Category United Nations

You all know about the Indian Parliament. In the Parliament, all elected members get equal representation. The UN General Assembly can be seen as the world’s parliament.

All the member nations have equal representation in the General Assembly. The General Assembly meets every year from September to December. It also meets at other times to discuss other serious issues like terrorism, child labour, or the conservation of the environment. Every nation has one vote in the General Assembly regardless of its size, population, or national income.

To pass resolutions on important matters, it is necessary to win two-thirds of the votes of the members. However, the General Assembly alone cannot make important decisions. It can only recommend that actions to other important bodies like the Security Council.

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There are six principal offices that ensure the smooth functioning of the United Nations-the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice and the Trusteeship Council. These offices support and promote the ideas mentioned in the UN Charter. The UN General Assembly is the central body of the United Nations. Out of the six principal organs, four are located in Turtle Bay in New York.

The International Court of Justice is situated in the Hague and the Trusteeship Council was suspended in 1994. Other UN offices are spread across the world.

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It happened in 1946. The Soviet Union used the power to veto for the first time in the history of the United Nations. This was during the Cold War.

In a nutshell, the Cold War was the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States after the Second World War. The Soviet Union was a communist regime while the US had capitalist interests.

There were dozens of conflicts, some big, some small and the UN was not completely successful in preventing wars. Both the Soviet Union and the US used veto to block the other’s suggestions about various policies. By 1953, the Soviet Union had used veto more than 50 times!

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You might have heard of things like ‘the power to veto’. The Latin word veto means ‘I forbid’. Now you might get means.

In simple words, veto is the power to say ‘no’ to any decision. Te five permanent members of the UN Security Council have the power to veto. No major decisions would be made if any of the five members vetoes a proposal. There is an interesting story behind the introduction of veto in the UN.

When it was founded, the founding members decided that the Security Council would be the most powerful organ of the UN. However, a lot of fear lurked beneath this decision.

The Soviet Union especially believed that the US would get the Council to pass resolutions against the interests of their Republic. This might also lead to a nation gaining absolute power over everything. To avoid this from happening, it was decided that any resolution could be passed only if all the permanent members of the Council agreed to it. Thus, veto was introduced.

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The UN is a huge organisation that needs effective leaders. The head of the UN is responsible for running the UN and this is vested upon the Secretary-General. Being the head of the UN is not an easy task.

The UN Secretary – General is a peace-maker. He or she needs to be a good administrator, a diplomat, and an able spokesperson all at the same time. The Secretary-General should be efficient enough to make the voice of the unprivileged heard.

The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly and serves a maximum of two four-year terms. The UN had made it a point that the Secretary-Generals should not come from the countries linked with major powers. The first Secretary-General of the UN was from Norway and his name was Trygve Halvdan Lie.

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One would not be wrong to say that the United Nations looks after the world. Such an organisation needs a lot of money for smooth and efficient functioning. You might have membership in some club. As club members, you would have to contribute money for the functioning of the club. Similarly, the UN draws funds through membership.

The UN receives annual funding from the governments of its 193 members. Each member contributes according to its ability to pay. Factors like national income, level of debt and population are taken into consideration to decide a country’s annual contribution.

So naturally, wealthier nations contribute more than the poor nations. For instance, in 2006, Liberia had to contribute 0.001 per cent of the regular budget while France had to pay 6 per cent.

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