• The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the World War II.
• Its charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945
• It came into existence on October 24, 1945 after 51 countries have signed the charter.
• Its predecessor, the League of Nations, created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was disbanded in 1946.
• Its mission is to maintain international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
• Headquarter – New York
• Official Languages – Arabic, English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian
• Members – 193 

The specialized agencies are listed below:

1. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
2. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
3. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
4. International Labour Organization (ILO).
5. International Maritime Organization (IMO).
6. International Monetary Fund (IMF).
7. International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
8. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
9. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). 
10. Universal Postal Union (UPU). 
11. World Health Organization (WHO).
12. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
13. World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
14. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
15. World Bank Group (WBG).
    • The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
      (IBRD)
    • The International Finance Corporation (IFC),
    • The International Development Association (IDA),
    • The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),
    • The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
      (ICSID).

India and UN members

• Soumya Swaminathan, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was appointed the deputy director general for programmes at the WHO.
• Justice Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected as a judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
• International law expert Neeru Chadha was elected to a top UN judicial body, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

UN Organs

The principal organ of the UN System is the United Nations itself. It consists of the six principal organs established by the Charter of the United Nations.

1. UN-General Assembly

• It is the main deliberative organ and composed of all member states, each of which has one vote.
• General Assembly appoints Secretary General of UN based on the recommendations given by Security Council.
• General Assembly elects Non-Permanent members in Security Council and elects Members for Social and Economic Council. 
• Along with Security Council, General Assembly elects Judges to International Court of Justice.
• Decision on important questions such as those on peace and security, UN budget, admission, suspension and expulsion of members to various organs of UN requires special majority. 
• Make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council.
• UN budget – United Nation is funded by its member states through compulsory and voluntary contributions.
• The size of each state‘s compulsory contribution depends mainly on its economic strength, though its state of development and debt situation are also taken into account.
• Member countries can make voluntary contribution to UNESCO, WHO, UN Programmes and Funds such as Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children‘s Fund (UNICEF).

2. United Nation Security Council (UNSC)

• The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of International peace and security.
• The council has 15 members: 5 Permanent – US, UK, Russia, France and China and 10 members elected by the General Assembly for 2-year terms.
• Present ten non-permanent members (with end of term date) are
  • Bolivia (2018)
  • Côte d‘Ivoire (2019),
  • Equatorial Guinea (2019),
  • Ethiopia (2018),
  • Kazakhstan (2018),
  • Kuwait (2019),
  • Netherlands (2018),
  • Peru (2019),
  • Poland (2019), and
  • Sweden (2018).
• While other organs of the UN can only make ―recommendations‖ to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions on member states. 
• All the members have one vote and permanent members have veto power.
• Decisions on procedural matters should have vote of at least 9 of the 15 members and decision on substantive matters require nine votes and the absence of negative vote by any of the 5 permanent members. 
• The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. 

Nations Seeking Reforms and Their Demand

• G4 Nations – 4 countries bids for permanent seats in UNSC. They are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.
• Uniting for Consensus (Coffee Club) – These are group of countries who are opposing the expansion of permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council under the leadership of Italy. 
• Other Members in Coffee Club – Spain, Malta, San Marino , Pakistan , South Korea, Canada , Mexico, argentina, Colombia and Turkey. 

3. Economic and Social Council

• It is the principal organ guides sustainable development policies and coordinates the activities of several UN units and organisations working on development and social and economic issues. 
• It is the principle body for the implementation of internationally agreed development goals. 
• It has 54 members, which are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term. 
• Seats in the council are allocated based on geographical representation.
• 11 of them are allotted to Asian states. 
• Each member of the council has one vote and generally voting in the council is by simple majority. 
• For the nations to be the elected as members of ECOSOC for a three-year term, it needs two-thirds majority of UN General Assembly votes.
• The president is elected for a one-year term.

4. Trusteeship Council

• It was formed to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of Member States, and to prepare the territories for self-government and independence. 
• By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence, with the last nation being Palau. 
• So UN suspended its operation on 1994, and it continues to exist only on paper. 
• Its future role and existence remains uncertain.

5.  Secretariat

• It undertakes the day-to-day work of the UN, administering the programmes and policies of the organization. 
• It is headed by the Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide.

6. International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).

• It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. 
• The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). 
• Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America).
• The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. 
• Its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned.
  

Judges at ICJ

• The ICJ consists of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council that vote simultaneously but separately.
• Elections take place every three years, with one-third of the judges retiring each time. 
• Judges are eligible to stand for re-election. 
• President and Vice-President of the court are elected by secret ballot to hold office for three years.

The 15 judges of the Court are distributed as per the regions:

• Three from Africa.
• Two from Latin America and Caribbean.  
• Three from Asia. 
• Five from Western Europe and other states. 
• Two from Eastern Europe.

Eligibility criteria

• A candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes in both bodies (UNSC and UNGA). 
• Judges will be elected from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognised competence in international law. 
• Judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not their nationality, but no two judges can be from the same nationality.
• Effort is also taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are reflected in the composition of the court