Any country willing to become the member ‘of the United Nations has to follow the charter and must accept the decisions of the United Nations in case of any disagreement. The work of the United Nations is carried out with mutual cooperation and through its six main organs. These are ;

  1. The General Assembly
  2. The Security Council
  3. The Economic and Social Council
  4. The Trusteeship Council
  5. The International Court of Justice, and
  6. The Secretariat All these organs have their separate and distinct functions.

1. The General Assembly :

All nations can become members of the General Assembly. It is the main policy-making body, It usually meets once every year and discusses the problems faced by the world. Each member can send a delegation of five representatives. But they have only one vote.

2. The Security Council :

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The most effective organ of the United Nations is the Security Council. It has 15 members. Five of them are permanent members. These are the USA, Russia France, China and the UK. They have the right of VETO. There are ten non-permanent members, who are elected for two years by the General Assembly, Its main work is to maintain peace in the world. It tries to solve the problems of the member-states. The Security Council meets whenever the situation requires,

3. The Economic and Social Council :

The United Nations has to promote social progress and better standards of life. ECOSOC with 54 members, looks after these works. ECOSOC functions through commissions and committees,

4. The Trusteeship Council :

ADVERTISEMENTS:

This council looks after the Trust Territories—regions of the world which are not yet independent. Most of the countries have already achieved independence.

5. The International Court of Justice :

This court has 15 judges elected by the Security Council and the General Assembly for a term of nine years. The court meets at THE HAGUE in the Netherlands. It helps in solving the international disputes by peaceful means,

6. The Secretariat :

ADVERTISEMENTS:

It looks after the day-to-day administration of the United Nations. The Secretary General, who is elected by the General Assembly, heads the Secretariat. The Secretariat is part of the Headquarters of the United Nations, which is located in New York in the USA.

Agencies of the United Nations :

A number of agencies have been set up by the United Nations for discharging various functions. Some of them are :

UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) :

There are more than 50 core children in this world, Most of them neither have enough to eat nor enough clothes to wear. Many suffer from serious diseases. The UNICEF provides funds for the help of poor children.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

In our country, UNICEF is helping in many programmes. Anganwadi is one such programme. Mothers are also educated about better childcare. UNICEF also helps in the training of teachers, in the education of handicapped children, and provides medical facilities for children. You must have bought UNICEF greeting cards. This is one way of collecting funds for the organisation.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) :

This body helps in spreading and improving’ women’s education and adult education in the world. Its headquarters is in Paris in France. It helps the less advanced countries by teaching them new methods of science and technology. It also helps to preserve old monuments,

WHO (World Health Organisation) :

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Its headquarters is in Geneva in Switzerland. Its aim is to improve the health services by avoiding the spread of diseases, It is working for the eradication of smallpox, malaria, IB. and other diseases which kill crores of people every year.

There are many other agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU), etc. All these agencies are working to make this world a better place to live in.

The Achievements of the United Nations :

After the World War II, the world was actually not free from the war between some countries like Korea, Vietnam, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, etc. But the efforts of the United Nations succeeded in stopping these from becoming World Wars. The UN has been successful in preventing the use of atomic and other destructive weapons. The various agencies are making a sincere effort for the complete elimination of such weapons, so that we may survive and live in peace. The UN has also been successful in the reduction of poverty, illiteracy and diseases in many countries of the world.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

This is a long and difficult task, but the countries of the world have now realized that mankind will progress only if we learn to live together in peace and respect each other’s beliefs and customs.