The United Nations (UN) Flashcards
What is the UN?
The leading international organization truly ‘international’ in nature. It has 193 member states, representing most of the world’s sovereign states. Its policies are wide ranging
Charter of the United Nations
Founding document of the UN
The essence of the debates about the UN center on its ability to challenge the sovereignty of the nation state, and if any of its treaties and covenants are enforceable at all.
Major constituent parts
General assembly
Security council
Economic and social council
International court of justice
Secretariat
Objectives: Promoting and protecting global security
UNSC – passes resolutions and authorizes peacekeeping and other military action to protect global security. Some resolutions authorize military action led by other international organizations, such as NATO. Peacekeepers are sent across the world.
ICJ – makes rulings in international law when states disagree over sovereignty
Objective: Protecting and promoting human rights
UN Human Rights Council – consists of a selection of UN member states, working in rotation, to investigate and make other member states accountable for protecting human rights
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – a UN agency that operates independently from member states. It scrutinizes member state’s human rights record
Objective: Advancing world human and economic development
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – until 2015, agreed international action to promote human development across the poorest regions of the world. Replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, which continued the work of MDGs, with a greater emphasis on sustainable development.
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – made up of 54 member states, serving one-year terms, ECOSOC coordinates UN action on economic, social and environmental issues. It also oversees the work of SDGs
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) – works on UN-agreed development priorities across the world, funded by member states
Objective: Tackling collective issues
The UN has led to many important international summits on climate change. Successful examples: Kyoto protocol (1997). Less successful: Copenhagen Accord (2009) and the Paris Agreement (2015)
