The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization tasked to promote international co-

operation and to create and maintain international order. A replacement for the ineffective League of
Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent
another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193.
The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further
main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and
voluntary contributions from its member states.

Objectives at a glance:

Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering
social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of
famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most internationally
represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world.

Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human
development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased.

The UN has the following organs :

the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly)

the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security);
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; for promoting international economic and social co-
operation and development)
the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN)
The International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ)
UN Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994)

Below the six organs sit, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of
entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than the UN itself and operate with
almost complete independence from it".[70] These include specialized agencies, research and
training institutions, programmes and funds, and other UN entities. [71]
After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions
in ten years than it had in the previous four decades.[37] Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted
Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased more than
tenfold.

Achievements :

Protecting Children
Perhaps, many of us are too familiar with the phrase UNICEF because it is repeated myriad of
times on the media. Yes, UNICEF (United Childrens Fund) is an agency belonging to United
Nations whose headquarters are based in New York.
Bringing invisible issues to the forefront: Without the efforts of United Nations, we might
never get access to the issues such as landmine victims, Marburg fever and Cholera sufferers,
child soldiers, modern-day slavery and there are still more and more problematic issues which
are less noticed or completely ignored by the public.
Aid to refugees : The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is another success of the
United Nations. Founded in 1949, the UNHCR has helped 17 million asylum-seekers and
refugees. The officers of the UNHCR help the refugees directly, working to ensure governments
meet their responsibilities to the expatriates. Two Nobel Peace Prizes in 1954 and 1981 are
persuasive evidence for the success of the UNHCR
Food aid : As most of us remember, in 2010 and 2011, the earthquake disasters that happened
in Haiti and Japan respectively, destroyed infrastructures and changed the lives of its residents
 for the worse. In those circumstances, UN has stepped in and provided the residents in the
devastating areas with aid in food supplies and other necessities
Reproductive Health and Population Management
The UN also specializes in mother and childhood health, family planning and the prevention of
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The UNs population fund is widely respected and is
credited with helping to drastically reduce infant and maternal mortality in over 100 countries.
Besides that, the UN is also deeply concerned about the rapid increase of the global population in
the recent years.

Instances when the UN has failed :

Rwanda Genocide

The UN had an Assistance Mission for Rwanda in 1994, which knew about the impending genocide, but
its peacekeepers failed to stop the majority Hutus going on a murderous rampage and killing almost a
million members of the Tutsi minority. The imprecation Never Again, which after the Holocaust hung
over the founding of the UN, was never more studiously ignored.

Rape and child sex abuse in the Congo

UN peacekeepers were accused of paying women and young girls they were supposed to be protecting
for sex, and sometimes raping them, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in early 2005. Subsequent
reports found there had been similar allegations in countries ranging from Cambodia to Bosnia to Haiti.

Iraq oil for food programme

This was the programme whereby Iraq could gain relief from international sanctions by selling oil through
the UN, which would supervise the delivery of food and medicine with the resulting cash. However, large
sums of money were channelled into private pockets through the programme with some even being
used to buy influence at the UN itself. It is regarded as the worst financial scandal in UN history

Spreading cholera in Haiti

Genome testing showed that the most likely source of the worlds worst recent outbreak of cholera, which
swept through Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, was a Nepali peacekeeping force. Although more 700,000
were infected and 8,000 died, the UN claimed immunity from a subsequent law suit

Specialised agencies:

International Labour Organization (ILO)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1919, its Constitution forming part of the Treaty
of Versailles. The ILO became the first specialised agency of the UN in 1946.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The aim of the Food and Agriculture Organization, as defined in its Constitution, is to: raise levels of nutrition
and standards of living; secure improvements in food production and distribution; better the conditions of
rural people and; contribute toward an expanding world economy and ensure freedom from hunger.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established in 1945 to promote
the aims set out in article 1, para. 3 of the UN Charter. Its purpose, as stated in article 1 of its Constitution,
is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science
and culture.
World Bank Group (World Bank Group)
Since inception in 1944, the World Bank has expanded from a single institution to a closely associated
group of five development institutions

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the successor to the International Meteorological
Organization, which was established in 1873. It formally came into existence in 1950 and became a UN
specialised agency in 1951.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the UN specialized agency mandated to promote
industrial development and international industrial cooperation.