UN – Concept, objectives and member countries

We explain what the UN is, the origin and history of this international organization. In addition, what it is for and the countries that compose it.

What is the UN?

The United Nations (UN), also known as the United Nations (UN), is the largest and most important international organization in the world, in which most of the nations that exist meet to discuss and resolve dilemmas that affect humanity as a whole.

The UN has a diverse organizational structure, which allows focused discussion of issues and aspects of international interest in platforms and spaces that have the representation of the interested parties and the community of the States.

Thus, through a free voting system at the UN the need to take action of any kind can be decided: issue international requests for more or less mandatory compliance, intervene through an international coalition in a region of the world that presents conflicts, dangers or needs, etc.

The main organs of the UN are:

• General Assembly. It is the main body of the UN, which allows debate among the 193 member countries. It is led by an assembly president elected for each session, which addresses issues of global importance, such as the recognition of new members or critical issues.
• The Security Council. It is made up of five permanent members with veto power: China, Russia, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, the most militarily relevant countries in the world; and another ten non-permanent members, whose membership on the council is for two years and are elected by the General Assembly. The mission of this body is to ensure world peace and decide when an international intervention is justified and when not.
• The Economic and Social Council. Here 54 member countries intervene, along with representatives of the academic and business sectors and more than 3,000 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The purpose of the council is to discuss international episodes of migration, hunger, health, etc.
• The Trusteeship Council. Body that must ensure the correct management of trust territories, that is, under the tutelage of the UN to guarantee their development towards their own and independent government. It is made up of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
• The International Court of Justice. It is headquartered in The Hague and is the judicial body of the UN, which handles legal disputes between the various States, and evaluates cases of crimes that are too heinous or of too wide an area of ​​effect to be the jurisdiction of ordinary national courts. It is made up of 15 magistrates elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council for nine-year terms.
• The Secretary. Administrative body of the UN, it provides services to the other councils and manages around 41,000 officials worldwide. It is headed by the Secretary General, elected by the General Assembly for five-year terms.

History and origin of the UN

The ONU was founded in 1945 in the USA, thanks to the agreement of 51 founding countries, which ascribed the Charter of the United Nations, seeking a model of world order that would prevent the repetition of military atrocities such as the just-ended Second World War. To this end, it replaced the League of Nations founded in 1919 and considered a failure.

Since then, the UN has reformed its operation numerous times and has grown enormously in terms of acceptance, importance and complexity, although it is also the subject of eventual criticism and accusations of partiality or impotence. In this growth the UN has led numerous peacekeeping missions since 1991 that not only pursue military purposes, but also civil, social and humanitarian purposes.

What is the UN for?

The ONU was founded with the main objective of preventing future wars and to allow nations to mediate their conflicts politically and diplomatically before the concert of the other members of the world panorama, being able to receive from them opinions, suggestions, offers of aid and, even, demands and organized multilateral pressure.

On the other hand, the UN occupies a place of global importance in the fight for Universal Human Rights (DD.HH), after it declared them in force in 1948. This is done through various educational, social, humanitarian and military initiatives, as well as judicial tribunals in which to take action against crimes against humanity or war crimes. It is, broadly speaking, an attempt at a world assembly of nations.

Countries that comprise it

Currently, the UN is made up of 193 recognized member states, which are: