United Nations Day, 24th October, What is United Nations Day? What is United Nations? History, Most Important Significance

United Nations Day: United Nations is an international intergovernmental organization which was established and created on 24 October 1945. Hence worldwide we celebrate 24th October as United Nations Day.

United Nations Day

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by a majority of signatories.

United Nations Day, on 24 October, marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being. In 1945, 50 governments gathered to draft the UN Charter. The United Nations organizations since than have struggled and accomplished great feats to uphold peace, protect human rights, and play a key role in bringing international justice.

In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (United Nations Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international observance or international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by United Nations organizations  member states.

What is United Nations?

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and serve as a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.

United Nations organizations is the world’s largest international organization.

The United Nations headquarters is situated in 760 United Nations Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, United States.

The United Nations organizations was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars, and succeeded the League of Nations. The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. The main organization ceased operations on 20 April 1946 when many of its components were relocated into the new United Nations organizations.

On 25 April 1945, 50 United Nations members met in San Francisco, California for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The United Nations organizations objectives, as defined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and upholding international law.

The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the Secretariat, the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Trusteeship Council. The Trusteeship Council, suspended its operations on 1 November 1994

Principal organs of the United Nations Organizations

United Nations General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ.

The United Nations General Assembly is responsible for the UN budget, appointing the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appointing the UN secretary-general, receiving reports from other parts of the UN system, and making recommendations through resolutions.

The headquarter of UNGA is situated in the United Nations headquarter building in 760 United Nations Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, United States.

The first session of the United Nations General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and included representatives of the 51 founding nations.

All 193 members of the United Nations Organizations are members of the General Assembly, with the addition of the Holy See and Palestine as observer states as well as the European Union (since 1974).

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter.

Its powers as outlined in the United Nations Charter include establishing peacekeeping operations, enacting international sanctions, and authorizing military action.

While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out.

The Security Council consists of fifteen members, of which five are permanent: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The other ten members are elected on a regional basis for a term of two years. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.

United Nations Secretariat

The United Nations Secretariat is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN’s executive arm. The United Nations secretariat has an important role in setting the agenda for the deliberative and decision-making bodies of the UN (i.e., the General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, and Security Council), and the implementation of the decision of these bodies.

Headquartered in New York, the secretariat functions through duty stations in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, Nairobi, Santiago and Vienna, in addition to offices all over the world.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also called the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN).

It settles disputes between states in accordance with international law and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. The ICJ is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between countries.

Established in 1945, The ICJ consists of a panel of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms.

No more than one judge of each nationality may be represented on court at the same time, and judges collectively must reflect the principal civilizations and legal systems of the world.

The headquarter of ICJ is situated in Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ is the only principal UN organ not located in New York City.

Since the entry of its first case on 22 May 1947, the ICJ has entertained 186 cases through January 2023.

United Nations Economic and Social Council

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of the organization.

ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the United Nations System.

It has 54 members. In addition to a rotating membership of 54 UN member states, over 1,600 nongovernmental organizations have consultative status with the Council to participate in the work of the United Nations.

ECOSOC holds one four-week session each year in July, and since 1998 has also held an annual meeting in April with finance ministers of heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council is elected for a one-year term.

Four of the five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague, Netherlands.

The UN Charter mandates the UN and its member states to maintain international peace and security, uphold international law, achieve “higher standards of living” for their citizens, address “economic, social, health, and related problems”, and promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”

When started the United Nations had 51 member states. As on 2023, 193 member states are there and 2 observer states are associated with the United Nations.

The UN’s chief administrative officer is the secretary-general.

Antonio Guterres is presently the SECRETARY GENERAL of the United Nations. He is a Portuguese politician and diplomat.  Antonio Guterres began his first five year-term on 1 January 2017 and was re-elected on 8 June 2021.

SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Secretaries-general of the United Nations
No.	Name	Country of origin	Took office	Left office	Notes
–	Gladwyn Jebb	United Kingdom	24-Oct-45	2-Feb-46	Served as acting secretary-general until Lie’s election
1	Trygve Lie	Norway	2-Feb-46	10-Nov-52	Resigned
2	Dag Hammarskjöld	Sweden	10-Apr-53	18-Sep-61	Died in office
3	U Thant	Burma	30-Nov-61	31-Dec-71	First non-European to hold office
4	Kurt Waldheim	Austria	1-Jan-72	31-Dec-81
5	Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	Peru	1-Jan-82	31-Dec-91
6	Boutros Boutros-Ghali	Egypt	1-Jan-92	31-Dec-96	Served for the shortest time
7	Kofi Annan	Ghana	1-Jan-97	31-Dec-06
8	Ban Ki-moon	South Korea	1-Jan-07	31-Dec-16
9	António Guterres	Portugal	1-Jan-17	Presently Serving

The six official languages of the United Nations, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

15 SPECIALIZED AGENCIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS

There are fifteen specialized agencies of the United Nations Organizations, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development.

Specialized agencies of the United Nations Organizations
No.	Acronym	Agency	Headquarters	Established in
1	FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization	Rome, Italy	1945
2	ICAO	International Civil Aviation Organization	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	1947
3	IFAD	International Fund for Agricultural Development	Rome, Italy	1977
4	ILO	International Labour Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	1946
5	IMO	International Maritime Organization	London, United Kingdom	1948
6	IMF	International Monetary Fund	Washington, D.C., United States	1945
7	ITU	International Telecommunication Union	Geneva, Switzerland	1947
8	UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization	Paris, France	1946
9	UNIDO	United Nations Industrial Development Organization	Vienna, Austria	1967
10	UNWTO	World Tourism Organization	Madrid, Spain	1974
11	UPU	Universal Postal Union	Bern, Switzerland	1947
12	WBG	World Bank Group	Washington, D.C., United States	1945
13	WHO	World Health Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	1948
14	WIPO	World Intellectual Property Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	1974
15	WMO	World Meteorological Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	1950

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

On 25 September 2015, the 193 United Nations members countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”

Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals started worldwide in 2016.

17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2: Zero hunger (No hunger), achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.”

Goal 3: Good health and well-being, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Goal 4: Quality education, “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Goal 5: Gender equality, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy, to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.”

Goal 10: Reduced inequality, “Reduce income inequality within and among countries.”

Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities,  “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.”

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

Goal 13: Climate action, “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy.”

Goal 14: Life below water, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”

Goal 15: Life on land, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.”

Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” International Peace Day is celebrated on 21st September in order to strengthen the steps taken to meet the sustainable development goal 16 which is peace, justice and strong institutions.

Goal 17: Partnership for the goals, “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.”