United Nations

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. 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

Korean War

The UN sent troops to fight in the Korean War in 1950.

Congo Crisis

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.

Gulf War

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

Zionism

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".

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."

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86, adopted on 16 December 1991, revoked the determination in Resolution 3379.

United Nations organs

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.

Security Council

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.

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.

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.

Trusteeship Council

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. The trust territories are distinct from a different UN categorization called Non-Self-Governing Territories.

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".

The Trusteeship Council suspended its operations in 1994 after Palau, the last remaining UN trust territory, entered a "Compact of Free Association" with the USA.

External links

• UN voting records