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The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded in 1945 as a successor to the League of Nations. Currently made up of 193 member states, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding charter.[1] Despite its claim to work for peace, one of its first actions was to declare war on Korea to install a dictatorship over the south. Its initial years were spent as a mouthpiece of the United States of America and its allies until the Soviet Union began to participate in the UN. Despite it being seen as problematic by many, it has so far has not witnessed another World War, whether due to its presence or not.
Wars[edit | edit source]
Korean War[edit | edit source]
The UN sent troops to fight in the Korean War in 1950.
Congo Crisis[edit | edit source]
In 1960, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba asked for assistance to stop Belgium from meddling with the Congo, which was its former colony. The UN sent military forces, but they overthrew Lumumba instead of helping him and blocked aid from the Soviet Union.[2]
Gulf War[edit | edit source]
During the reactionary coup in the Soviet Union, which later resulted in the creation of the Russian Federation, the imperialist countries leaped on the opportunity to use the UN to give legitimacy to their invasion of Iraq in 1990. The UNSC gave permission for the United States and its allies to use force for the second time in the UN's history.
Major resolutions[edit | edit source]
Zionism[edit | edit source]
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on 10 November 1975 by a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), "determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination".[3]
Resolution 35/35, adopted on 14 November 1980, said that armed struggle against colonialism is legitimate and that, "the activities of Israel, in particular the denial to the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination and independence, constitute a serious and increasing threat to international peace and security."[4]
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86, adopted on 16 December 1991, revoked the determination in Resolution 3379.[5]
United Nations organs[edit | edit source]
The United Nations consists of six principal organs: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.
General Assembly[edit | edit source]
Security Council[edit | edit source]
The Security Council (UNSC) has five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. While China, Russia, and the USA clearly represent important participants in global politics, France and the UK's presence has declined since the start of the UN. Qaddafi, Kofi Annan, Erdoğan, and others have criticized the UNSC for not including more important countries such as India and Brazil. Two of the permanent members of the Security Council, Britain and France, are minor powers with populations of less than 70 million each. The most important European country in economic terms is Germany, which is not on the UNSC.[6]
In 1965, the UN increased the number of temporary members in the security council to ten: five from Africa and Asia, two from Latin America, one from Eastern Europe, and two from Western Europe. However, these non-permanent members have no veto power.[7]
In 2005, Kofi Annan proposed expanding the Security Council to 25 members, including six permanent members: two from Africa, two from Asia and the Pacific, one from Europe, and one from America.[6]
Economic and Social Council[edit | edit source]
Trusteeship Council[edit | edit source]
The Trusteeship Council was assigned the task of supervising the administration of "trust territories" (colonies) placed under the International Trusteeship System. It served as the continuation of the mandate system of the League of Nations which had been established to manage colonies of defeated states following the First World War.[8][9] The trust territories are distinct from a different UN categorization called Non-Self-Governing Territories.[10]
The Trusteeship Council encompassed territories held under mandate, territories "detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War", and territories voluntarily placed under the system by states responsible for their administration. As stated in the UN charter, among the aims of the Trusteeship Council was to promote "progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned".[9]
Uniquely, the US-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) became the only trust territory specially designated as a "Strategic Trust"[11] making its formal terms and status dependent on Security Council decision rather than General Assembly decision.[12]
The Trusteeship Council suspended its operations in 1994 after Palau, the last remaining UN trust territory,[8] entered a "Compact of Free Association" with the USA.[13]
International Court of Justice[edit | edit source]
Secretariat[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "About Us". United Nations. Archived from the original on 2022-05-30.
- ↑ Daniel Morley (2016-01-15). "The United Nations: a tool of imperialism" Socialist Appeal. Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly (1975-11-10). "Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination" Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly (1980-11-14). "Right of peoples to self-determination" Archived from the original on 2022-05-27.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly (1991-12-16). "Racism and racial discrimination/Revocation of resolution 3379 (“Zionism as racism”)" Archived from the original on 2023-02-16.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Vijay Prashad (2023-09-28). "Shouldn’t the United Kingdom and France Relinquish Their Permanent Seats at the United Nations?: The Thirty-Ninth Newsletter" The Tricontinental. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
- ↑ Vijay Prashad (2008). The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World: 'Belgrade' (p. 103). [PDF] The New Press. ISBN 9781595583420 [LG]
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Trusteeship Council." United Nations. Archived 2024-05-16.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "United Nations Charter, Chapter XII: International Trusteeship System." UN Charter, United Nations.
- ↑ "List of Former Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories." United Nations. Archived 2024-05-31.
- ↑ “Washington recognized the military value of this 3 million square mile area stretching between Hawaii and the Philippines (with Palau as its southwestern tier), and it became the only Strategic Trust of the 11 U.N. trusteeships.”
Ed Rampell (2015-06-30). "The Bushes, dirty tricks and regime change in nuclear-free Palau" People's World. Archived from the original on 2024-07-21. - ↑ “All functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment shall be exercised by the Security Council. [...] The functions of the United Nations with regard to trusteeship agreements for all areas not designated as strategic, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment, shall be exercised by the General Assembly.”
United Nations Charter: 'Chapter XII: International Trusteeship System; Articles 83 - 85'. - ↑ "The Compacts of Free Association." Congressional Research Service, 2024-04-25. Archived 2024-05-31.