PRESENTED BY : S.K.GUPTA

INTRODUCTION

The twentieth century witnessed two terrible world wars. After the first world war(1914-1918),it was realized that an organization should be created to prevent future wars and hence the League of Nations was formed. But it failed to achieve its objectives. Within twenty years of its formation, the second world war(1939-1945) broke out. This prompted the nations of the world to make another attempt to form an international organization.

From 25th April to 26th June 1945,representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco,USA to draw a Charter or a set of rules for a new world organization, called United Nations The charter was signed on 26th June 1945 by 50 nations including INDIA. The United Nations formally came into existence on 24th October 1945.Since than,24th October is celebrated as The United Nations day every year.Today,the United Nations is world’s largest international organization.

Under the charter,the United nations body has six organs-

1. The general Assembly2. The security Council3. The Economic & Social Council4. The Trusteeship council5. The International Court of Justice &6. The Secretariat

1.The General Assembly All the member states are represented

in the General Assembly, each having one voteThe main functions of the General Assembly are-

To discuss the powers and functions of other organs

To elect ten non-permanent members of security council

To elect the Judges of the ICJ To admit new members & To appoint secretary General

2 The security council

It is mainly responsible for ensuring peace in the world It is composed of 15 members of which 5 are permanent

members and 10 are elected by the General Assembly The five permanent members are the USA,the UK,

Russia,China,and France The 10 permanent members are elected by the General

Assembly for two years and are not eligible for immediate re-election

Each member of the security council has one vote VETO-The approval of all the permanent members is

necessary on important matters. If any permanent member casts a “veto”to show its disagreement then no decision can be taken

3 The Economic and Social council The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the UN’s

welfare council,which coordinates the economic and social activities

It seeks to build a world of greater prosperity,stability and justice.

It organizes major international conferences and prepares draft

The ECOSOC is composed of 54 members Each year the General Assembly elects,its one-third,that

is 18 members for a period of 3 years

4 The Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council of UN may be called the “Protector of Dependent Peoples” who are not yet able to govern themselves.

Such territories are to be administered under the Trusteeship Council system by the member states.

By the end of 1994 ,all the original 11 trust territories of the Trusteeship Council have become independent.

5.The International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice popularly known as

the “World Court” is the principal judicial organ of the UN

The Court is not open to private persons and parties. It settles legal disputes between states and gives

advisory opinion to the UN. The Court comprises 15 judges who are elected by the

General Assembly and the Security Council No two judges can be appointed from one country at a

time The judges serve a 9 year term and may be re-elected The seat of the International Court of Justice is at the

Hague in the Netherlands.

Name Nation Period

1.Trygve Lie Norway Feb 1946-Nov 1952

2.Dag Hammarskjöld

Sweden April 1953-Sep1961

3.U Thant Myanmar Nov 1961- Dec 1971

4.Kurt Waldheim

Austria Jan 1972-Dec 1981

5.Javier Perez de Cuellar

Peru Jan 1982-Dec 1991

6.Boutros Boutros Ghali

Egypt Jan 1992-Dec 1996

7.Kofi A. Annan Ghana Jan 1997-Dec 2006

8.Ban Ki Moon South Korea 1.Jan 2007-till date

Secretaries General of the UN

6.The Secretariat The secretariat performs all the day-to-day functions of the

UN. It administers the programmes and policies laid down by

various organs of the UN. It keeps all records. Its chief Administrative Officer is the Secretary General. He is appointed by the General Assembly on the

recommendation of five-year term, which is renewable. The Secretariat known as the UN office, has its headquarters

in New York,USA. Arabic,Chinese,English,French,Russian and Spanish are the

six official languages of the UN.

INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES OF THE UN

Name of the Agency

Year of foundation

Headquarter Work Present Head Awards $ special

1.ILO 1919 Geneva Labour Related JaunSomavia Nobel Peace Prize 1969

2.FAO 16 oct1945 Rome Food&Agri.Relt Jacqes Dioul WFDay 16oc

3.UNESCO 1946 Paris Edu.& Cult.Rel Koichiro Matsuwra

Members 70

4.UNICEF 1946 New York Women&child.D Ann M Venemi Nobel Peace p

5.WHO 1948 Geneva Health Related Dr.MargretChan _

6.WB 1945 WashigationDC Money Related Robert Zoallick WB (1)IFC (1956) 2.IDA (1960) 3.ICSID(1966) 4.MIGA (1988)

7.IMF 1945 Washington Money related Dominic Strauss Kahn

Loan at low intrt. Rate

8.UNDHR 10 DEC 1948 Human Rights Louse Arbour Nobel Peace Prize 1968

HUMAN RIGHTS & THE UN

Human Rights are those rights to which every individual is entitled as a human being. Human Rights are often referred as basic rights, birth rights,natural rights and moral rights.They imply the rights relating to life,liberty,equality and dignity of the individual.

The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights(UNDHR) was adopted on 10 December 1948.Since then it is observed as Human Rights Day throughout the world

Rene Cassin,the distinguished FrenchJurist who drafted UNDHR was awarded the Nobel Pease Prize in 1968 for his work on Human Rights

India’s Response to Human Rights The impact of the UNDHR is evident on the drafting of

the Indian constitution The Preamble declares four aims in the governance of

India- (1)JUSTICE-social,economic and political. (2)LIBERTY of thought,expression,belief,faith and

worship. (3)EQUALITY of status and opportunity and (4)FATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and

the unity and integrity of the nation. For the protection of Human Rights,India has set up a

National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) in 1993.It deals with the cases of violation of Human Rights.

Constitution & Human Rights Our Constitution guarantees Six Fundamental Rights: 1. Right to Equality, 2. Right toFreedom, 3. Right to freedom of religion, 4.Right against exploitation, 5.Cultural and educational rights and 6. Right to constitutional remedial rights are

justicable in nature Indian cultural values based on the respect for all

religion-Sarva Dharma Sambhav,the philosophy of non-violence and mutual co-existence also provide moral safeguards for the protection of Human Rights.