- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

United Nations Day in Facts

Subscribe
United Nations Day is commemorated on October 24, to celebrate the formation of the international organization committed to maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation.

MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) – United Nations Day is commemorated on October 24, to celebrate the formation of the international organization committed to maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation.

The organization was created to replace the inefficient League of Nations following World War II to prevent such a large scale conflict happening in the future.

The US President Franklin D. Roosevelt raised the issue of replacing the League of Nations. He coined the term "United Nations", which was first used in the Declaration by United Nations in 1942, during World War II, when representatives of 26 nations pledged on behalf of their governments to continue fighting together against the Nazi Bloc powers.

Later, in October 1943, the governments of the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States called for the early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security in a declaration signed in Moscow. This goal was subsequently reaffirmed at the Tehran Conference in December 1943.

The initial format of the UN was first outlined at a meeting in Dumbarton Oaks, United States, in 1944, and at a follow-up meeting in February 1945 in Yalta, a city on the Black Sea coast.

The UN was finally founded in 1945. Representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco on April 25 at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The Charter was unanimously adopted on June 25. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.

The UN officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the majority of other signatories. Therefore, United Nations Day is celebrated on October 24 each year.

The purposes of the UN, as enshrined in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security, to prevent and remove threats to peace and to suppress acts of aggression; to bring about by peaceful means the adjustment or settlement of international disputes; to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; and to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

The UN members undertake to act in accordance with the following principles: the sovereign equality of all states; the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means; and refraining in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

There are 193 UN member states. In July 2011, South Sudan became the 193rd full-fledged UN member.

The UN's main bodies are: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. The General Assembly is the main deliberative body of the UN and is composed of representatives of all Member States.

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The permanent members of the UN Security Council are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Secretary-General is appointed for a five-year term by the General Assembly upon recommendation by the Security Council and may be elected to an additional term.

The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon, who took office on January 1, 2007.

The official languages of the UN are English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French, and the working languages of the UN Secretariat are English and French.

The UN Headquarters is located in New York.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала