The United Nations Today

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION

The United Nations

Today

asdf United Nations New York, 2008

Note: Every effort is made to keep basic information current up to the date of publication, including responsible officials, contact information, treaty ratifications, etc. All other data is current as of July 2007, unless stated otherwise.

Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information

Printed by the Publishing Section/DGACM United Nations Headquarters New York, NY 10017

ISBN 978-92-1-101160-9 United Nations Publication

Sales No. E.08.I.6 Copyright ? 2008 United Nations

iii

Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations

We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and

to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,

and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

and for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and

to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest,

and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.

Accordingly, our respective Governments ... have agreed to the present

Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international

organization to be known as the United Nations

Chapter 1: The United Nations Organization

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CONTENTS

United Nations websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii List of acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv Foreword by the Secretary-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

PART ONE

Chapter 1: The United Nations Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

United Nations Charter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Purposes and principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Official languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Structure of the Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 General Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Security Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Economic and Social Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Trusteeship Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 International Court of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Secretariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Secretary-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Budget of the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The United Nations family of organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 United Nations Secretariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Regional commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 International tribunals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 United Nations programmes and other bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Specialized agencies and other organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

PART TWO

Chapter 2: International Peace and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

The Security Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 The General Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Conflict prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Peacemaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Peacekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Sanctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Authorizing military action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Peacebuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

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