UN System

The United Nations (UN) is an international organisation, currently consisting of 192 States. It was created in 1945, following the failure of the League of Nations and the concomitant chaos of the Second World War. Its main goal, as written in the preamble of the UN Charter, is “to maintain international peace and security”. The organisation also deals with, inter alia, human rights, economic and social development, environmental stewardship, food production, health awareness, humanitarian affairs and international law.
The UN is a vast and prolific organisation. Its numerous organs, programs, funds, bodies and agencies are all interlinked in a mammoth network. There are three main categories of bodies in the UN system.

First: the organs, such as the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Secretariat, who are responsible for the governance of the organisation and the making of decisions.

Second: the funds and programmes such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) which implement the decisions and take concrete actions worldwide.

Third, the agencies, working with the UN in an autonomous way, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which act independently while still being attached to the UN.

The UN headquarters are in New York (the United States), Geneva (Switzerland) and Nairobi (Kenya).

Members

When created in 1945, the UN only had 51 members. Throughout the years, the number has grown to 192, making it the world’s largest intergovernmental organisation.

To become a member of the UN, a country has to “accept the obligations contained in the [UN] Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, [be] able and willing to carry out these obligations”. The admission is granted by “a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.” (UN Charter, Chapter 2 Article 4). Before the General Assembly (GA) takes this decision the State must qualify as a State. Accordingly, four conditions must first be met: a State must have a territory, a population, a government exercising power over its population, and be recognized as a State by other States.

States are organized into five regional groups: the African Group (53 States), the Asian Group (54), the Eastern European Group (23), the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC, 33) and the Western European and Others Group (WEOG, 29). The lists of countries in each regional group are not official and can vary.

These groups are of great importance within the UN and especially the Human Rights Council, as they determine how many countries from each group can be elected in the secretariat, bureaus, organs and bodies, in order to keep a fair geographical balance. For example, within the Security Council, the ten non-permanent members are composed of two countries from each regional group. Regional groups also play an active role during negotiations and votes. States often coordinate themselves within their regional group to defend their common interest.

Apart from these regional groups, other interest groups have a strong influence on the decision-making process of the GA , the Human Rights Council, the ECOSOC and other bodies.
The main ones are:
 the Non-Aligned Movement (138 countries);
 the Group 77 (to which China often associates itself with);
 the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (57);
 the European Union (27 States often joined by Turkey, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Liechtenstein, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Armenia).

Palestine is not a member State of the UN, but instead holds a standing invitation to participate as an observer in the sessions and in the work of the organisation.

Main Organs

Below are described the main UN bodies. For more information on the UN, visit the UN website.

 . The Secretary-General

The United Nations are headed by a Secretary-General. The present one is Ban Ki-moon, who replaced Kofi Annan in 2007. Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer under the auspice of the Secretariat, one of the principle organs of the UN. The person is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. As ‘Chief’, the Secretary-General serves more than an administrative capacity. He/she may “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter [..] which may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security” (Article 99) or speak out on important global issues as well as exert power over other organs of the UN, namely the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council.

 . The General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) is the largest body of the UN system as it encompasses all of its members. Every State, regardless of its size, number of inhabitants or wealth has one vote. Votes on important issues, such as recommendations on peace and security and the election of Security Council members, require a two-thirds majority of Member States, but other questions are decided by simple majority.
Its main tasks include, inter alia: giving recommendations, electing the members of the Security Council and the Human Rights Council, voting on the UN budget and passing resolutions. GA resolutions are non-binding which means it does not have the means to enforce them. States that do not respect them will not be prosecuted.

Some non-Member States, entities and organisations have received a standing invitation to participate as observers in the sessions and the work of the GA (click here to see list).

The GA has numerous subsidiary organs such as boards, commissions, committees, panels, working groups and councils including The Human Rights Council (HRC). Consequently, the Council has to present a report on its activities every December to the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, also known as the Third Committee.

The Assembly meets from September to December in New York, United States.

 . The Security Council

The Security Council (SC) is the most powerful organ of the UN. It is charged with preserving world peace. It chooses UN membership, proposes the Secretary-General, votes on binding resolutions and decides to resort to sanction (from diplomatic and economic to the use of force if necessary) as a means of enforcement (UN Charter Chapter VII).

The SC consists of five permanent members and ten members that are elected for two years.
The five permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition to being permanent, they have a “veto” power, which means that any of the five can block any decision or resolution within the Security Council. The system was created in 1945 by these five States who were then the World War II victors and sole nuclear powers. The ten other members are elected by the General Assembly. Check the current ones here.

The Security Council meets in New York, United States.

 . The ECOSOC

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) gathers the work of agencies, programmes and commissions. It meets in July either in New York, USA or in Geneva, Switzerland. It deals mainly with economic and social affairs, as well as humanitarian issues. The former Commission on Human Rights was a subsidiary body to the ECOSOC. In order to strengthen the HRC, the new body has been created as a subsidiary to the GA.

Today, the main link between the ECOSOC and the HRC is the granting of consultative status to Non-Governmental Organizations. It is the ECOSOC that approves, or rejects, decisions made by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations regarding the granting of consultative status to NGOs seeking to participate in the Human Rights Council.