United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an organization between countries established on 24 October 1945 to promote international cooperation. It was founded to replace the League of Nations following World War II and to prevent another conflict. When it was founded, the UN had 51 members, but there are now 193. Most nations are members of the UN and send diplomats to the headquarters to hold meetings and make decisions about global issues.

The goals of the United Nations are:
 To keep world peace.
 To help countries get along.
To alleviate poverty amongst its members
 To improve living conditions for people all over the world.
 To make the world a better place.

History 
After World War I, the nations of the world formed the League of Nations. The organization was a place where nations could talk through their differences calmly. However, some countries like Germany, Italy, and Japan ignored the League and tried to solve their problems through war. Members of the League of Nations did not want to go to war to protect other members and so it failed. World War II soon started.

The Allies of World War II often called themselves "the United Nations" since they were united against the Axis Powers.  After the war, the winners formed a new organization for world peace. On 25 April 1945 in San Francisco, they decided on the name '"United Nations". In June, they signed the United Nations Charter and decided how the organization would work. The UN was created on 24 October 1945, and its first meeting was held in January 1946. Since 1947 24 October has been called “United Nations Day”. The only country whose flag is modeled after the United Nations is Somalia.

Headquarters 
All of the organs of the United Nations are based in New York City, United States, except for the International Court of Justice, which is in The Hague, Netherlands. And the leader of the United Nations is called United Nations Secretary-General.

Activity
The UN's main buildings are in New York City, but the UN also has offices in Geneva, Switzerland, Kenya, and Austria. The UN tries to be peaceful but was also involved in armed conflicts. In the 1950s during the Soviet boycott of United Nations Security Council, the UN supported South Korea in a war against North Korea, and in the 1990s, the UN helped to force Iraqi soldiers out of Kuwait. At other times, the UN has built peacekeeping forces in which the UN travel to conflicted places in the world to keep the peace. Today there are UN peacekeepers working in Cyprus, Lebanon, the DRC, Central African Republic, Pakistan, and several other countries.

Through a series of goals, resolutions and declarations adopted by member nations of the United Nations, the world has a set of commitments, actions, and goals to stop and reverse the spread of HIV and scale up towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services.

Some of the UN's main work involves the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals, sometimes called the Global Goals, were adopted by the General Assembly in 2015. These 17 goals are based around ending poverty and hunger, making people more equal, and taking action to stop climate change.

Divisions 
The United Nations has six "principal organs":

Principal organs of the United Nations 

There are also so-called special agencies of the United Nations. They are independent of the UN secretariat, with their own budgets and memberships. Some of them are older than the United Nations. Here are a few of them:
 The World Health Organization (WHO)
 The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
 The International Labour Organization (ILO)
 The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
 The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
The United Nations also has funds and programmes. Unlike specialized agencies, these are reliant on voluntary contributions, or money that countries can choose whether or not to give to.
 The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
 The UN World Food Programme (WFP)
 The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

Related pages
 Members of the United Nations

References

Notes

Other websites
UN website
UN Foundation website

 
1945 establishments