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The Signing of the Atlantic Charter Led to the Creation of the UN
The United Nations (UN) is a worldwide organization founded in 1945 after World War II. Its goal is to ensure world peace and the fulfillment of the UN charter. The UN is made up of 193 member states, each providing money and resources according to their abilities, but more importantly, they send representatives from their government to attend international summits and seminars.
The UN also has six main bodies: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Secretariat, and the UN Trusteeship Council. The first four deal with major issues of international relations, while the last two are more of a historical nature.
Time of World War II
The history of the UN begins with one man: Franklin D. Roosevelt, former president of the United States. After World War II, he had the idea of creating a world organization that would no longer allow countries to go to war while enforcing treaties and international laws. He died without being able to make this organization a reality, but his successors carried on the idea. It eventually became a reality in 1945, with 51 member states. The United Nations Charter was signed on June 26 at the San Francisco Opera House in California and is considered one of the most widely recognized treaties ever written.
International unity
Since then, the UN has been involved many times in resolving international crises, including disputes between countries (North Korea/South Korea), internal conflicts (Colombia), and wars (Kosovo). Under the current secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, they hope to resolve these problems directly, without sending peacekeepers or resorting to economic sanctions.
The most important body of the UN is the Security Council, which consists of fifteen members. Five of them are permanent: France, Great Britain, China, Russia and the United States. They have their own resolutions and can veto the proposals of other countries if they consider them unfair or unreasonable, which gives them great power. This is one of the reasons why there has been much controversy at the UN, since it is up to these five countries to decide whether an issue will be raised and considered.
The most notable events in UN history include:
● The collapse of the USSR (1991), which resulted in the U.S. and other countries gaining more power.
● The oil-for-food scandal (2005), which led to changes in the UN Security Council and a complete overhaul of the organization's entire economic system.
● South Sudan's secession from North Sudan (2011) after the vote for independence, but only time will tell whether this newfound freedom will lead to a unified, stable state or to civil war.
●The Syrian civil war (ongoing) and the refugee crisis it created.
The UN headquarters is located in New York City and is a complex of buildings and facilities on 23 acres of land in the eastern part of the Turtle Bay neighborhood. It was built between 1948 and 1953 and cost $111 million. The architect who designed the building was Wallace Harrison, and the sculptor who created the controversial reliefs on the Secretariat building was Walter Russell. Now they are both retired and playing from the comfort of their homes.
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