General Assembly[
The
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA/GA) consists of all United Nations member
states and meets in regular session once a year under a president elected from
among the representatives. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United
Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive
reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the
form of General
Assembly Resolutions. It has also
established a wide number of subsidiary organs.
Security Council
The
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is charged with the maintenance of
international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations
Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the
establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military
action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council
resolutions.
The
Security Council held its first ever session on 17 January 1946 at Church
House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists
in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities,
such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the
United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
There
are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the
United States) and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. This
basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council
members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the
Security Council can meet at any time.
Economic and Social Council
The
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is responsible for
co-ordinating the economic, social and related work of 15 UN specialized
agencies, their functional commissions and five regional commissions. ECOSOC
has 54 members; it holds a four-week session each year in July. Since 1998, it
has also held a meeting each April with finance ministers heading key
committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The
ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and
social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to member
states and the United Nations System.[
Secretariat
The
United Nations Secretariat is headed by the United Nations Secretary-General,
assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides
studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their
meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the
UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council, and other U.N. bodies.
The United Nations Charter provides that the staff is to be chosen by
application of the "highest standards of efficiency, competence, and
integrity," with due regard for the importance of recruiting on a wide
geographical basis.
The
Charter provides that the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any
authority other than the UN. Each UN member country is enjoined to respect the
international character of the Secretariat and not seek to influence its staff.
The Secretary-General alone is responsible for staff selection.
International Court of Justice[edit]
The
International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United
Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main
functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide
advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized
international organs, agencies, and the UN General Assembly.
Trusteeship Council[edit]
The
United Nations Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United
Nations, was established to ensure that trust territories were administered in
the best interests of their inhabitants and of international peace and
security. The trust territories—most of them are former mandates of the League
of Nations or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of World War
II—have all now attained self-government or independence, either as separate
nations or by joining neighboring independent countries. The last was Palau, formerly part of the Trust Territory of
the Pacific Islands, which became
a member state of the United Nations in December 1994.
The
separately-administered funds and programmes, research and training institutes,
and other subsidiary bodies are autonomous subsidiary organs of the United
Nations.[8]
Funds and programmes[edit]
Throughout
its history the United Nations General Assembly has established a number of
programmes and funds to address particular humanitarian and development
concerns. These bodies usually report to the General Assembly through an
executive board. Only one UN programme has ever closed in the history of the
organization, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
(UNRRA), which ceased to exist in 1959 and was subsequently replaced by the
UNHCR.
Each
of the funds and programmes is headed by an Executive Director at the Under-Secretary-General level and is governed by an Executive Board. One
former fund, the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),
was merged with other elements of the United Nations System into a new organization, UN Women, in January 2011.
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Programmes and funds of the United Nations
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No.
|
Acronyms
|
Agency
|
Headquarters
|
Head
|
Established
|
Comment
|
|
1
|
1965
|
|||||
|
2
|
1946
|
|||||
|
3
|
1966
|
Affiliated
with the UNDP
|
||||
|
4
|
1963
|
|||||
|
5
|
1972
|
|||||
|
6
|
1976
|
Merged
with UN Women in 2011
|
||||
|
7
|
1951
|
|||||
|
8
|
1994
|
Joint
programme
|
||||
|
9
|
1969
|
|||||
|
10
|
1978
|
|||||
|
11
|
1978
|
Administered
by UNDP
|
||||
|
12
|
1949
|
|||||
|
13
|
2010
|
Created
by the merger of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement
of Women (OSAGI) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
|
||||
Research and training institutes[edit]
The
various research and training institutes were established by the General
Assembly to perform independent research and training. One former institute,
the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW),
was merged with other elements of the United Nations System into a new
organization, UN Women,
in January 2011.
Secretariats of Conventions[edit]
Other entities[edit]
The
specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United
Nations and each other through the co-ordinating machinery of the Economic and
Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN System by way of an agreement
with the UN under UN Charter article 57.[6]
Some
organizations have a relationship with the UN defined by an arrangement
different from the agreements between the specialized agencies and the UN,
which are established under Articles 57 and 63 of the United Nations
Charter.[13][14][15][16][17][18]
International Organization for
Migration (IOM)[edit]
The IOM, established in 1951, is the leading inter-governmental
organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental,
intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. IOM works to help ensure the
orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international
cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical
solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to
migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people. In
September 2016, IOM joined the United Nations System
as a related organization during the United Nations General Assembly high-level
summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants.[19]
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty Organization Preparatory Commission (CTBTO PrepCom)[edit]
International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA)[edit]
The
relationship between the IAEA and the UN was established by a resolution of the UN
General Assembly. Unlike the specialized agencies which report to ECOSOC, the
IAEA reports directly to the General Assembly as well as the Security Council
and ECOSOC.[6] Like
the other specialized agency's heads, their executives are part of the United
Nations System Chief Executives' Board for Coordination (CEB).
Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW)[edit]
The OPCW is
not an agency of the United Nations,
but cooperates both on policy and practical issues. On 7 September 2000 the
OPCW and the United Nations signed
a co-operation agreement outlining how they were to co-ordinate their
activities.[20] Under
this agreement, the OPCW reports to the UN General Assembly.[14]
World Trade Organization (WTO)[edit]
The WTO does not have a formal agreement with the UN. Instead,
their relationship is governed by exchanges of letters. Unlike the specialized
agencies and the IAEA, the WTO has no reporting obligations towards any of the
principal organs of the UN, but provides ad-hoc contribution to the work of the
General Assembly and ECOSOC.[15] The
WTO has a seat on the CEB.
Chief
Executives Board and Senior Management Group
The
United Nations Chief Executives' Board for Coordination (CEB) brings together
on a regular basis the executive heads of the organizations of the United
Nations System, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the UN. The
CEB aims to further co-ordination and co-operation on a whole range of
substantive and management issues facing UN System organizations. In addition
to its regular reviews of contemporary political issues and major concerns
facing the UN System, the CEB approves policy statements on behalf of the UN
System as a whole. Three committees report to the CEB, namely the High-level
Committee on Programme (HCLP), the High-level Committee on Management (HCLM)
and the United Nations
Development Group (UNDG).
Each of those bodies has, in turn, developed a subsidiary machinery of regular
and ad hoc bodies on the substantive and managerial aspects of inter-agency
co-ordination. The committee structure is supported by a CEB secretariat
located in New York and Geneva.
There
is also a Senior
Management Group, composed of some
of the senior officials in the Secretariat and the funds and programmes at
the Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General rank, which serves as
the cabinet of the Secretary-General.[22]
The
United Nations, its subsidiary bodies, thirteen of the specialized agencies
(ILO, FAO, UNESCO, WHO, ICAO, UPU, ITU, WMO, IMO, WIPO, IFAD, UNDIO, and
UNWTO), and one related body (IAEA) are part of the United Nations
common system of salaries, allowances, and benefits administered by
the International Civil
Service Commission. Most, but not
all, of the members of the United Nations System are part of the common system;
the Bretton Woods
institutions (i.e. the World Bank Group and
the IMF) are notable exceptions. The WTO utilizes the OECD common system. The UN common system was established to prevent
competition amongst organizations of the United Nations System for staff and to
facilitate co-operation and exchange between organizations.[23]
Some international
organizations that are not part of the
United Nations System (and therefore not members of the common system) but who
voluntarily follow the policies of the common system in whole or in part
include:
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