to be friends, and now we’re all arguing all the time!”

Everyone started to shout

“It’s the Polish parties all night!”

“It’s the noisy music all day!”

“It’s the smell of garlic all day and all night!”

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” shouted Dave, shouting even louder than all the other people “Please be quiet! We have to work together to solve our problems If we can’t work together, then we will all be alone

Everyone was very quiet They all knew that Dave was right

“So here is my suggestion Agnieska and Magda – no more than one party a month And you have to invite us all! Elodie, Mourad - please put less garlic in your food! And invite us to dinner more often! Knut and Hugh – please buy some headphones.”

Everybody was still silent

“I think we need to vote on these issues” said Dave “Everybody who thinks that Agnieska and Magda should agree, raise your

hands.” Five people raised their hands “Motion carried!” said Dave

“Everyone who thinks that Elodie and Mourad should take it easy on the garlic and invite us to dinner more often, raise your hands!” Five hands raised “Motion carried!” said Dave

“Everybody who thinks that Knut and Hugh should buy some

headphones, raise your hands!” Five hands went up “Motion

carried!”

“And everybody who thinks Dave should be our leader, raise your hands!” shouted Elodie Six hands went up

“Congratulations Dave!”, said Elodie, “You are the first leader of the Untied Nations