United Nations (UN): History, Purposes, Principles & Organs

The United Nations (UN) is the world’s largest international organization. It has been conceived in 1945, after the scourge of World War II, because states wanted to ensure world peace and prosperity. It works by helping countries cooperate with one another, and by ensuring that threats to international peace and security are properly dealt with. It has intergovernmental features, because it does not interfere in the domestic affairs of its members. It is headquartered in New York and in Geneva, but it has offices all over the world.

When the UN was created, it had 51 founding members. Nowadays, it has 193 members and many organs and specialized agencies, each of them tasked with facilitating international cooperation on certain issues.

History of the UN

The creation of the United Nations had many historical roots, but its early incarnation can be traced back to the early twentieth century, when countries decided to create a general international organization.

From 1914 to 1918, the world experienced the First World War: a struggle unlike any other, because it involved the entire world and it had far too many casualties. The conflict began in Europe, where tensions had been on the rise while major powers had opposing national interests, but soon spread over colonies and other places. The Central Powers, led by Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire, were eventually defeated by the Allied Powers, led by France, Britain, Russia and the United States. In 1919, the victors created the League of Nations — an international organization tasked with ensuring lasting peace, in the same spirit that would result in the creation of the United Nations.

However, the League was not able to fulfill its mission. The United States Senate rejected American participation on it, the Germans only joined it in 1926, the Brazilians left it in the same year, and the USSR left it in 1934. Besides these inconveniences, the League could only act in the interests of peace if there were consensus among its members, and any action was a mere recommendation. In practice, this meant that the League had no power to enforce peace and security.

When the Nazi government in Germany and the fascist governments in Italy and in Japan began to undermine the world order, the League of Nations found itself unable to do anything. The result was World War II (1939-1945), an even worse conflict that only ended after much effort by the Allied Powers. In the midst of the war, these powers began to think about the failures of the League of Nation, and how they could be remedied by another international organization.

In 1941, US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, which claimed that the world order should be refashioned according to liberal principles such as self-determination and cooperation. The following year, twenty-six states signed the Declaration by the United Nations, which reinforced the ideas of the Atlantic Charter. This was the first time that the name of the future UN appeared internationally, but it was still more connected to war than to peace — each signatory committed to “employ its full resources, military or economic”, against the war enemies.

As the Second World War neared its end, a series of conferences dealt with conceiving a replacement for the discredited League of Nations:

• Moscow Conference (1943): It involved several meetings between the foreign ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. They drafted the Declaration of the Four Nations, which carried this name because the Taiwanese ambassador to the USSR was invited to sign it. The aim of the Declaration was the creation “at the earliest possible date of a general international organization.”
• Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944): It had the purpose of creating a new international organization. It was led by the Four Policemen — the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China —, which agreed upon key elements of the future UN. Notably, member states would have to place armed forces at the disposal of the organization, if needed, to prevent war or suppress acts of aggression. However, there was no consensus regarding the voting procedure at the future UN Security Council.
• Yalta Conference (1945): It was a meeting between Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. They had already drafted the Charter of the future UN, and they finally worked out a compromise formula for voting procedures at the future Security Council. Per Stalin’s request, who felt isolated among Western powers, all permanent members of the Council would have the power to veto certain kinds of resolutions.
• San Francisco Conference (1945): In the United States, 50 countries signed the Charter of the United Nations, creating the organization and becoming founding members of it. Poland was not allowed to attend this conference, because Western powers did not want to recognize its Communist government. However, a few months later, Poland was allowed to sign the Charter and be listed as the 51st founding member of the UN.

Purposes of the UN

The United Nations aims to facilitate international cooperation among states, with the goal of ensuring world peace and prosperity. The paragraphs of Article 1 of the UN Charter contain the Purposes of the UN:

1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
3. To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Principles of the UN

The principles of the UN are the main values that guide the organization in the pursuit of its missions. They are also principles of International Law, and, as such, must be respected by all states — whether or not members of the UN. They are listed in the paragraphs of Article 2 of the UN Charter:

1. Sovereign equality: The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
2. Good faith: All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
3. Pacific settlement of disputes: All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
4. Prohibition of the threat or use of force: All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
5. Commitment to assisting the United Nations: All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
6. Universal enforcement of United Nations principles: The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
7. Non-intervention: Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.

Organs of the UN

According to Article 7 of the UN Charter, the United Nations has six principal organs. Each has the power to act autonomously, and each has certain responsibilities within the UN System. These are the organs:

• UN General Assembly (UNGA): It is laid out in Chapter IV of the UN Charter. It is made up from all members of the UN — as of today, there are 193 of them. Its main function is to draft and pass recommendatory resolutions regarding any subject under the sphere of the United Nations, provided that the Security Council is not dealing with the same matter simultaneously. In respect of the principle of sovereign equality, each UN member has one vote in the Assembly, and resolutions can be approved by simple majority or by two thirds majority, depending on the character of the resolution. Every year, the main leaders of UN member states congregate in the General Debate of the UNGA, in order to make speeches and discuss important issues.
• UN Security Council (UNSC): It is laid out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Currently, it is made up from 5 permanent members and 10 non-permanent members, which are elected for a period of two years, without the possibility of reelection. Its main function is to draft and pass binding resolutions regarding matters of international peace and security. All permanent members of the council, known collectively as the P5, have the power to veto resolutions about non-procedural issues. Currently, the P5 is comprised of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.
• Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC): It is laid out in Chapter X of the UN Charter. Currently, it is made up from 54 members that are elected by the General Assembly for a period of three years, with the possibility of successive reelections. Its main functions are to make or initiate studies about economic and social issues, to make recommendations about these issues, and to coordinate the activities of specialized agencies of the UN.
• Trusteeship Council: It is laid out in Chapter XIII of the UN Charter. It was responsible for overseeing the independence of former colonies, which were placed under the International Trusteeship System. It was made up from members administering these territories, the P5, and some countries elected by the General Assembly. In 1994, Palau was the last territory to gain independence under the auspices of the Trusteeship Council. After that, the operation of this organ was suspended indefinitely — it still has a president and a vice-president, but they meet occasionally rather than annually.
• International Court of Justice (ICJ): It is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Besides being laid out in Chapter XIV of the United Nations, it has its own Statue. It is made up from 15 judges from different countries, which are elected by the UNGA and by the UNSC, acting together. It has two main functions: to make judgements regarding international controversies between states, and to give advisory opinions on any legal question. All members of the UN are, necessarily, members of the ICJ, but the Court may only exercise its compulsory jurisdiction if a state accepts it.
• Secretariat: It is the administrative body of the United Nations, which manages the policies and the programs of the organization. It is headed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which is elected by the UNGA and by the UNSC to a five-year period, with the possibility of a single reelection for the same period. The Secretary-General has considerable power, because Article 99 of the UN Charter prescribes that he “may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

Conclusion

The United Nations is successor to the League of Nations and, as such, it is the most important general international organization. While its main concern is ensuring international peace and security, its organs and specialized agencies contribute to international cooperation in various spheres. The power structure of the UN favors the Allied countries of World War II that led to its creation, as evidenced by the fact that some countries are permanent members of the Security Council and have veto power. However, the vast majority of states acknowledge the UN as a legitimate forum for cooperation and mutual understanding. That is why criticism of the organization tends to be followed by calls for reforming it, rather than for abolishing it entirely.