Introduction to the United Nations

1
Introduction to the United Nations
Dave Benjamin Ph.D. Assistant Professor Universit
y of Bridgeport November 15th 2006
2
What is the UN

• International Organisation
• More than 3 countries are members
• Has a Mission that goes beyond the interests of
  each of its member-states
• Serves a functional purpose

3
Legal Foundations

• An international organisation has the following
• A membership
• A headquarters
• A Secretary-General (CEO)
• A Charter (Constitution)
• A Mission - purpose

4
History

• League of Nations 1919
• Headquartered in Geneva
• Membership was
• Covenant
• Mission to prevent future world war
• Principle of mutual security
• Organs of the League

5
Successes

• Maintained peace for just over 15 years
• Began decolonisation process through covenant on
  decolonisation 1925

6
Failures

• No check on Germany 1938/1939
• Failure to implement mutual security
• No political will to defend small states against
  the most powerful

7
The UN

• To secure international peace and security
• To prevent future wars especially world wars
• Headquarters
• First Secretary-General

8
Features of the Charter

• To ensure world peace
• To ensure peaceful settlement of disputes
• To protect members from unprovoked attack by
  other members

9
Mechanisms of Security

• Self defence (Article 51)
• Anticipatory self defence (Article 52)
• Appeal to the Security Council for UN
  peacekeeping force
• Good offices of the UN Secretary-General
• Resort to the International Court of Justice
  (ICJ) aka World Court

10
Organs of the UN

• General Assembly
• Security Council
• ECOSOC

11
Specialised Agencies

• UNCTAD
• FAO
• UNDP
• IMO
• UNESCO
• UNICEF
• UNHCR

12
Todays Priorities

• Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
  http//www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
• 8 Goals form the core of the MDG
• 1. Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty
• 2. Universal Primary Education
• 3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
• 4. Reduce Child Mortality
• 5. Improve Maternal Health
• 6. Combat HIV/AIDS Malaria and other diseases
• 7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
• 8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
• http//www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/index.htm

13
MDG 1 Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

• Target 1. Halve between 1990 and 2015 the
  proportion of people whose income is less than 1
  a day
• Target 2. Halve between 1990 and 2015 the
  proportion of people who suffer from hunger

14
MDG 2 Universal Primary Education

• Target 3. Ensure that by 2015 children
  everywhere boys and girls alike will be able to
  complete a full course of primary schooling

15
MDG 3 Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women

• Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary
  and secondary education preferably by 2005 and
  in all levels of education no later than 2015

16
MDG 4 Reduce Child Mortality

• Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds between 1990 and
  2015 the under-five mortality rate

17
MDG 5 Improve Maternal Health

• Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters between 1990
  and 2015 the maternal mortality ratio

18
MDG 6 Combat HIV/AIDS Malaria and other diseases

• Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to
  reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS Target 8. Have
  halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence
  of malaria and other major diseases

19
MDG 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability

• Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable
  development into country policies and programs
  and reverse the loss of environmental resources
  Target 10. Halve by 2015 the proportion of
  people without sustainable access to safe
  drinking water and basic sanitation Target 11.
  Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement
  in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

20
MDG 8 Global Partnership for Development

• Target 12. Develop further an open rule-based
  predictable nondiscriminatory trading and
  financial system (includes a commitment to good
  governance development and poverty
  reductionboth nationally and internationally)
  Target 13. Address the special needs of the
  Least Developed Countries (includes tariff- and
  quota-free access for Least Developed Countries
  exports enhanced program of debt relief for
  heavily indebted poor countries HIPCs and
  cancellation of official bilateral debt and more
  generous official development assistance for
  countries committed to poverty reduction)Target
  14. Address the special needs of landlocked
  developing countries and small island developing
  states (through the Program of Action for the
  Sustainable Development of Small Island
  Developing States and 22nd General Assembly
  provisions) Target 15. Deal comprehensively
  with the debt problems of developing countries
  through national and international measures in
  order to make debt sustainable in the long term

21
United Nations and NGOs

• The phrase non-governmental organization came
  into use with the establishment of the United
  Nations Organization in 1945 with provisions in
  Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations
  Charter 1 that provided for a consultative role
  for organizations that are neither governments
  nor member states and referred to such an entity
  as a non-governmental organization. Article 71
  provides that ECOSOC may make suitable
  arrangements for consultation with
  non-governmental organizations which are
  concerned with matters within its competence.
  Such arrangements may be made with international
  organizations and where appropriate with
  national organizations after consultation with
  the Member of the United Nations concerned.