CHAPTER # 8

INTERNATIONAL
POLITICAL INSTITUTION

UNITED NATIONS
United Nations (UN), international organization established on October 24, 1945.
The United Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization
established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its
predecessor, the League of Nations, was created by the Treaty of Versailles in
1919 and disbanded in 1946. Headquartered in New York City, the UN also has
regional offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. Its official languages are Arabic,
Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

According to its Charter, the UN aims:

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,…to reaffirm faith in

fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions under which justice and
respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of
life in larger freedom.
In addition to maintaining peace and security, other important objectives include
developing friendly relations among countries based on respect for the principles
of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; achieving worldwide
cooperation to solve international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian
problems; respecting and promoting human rights; and serving as a centre where
countries can coordinate their actions and activities toward these various ends.

The UN formed a continuum with the League of Nations in general purpose,

structure, and functions; many of the UN’s principal organs and related agencies
were adopted from similar structures established earlier in the century. In some
respects, however, the UN constituted a very different organization, especially
with regard to its objective of maintaining international peace and security and its
commitment to economic and social development.

Changes in the nature of international relations resulted in modifications in the

responsibilities of the UN and its decision-making apparatus. Cold War tensions
between the United States and the Soviet Union deeply affected the UN’s security
functions during its first 45 years. Extensive post-World War II decolonization in
Africa, Asia, and the Middle East increased the volume and nature of political,
economic, and social issues that confronted the organization. The Cold War’s end
in 1991 brought renewed attention and appeals to the UN. Amid an increasingly
volatile geopolitical climate, there were new challenges to established practices
and functions, especially in the areas of conflict resolution and humanitarian
assistance. At the beginning of the 21st century, the UN and its programs and
affiliated agencies struggled to address humanitarian crises and civil wars,
unprecedented refugee flows, the devastation caused by the spread of AIDS,
global financial disruptions, international terrorism, and the disparities in wealth
between the world’s richest and poorest peoples.

History and Development

Despite the problems encountered by the League of Nations in arbitrating conflict
and ensuring international peace and security prior to World War II, the major
Allied powers agreed during the war to establish a new global organization to
help manage international affairs. This agreement was first articulated when U.S.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
signed the Atlantic Charter in August 1941. The name United Nations was
originally used to denote the countries allied against Germany, Italy, and Japan.
On January 1, 1942, 26 countries signed the Declaration by United Nations, which
set forth the war aims of the Allied powers.

The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union took the lead in
designing the new organization and determining its decision-making structure and
functions. Initially, the “Big Three” states and their respective leaders (Roosevelt,
Churchill, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin) were hindered by disagreements on
issues that foreshadowed the Cold War. The Soviet Union demanded individual
membership and voting rights for its constituent republics, and Britain wanted
assurances that its colonies would not be placed under UN control. There also
was disagreement over the voting system to be adopted in the Security Council,
an issue that became famous as the “veto problem.”

The first major step toward the formation of the United Nations was taken August
21–October 7, 1944, at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, a meeting of the
diplomatic experts of the Big Three powers plus China (a group often designated
the “Big Four”) held at Dumbarton Oaks, an estate in Washington, D.C. Although
the four countries agreed on the general purpose, structure, and function of a
new world organization, the conference ended amid continuing disagreement
over membership and voting. At the Yalta Conference, a meeting of the Big Three
in a Crimean resort city in February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin laid the
basis for charter provisions delimiting the authority of the Security Council.
Moreover, they reached a tentative accord on the number of Soviet republics to
be granted independent memberships in the UN. Finally, the three leaders agreed
that the new organization would include a trusteeship system to succeed the
League of Nations mandate system.
The Dumbarton Oaks proposals, with modifications from the Yalta Conference,
formed the basis of negotiations at the United Nations Conference on
International Organization (UNCIO), which convened in San Francisco on April 25,
1945, and produced the final Charter of the United Nations. The San Francisco
conference was attended by representatives of 50 countries from all geographic
areas of the world: 9 from Europe, 21 from the Americas, 7 from the Middle East,
2 from East Asia, and 3 from Africa, as well as 1 each from the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic and the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (in addition to the
Soviet Union itself) and 5 from British Commonwealth countries. Poland, which
was not present at the conference, was permitted to become an original member
of the UN. Security Council veto power (among the permanent members) was
affirmed, though any member of the General Assembly was able to raise issues
for discussion. Other political issues resolved by compromise were the role of the
organization in the promotion of economic and social welfare; the status of
colonial areas and the distribution of trusteeships; the status of regional and
defense arrangements; and Great Power dominance versus the equality of states.
The UN Charter was unanimously adopted and signed on June 26 and
promulgated on October 24, 1945.

Organization and Administration

Principles and membership
The purposes, principles, and organization of the United Nations are outlined in
the Charter. The essential principles underlying the purposes and functions of the
organization are listed in Article 2 and include the following: the UN is based on
the sovereign equality of its members; disputes are to be settled by peaceful
means; members are to refrain from the threat or use of force in contravention of
the purposes of the UN; each member must assist the organization in any
enforcement actions it takes under the Charter; and states that are not members
of the organization are required to act in accordance with these principles insofar
as it is necessary to maintain international peace and security. Article 2 also
stipulates a basic long-standing norm that the organization shall not intervene in
matters considered within the domestic jurisdiction of any state. Although this
was a major limitation on UN action, over time the line between international and
domestic jurisdiction has become blurred.

New members are admitted to the UN on the recommendation of the Security

Council and by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly. Often, however, the
admittance of new members has engendered controversy. Given Cold War
divisions between East and West, the requirement that the Security Council’s five
permanent members (sometimes known collectively as the P-5)—China, France,
the Soviet Union (whose seat and membership were assumed by Russia in 1991),
the United Kingdom, and the United States—concur on the admission of new
members at times posed serious obstacles. By 1950 only 9 of 31 applicants had
been admitted to the organization. In 1955 the 10th Assembly proposed a
package deal that, after modification by the Security Council, resulted in the
admission of 16 new states (4 eastern European communist states and 12
noncommunist countries). The most contentious application for membership was
that of the communist People’s Republic of China, which was placed before the
General Assembly and blocked by the United States at every session from 1950 to
1971. Finally, in 1971, in an effort to improve its relationship with mainland China,
the United States refrained from blocking the Assembly’s vote to admit the
People’s Republic and to expel the Republic of China (Taiwan); there were 76
votes in favour of expulsion, 35 votes opposed, and 17 abstentions. As a result,
the Republic of China’s membership and permanent Security Council seat were
given to the People’s Republic.

Controversy also arose over the issue of “divided” states, including the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East
Germany), North and South Korea, and North and South Vietnam. The two
German states were admitted as members in 1973; these two seats were reduced
to one after the country’s reunification in October 1990. Vietnam was admitted in
1977, after the defeat of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country in
1975. The two Koreas were admitted separately in 1991.
Following worldwide decolonization from 1955 to 1960, 40 new members were
admitted, and by the end of the 1970s there were about 150 members of the UN.
Another significant increase occurred after 1989–90, when many former Soviet
republics gained their independence. By the early 21st century the UN comprised
nearly 190 member states.

Principal organs
The United Nations has six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security
Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the
International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.

General Assembly
The only body in which all UN members are represented, the General Assembly
exercises deliberative, supervisory, financial, and elective functions relating to any
matter within the scope of the UN Charter. Its primary role, however, is to discuss
issues and make recommendations, though it has no power to enforce its
resolutions or to compel state action. Other functions include admitting new
members; selecting members of the Economic and Social Council, the
nonpermanent members of the Security Council, and the Trusteeship Council;
supervising the activities of the other UN organs, from which the Assembly
receives reports; and participating in the election of judges to the International
Court of Justice and the selection of the secretary-general. Decisions usually are
reached by a simple majority vote. On important questions, however—such as
the admission of new members, budgetary matters, and peace and security
issues—a two-thirds majority is required.
The Assembly convenes annually and in special sessions, electing a new president
each year from among five regional groups of states. At the beginning of each
regular session, the Assembly also holds a general debate, in which all members
may participate and raise any issue of international concern. Most work, however,
is delegated to six main committees: (1) Disarmament and International Security,
(2) Economic and Financial, (3) Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural, (4) Special
Political and Decolonization, (5) Administrative and Budgetary, and (6) Legal.

The General Assembly has debated issues that other organs of the UN have either
overlooked or avoided, including decolonization, the independence of Namibia,
apartheid in South Africa, terrorism, and the AIDS epidemic. The number of
resolutions passed by the Assembly each year has climbed to more than 350, and
many resolutions are adopted without opposition. Nevertheless, there have been
sharp disagreements among members on several issues, such as those relating to
the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and human rights. The General Assembly
has drawn public attention to major issues, thereby forcing member governments
to develop positions on them, and it has helped to organize ad hoc bodies and
conferences to deal with important global problems.

The large size of the Assembly and the diversity of the issues it discusses
contributed to the emergence of regionally based voting blocs in the 1960s.
During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe formed
one of the most cohesive blocs, and another bloc comprised the United States
and its Western allies. The admission of new countries of the Southern
Hemisphere in the 1960s and ’70s and the dissipation of Cold War tensions after
1989 contributed to the formation of blocs based on “North-South” economic
issues—i.e., issues of disagreement between the more prosperous, industrialized
countries of the Northern Hemisphere and the poorer, less industrialized
developing countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Other issues have been
incorporated into the North-South divide, including Northern economic and
political domination, economic development, the proliferation of nuclear
weapons, and support for Israel.
Security Council
The UN Charter assigns to the Security Council primary responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security. The Security Council originally
consisted of 11 members—five permanent and six nonpermanent—elected by
the General Assembly for two-year terms. From the beginning, nonpermanent
members of the Security Council were elected to give representation to certain
regions or groups of states. As membership increased, however, this practice ran
into difficulty. An amendment to the UN Charter in 1965 increased the council’s
membership to 15, including the original five permanent members plus 10
nonpermanent members. Among the permanent members, the People’s Republic
of China replaced the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1971, and the Russian
Federation succeeded the Soviet Union in 1991. After the unification of Germany,
debate over the council’s composition again arose, and Germany, India, and Japan
each applied for permanent council seats.

The nonpermanent members are chosen to achieve equitable regional

representation, five members coming from Africa or Asia, one from eastern
Europe, two from Latin America, and two from western Europe or other areas.
Five of the 10 nonpermanent members are elected each year by the General
Assembly for two-year terms, and five retire each year. The presidency is held by
each member in rotation for a period of one month.

Each Security Council member is entitled to one vote. On all “procedural”

matters—the definition of which is sometimes in dispute—decisions by the
council are made by an affirmative vote of any nine of its members. Substantive
matters, such as the investigation of a dispute or the application of sanctions, also
require nine affirmative votes, including those of the five permanent members
holding veto power. In practice, however, a permanent member may abstain
without impairing the validity of the decision. A vote on whether a matter is
procedural or substantive is itself a substantive question. Because the Security
Council is required to function continuously, each member is represented at all
times at the UN’s headquarters in New York City.
Any country—even if it is not a member of the UN—may bring a dispute to which
it is a party to the attention of the Security Council. When there is a complaint,
the council first explores the possibility of a peaceful resolution. International
peacekeeping forces may be authorized to keep warring parties apart pending
further negotiations. If the council finds that there is a real threat to the peace, a
breach of the peace, or an act of aggression (as defined by Article 39 of the UN
Charter), it may call upon UN members to apply diplomatic or economic
sanctions. If these methods prove inadequate, the UN Charter allows the Security
Council to take military action against the offending country.

During the Cold War, continual disagreement between the United States and the
Soviet Union coupled with the veto power of the Security Council’s permanent
members made the Security Council an ineffective institution. Since the late
1980s, however, the council’s power and prestige have grown. Between 1987 and
2000 it authorized more peacekeeping operations than at any previous time. The
use of the veto has declined dramatically, though disagreements among
permanent members of the Security Council—most notably in 2003 over the use
of military force against Iraq—have occasionally undermined the council’s
effectiveness. To achieve consensus, comparatively informal meetings are held in
private among the council’s permanent members, a practice that has been
criticized by nonpermanent members of the Security Council.

In addition to several standing and ad hoc committees, the work of the council is
facilitated by the Military Staff Committee, sanctions committees for each of the
countries under sanctions, peacekeeping forces committees, and an International
Tribunals Committee.

Economic and Social Council

Designed to be the UN’s main venue for the discussion of international economic
and social issues, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) directs and
coordinates the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities of the UN
and its specialized agencies. Established by the UN Charter, ECOSOC is
empowered to recommend international action on economic and social issues;
promote universal respect for human rights; and work for global cooperation on
health, education, and cultural and related areas. ECOSOC conducts studies;
formulates resolutions, recommendations, and conventions for consideration by
the General Assembly; and coordinates the activities of various UN programs and
specialized agencies. Most of ECOSOC’s work is performed in functional
commissions on topics such as human rights, narcotics, population, social
development, statistics, the status of women, and science and technology; the
council also oversees regional commissions for Europe, Asia and the Pacific,
Western Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

The UN Charter authorizes ECOSOC to grant consultative status to

nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Three categories of consultative status
are recognized: General Category NGOs (formerly category I) include
organizations with multiple goals and activities; Special Category NGOs (formerly
category II) specialize in certain areas of ECOSOC activities; and Roster NGOs have
only an occasional interest in the UN’s activities. Consultative status enables
NGOs to attend ECOSOC meetings, issue reports, and occasionally testify at
meetings. Since the mid-1990s, measures have been adopted to increase the
scope of NGO participation in ECOSOC, in the ad hoc global conferences, and in
other UN activities. By the early 21st century, ECOSOC had granted consultative
status to more than 2,500 NGOs.

Originally, ECOSOC consisted of representatives from 18 countries, but the

Charter was amended in 1965 and in 1974 to increase the number of members to
54. Members are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly. Four of
the five permanent members of the Security Council—the United States, United
Kingdom, Soviet Union (Russia), and France—have been reelected continually
because they provide funding for most of ECOSOC’s budget, which is the largest
of any UN subsidiary body. Decisions are taken by simple majority vote.

Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was designed to supervise the government of trust
territories and to lead them to self-government or independence. The trusteeship
system, like the mandate system under the League of Nations, was established on
the premise that colonial territories taken from countries defeated in war should
not be annexed by the victorious powers but should be administered by a trust
country under international supervision until their future status was determined.
Unlike the mandate system, the trusteeship system invited petitions from trust
territories on their independence and required periodic international missions to
the territories. In 1945 only 12 League of Nations mandates remained: Nauru,
New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland and Cameroon (French administered),
Togoland and Cameroon (British administered), the Pacific Islands (Carolines,
Marshalls, and Marianas), Western Samoa, South West Africa, Tanganyika, and
Palestine. All these mandates became trust territories except South West Africa
(now Namibia), which South Africa refused to enter into the trusteeship system.

The Trusteeship Council, which met once each year, consisted of states
administering trust territories, permanent members of the Security Council that
did not administer trust territories, and other UN members elected by the
General Assembly. Each member had one vote, and decisions were taken by a
simple majority of those present. With the independence of Palau, the last
remaining trust territory, in 1994, the council terminated its operations. No longer
required to meet annually, the council may meet on the decision of its president
or on a request by a majority of its members, by the General Assembly, or by the
Security Council. Since 1994 new roles for the council have been proposed,
including administering the global commons (e.g., the seabed and outer space)
and serving as a forum for minority and indigenous peoples.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice, commonly known as the World Court, is the
principal judicial organ of the United Nations, though the court’s origins predate
the League of Nations. The idea for the creation of an international court to
arbitrate international disputes arose during an international conference held at
The Hague in 1899. This institution was subsumed under the League of Nations in
1919 as the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and adopted its
present name with the founding of the UN in 1945.

The court’s decisions are binding, and its broad jurisdiction encompasses “all
cases which the parties refer to it and all matters specially provided for in the
Charter of the United Nations or in treaties and conventions in force.” Most
importantly, states may not be parties to a dispute without their consent, though
they may accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the court in specified categories of
disputes. The court may give advisory opinions at the request of the General
Assembly or the Security Council or at the request of other organs and specialized
agencies authorized by the General Assembly. Although the court has successfully
arbitrated some cases (e.g., the border dispute between Honduras and El
Salvador in 1992), governments have been reluctant to submit sensitive issues,
thereby limiting the court’s ability to resolve threats to international peace and
security. At times countries also have refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction or
the findings of the court. For example, when Nicaragua sued the United States in
the court in 1984 for mining its harbours, the court found in favour of Nicaragua,
but the United States refused to accept the court’s decision.

The 15 judges of the court are elected by the General Assembly and the Security
Council voting independently. No two judges may be nationals of the same state,
and the judges are to represent a cross section of the major legal systems of the
world. Judges serve nine-year terms and are eligible for reelection. The seat of the
World Court is The Hague.

Secretariat
The secretary-general, the principal administrative officer of the United Nations,
is elected for a five-year renewable term by a two-thirds vote of the General
Assembly and by the recommendation of the Security Council and the approval of
its permanent members. Secretaries-general usually have come from small,
neutral countries. The secretary-general serves as the chief administrative officer
at all meetings and carries out any functions that those organs entrust to the
Secretariat; he also oversees the preparation of the UN’s budget. The secretary-
general has important political functions, being charged with bringing before the
organization any matter that threatens international peace and security. Both the
chief spokesperson for the UN and the UN’s most visible and authoritative figure
in world affairs, the secretary-general often serves as a high-level negotiator.
Attesting to the importance of the post, two secretaries-general have been
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace: Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961 and Kofi Annan,
corecipient with the UN, in 2001.

Annan, Kofi UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 1998.

The Secretariat influences the work of the United Nations to a much greater
degree than indicated in the UN Charter. It is responsible for preparing numerous
reports, studies, and investigations, in addition to the major tasks of translating,
interpreting, providing services for large numbers of meetings, and other work.
Under the Charter the staff is to be recruited mainly on the basis of merit, though
there has been a conscious effort to recruit individuals from different geographic
regions. Some members of the Secretariat are engaged on permanent contracts,
but others serve on temporary assignment from their national governments. In
both cases they must take an oath of loyalty to the United Nations and are not
permitted to receive instructions from member governments. The influence of
the Secretariat can be attributed to the fact that the some 9,000 people on its
staff are permanent experts and international civil servants rather than political
appointees of member states.

The Secretariat is based in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi (Kenya), and other
locales. It has been criticized frequently for poor administrative practices—though
it has made persistent efforts to increase the efficiency of its operations—as well
as for a lack of neutrality.

Subsidiary organs
The United Nations network also includes subsidiary organs created by the
General Assembly and autonomous specialized agencies. The subsidiary organs
report to the General Assembly or ECOSOC or both. Some of these organs are
funded directly by the UN; others are financed by the voluntary contributions of
governments or private citizens. In addition, ECOSOC has consultative
relationships with NGOs operating in economic, social, cultural, educational,
health, and related fields. NGOs have played an increasingly important role in the
work of the UN’s specialized agencies, especially in the areas of health,
peacekeeping, refugee issues, and human rights.

Specialized agencies
The specialized agencies report annually to ECOSOC and often cooperate with
each other and with various UN organs. However, they also have their own
principles, goals, and rules, which at times may conflict with those of other UN
organs and agencies. The specialized agencies are autonomous insofar as they
control their own budgets and have their own boards of directors, who appoint
agency heads independently of the General Assembly or secretary-general. Major
specialized agencies and related organs of the UN include the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Two of the
most powerful specialized agencies, which also are the most independent with
respect to UN decision making, are the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). The United Nations, along with its specialized agencies, is
often referred to collectively as the United Nations system.

Global conferences
Global conferences have a long history in multilateral diplomacy, extending back
to the period after World War I, when conferences on disarmament and
economic affairs were convened by the League of Nations. With the UN’s
establishment after World War II, the number and frequency of global
conferences increased dramatically. The trickle of narrowly focused, functional
meetings from the early 1950s became a torrent in the 1990s with a series of
widely publicized gatherings attended by high-level representatives and several
thousands of other participants.

Virtually all matters of international concern have been debated by UN global

conferences, including the proliferation of nuclear weapons, small-arms
trafficking, racism, overpopulation, hunger, crime, access to safe drinking water,
the environment, the role of women, and human rights. The format and
frequency of the conferences have varied considerably over time. The increasing
number of meetings has led to complaints of “conference fatigue” by some
countries.

Global conferences have served a number of significant functions. Considered

“town meetings of the world,” they provide an arena for discussion and for the
exchange of information. The conferences take stock of existing knowledge and
help to expand it through the policy analyses that they trigger. They also serve as
incubators of ideas, raise elite consciousness, and may also identify emerging
issues. For example, the dramatic acceleration in the growth of the world’s
population in the second half of the 20th century was a challenge first identified
by conferences organized by the UN in the 1950s and ’60s. Global conferences
have nurtured public support for solutions to global issues. Thus, NGOs have
played a key role in many of the UN global conferences. At some conferences, the
NGOs have organized parallel conferences to discuss the major issues; at others,
they have participated alongside government representatives, serving on national
delegations and presenting position papers.

Global conferences have faced a number of criticisms. Some observers claim that
they are inefficient and too large and unwieldy to set international agendas.
Others argue that they have been captured by different constituencies, of the
North or the South, depending on the issue. Still others contend that such
conferences have become too politicized, with the result that unrelated issues are
sometimes linked to serve political purposes. For example, the global conferences
on racism in 1978 and 2001, according to these critics, were unduly politicized by
declarations asserting a link between racism and Zionism.

Administration
Finances
The secretary-general must submit a biennial budget to the General Assembly for
its approval. The Charter stipulates that the expenses of the organization shall be
borne by members as apportioned by the General Assembly. The Committee on
Contributions prepares a scale of assessments for all members, based on the
general economic level and capacity of each state, which is also submitted to the
General Assembly for approval. The United States is the largest contributor,
though the proportion of its contributions has declined continually, from some
two-fifths at the UN’s founding to one-fourth in 1975 and to about one-fifth in
2000. Other members make larger per capita contributions. The per capita
contribution of San Marino, for example, is roughly four times that of the United
States.

The U.S. contribution became a controversial issue during the 1990s, when the
country refused to pay its obligations in full and objected to the level of funding it
was required to provide. In 1999 the U.S. Congress passed a UN reform bill, and
after intense negotiations UN members agreed to reduce the U.S. share of the
budget and to increase contributions from other states to make up the shortfall.

When the cost of the special programs, specialized agencies, and peacekeeping
operations is added to the regular budget, the total annual cost of the United
Nations system increases substantially. (Special programs are financed by
voluntary contributions from UN members, and specialized agencies and
peacekeeping operations have their own budgets.) Partly because of a rapid
increase in the number of appeals to the UN for peacekeeping and other
assistance after the end of the Cold War and partly because of the failure of some
member states to make timely payments to the organization, the UN has suffered
continual and severe financial crises.

Privileges and immunities

A general Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,
approved by the General Assembly in February 1946 and accepted by most of the
members, asserts that the UN possesses juridical personality. The convention also
provides for such matters as immunity from legal process of the property and
officials of the UN. An agreement between the UN and the United States, signed
in June 1947, defines the privileges and immunities of the UN headquarters in
New York City.

Headquarters
The General Assembly decided during the second part of its first session in
London to locate its permanent headquarters in New York. John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., donated land for a building site in Manhattan. Temporary headquarters were
established at Lake Success on Long Island, New York. The permanent Secretariat
building was completed and occupied in 1951–52. The building providing
accommodations for the General Assembly and the councils was completed and
occupied in 1952.

The UN flag, adopted in 1947, consists of the official emblem of the organization
(a circular world map, as seen from the North Pole, surrounded by a wreath of
olive branches) in white centred on a light blue background. The Assembly
designated October 24 as United Nations Day.

UN flag

Functions
Maintenance of international peace and security
The main function of the United Nations is to preserve international peace and
security. Chapter 6 of the Charter provides for the pacific settlement of disputes,
through the intervention of the Security Council, by means such as negotiation,
mediation, arbitration, and judicial decisions. The Security Council may investigate
any dispute or situation to determine whether it is likely to endanger
international peace and security. At any stage of the dispute, the council may
recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment, and, if the parties
fail to settle the dispute by peaceful means, the council may recommend terms of
settlement.

The goal of collective security, whereby aggression against one member is met
with resistance by all, underlies chapter 7 of the Charter, which grants the
Security Council the power to order coercive measures—ranging from diplomatic,
economic, and military sanctions to the use of armed force—in cases where
attempts at a peaceful settlement have failed. Such measures were seldom
applied during the Cold War, however, because tensions between the United
States and the Soviet Union prevented the Security Council from agreeing on the
instigators of aggression. Instead, actions to maintain peace and security often
took the form of preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping. In the post-Cold War
period, appeals to the UN for peacekeeping and related activities increased
dramatically, and new threats to international peace and security were
confronted, including AIDS and international terrorism.

Notwithstanding the primary role of the Security Council, the UN Charter provides
for the participation of the General Assembly and nonmember states in security
issues. Any state, whether it is a member of the UN or not, may bring any dispute
or situation that endangers international peace and security to the attention of
the Security Council or the General Assembly. The Charter authorizes the General
Assembly to “discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international
peace and security” and to “make recommendations with regard to any such
questions to the state or states concerned or to the Security Council or to both.”
This authorization is restricted by the provision that, “while the Security Council is
exercising in respect of any dispute or situation the functions assigned to it in the
present Charter, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation with
regard to that dispute or situation unless the Security Council so requests.” By the
“Uniting for Peace” resolution of November 1950, however, the General
Assembly granted to itself the power to deal with threats to the peace if the
Security Council fails to act after a veto by a permanent member. Although these
provisions grant the General Assembly a broad secondary role, the Security
Council can make decisions that bind all members, whereas the General Assembly
can make only recommendations.

Peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace building

International armed forces were first used in 1948 to observe cease-fires in
Kashmir and Palestine. Although not specifically mentioned in the UN Charter, the
use of such forces as a buffer between warring parties pending troop withdrawals
and negotiations—a practice known as peacekeeping—was formalized in 1956
during the Suez Crisis between Egypt, Israel, France, and the United Kingdom.
Peacekeeping missions have taken many forms, though they have in common the
fact that they are designed to be peaceful, that they involve military troops from
several countries, and that the troops serve under the authority of the UN
Security Council. In 1988 the UN Peacekeeping Forces were awarded the Nobel
Prize for Peace.

United Nations Peacekeeping Forces from Thailand at a ceremony marking the transfer of control of East Timor
(Timor-Leste) to East Timorese forces in Los Palos, East Timor, July 23, 2002.

During the Cold War, so-called first-generation, or “classic,” peacekeeping was

used in conflicts in the Middle East and Africa and in conflicts stemming from
decolonization in Asia. Between 1948 and 1988 the UN undertook 13
peacekeeping missions involving generally lightly armed troops from neutral
countries other than the permanent members of the Security Council—most
often Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, India, Ireland, and Italy. Troops in these
missions, the so-called “Blue Helmets,” were allowed to use force only in self-
defense. The missions were given and enjoyed the consent of the parties to the
conflict and the support of the Security Council and the troop-contributing
countries.

With the end of the Cold War, the challenges of peacekeeping became more
complex. In order to respond to situations in which internal order had broken
down and the civilian population was suffering, “second-generation”
peacekeeping was developed to achieve multiple political and social objectives.
Unlike first-generation peacekeeping, second-generation peacekeeping often
involves civilian experts and relief specialists as well as soldiers. Another
difference between second-generation and first-generation peacekeeping is that
soldiers in some second-generation missions are authorized to employ force for
reasons other than self-defense. Because the goals of second-generation
peacekeeping can be variable and difficult to define, however, much controversy
has accompanied the use of troops in such missions.

In the 1990s, second-generation peacekeeping missions were undertaken in

Cambodia (1991–93), the former Yugoslavia (1992–95), Somalia (1992–95), and
elsewhere and included troops from the permanent members of the Security
Council as well as from the developed and developing world (e.g., Australia,
Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Fiji, India). In the former Yugoslav province of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, the Security Council created “safe areas” to protect the
predominantly Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) population from Serbian attacks, and
UN troops were authorized to defend the areas with force. In each of these cases,
the UN reacted to threats to peace and security within states, sometimes taking
sides in domestic disputes and thus jeopardizing its own neutrality. Between 1988
and 2000 more than 30 peacekeeping efforts were authorized, and at their peak
in 1993 more than 80,000 peacekeeping troops representing 77 countries were
deployed on missions throughout the world. In the first years of the 21st century,
annual UN expenditures on peacekeeping operations exceeded $2 billion.
In addition to traditional peacekeeping and preventive diplomacy, in the post-
Cold War era the functions of UN forces were expanded considerably to include
peacemaking and peace building. (Former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-
Ghali described these additional functions in his reports An Agenda for Peace
[1992] and Supplement to an Agenda for Peace [1995].) For example, since 1990
UN forces have supervised elections in many parts of the world, including
Nicaragua, Eritrea, and Cambodia; encouraged peace negotiations in El Salvador,
Angola, and Western Sahara; and distributed food in Somalia. The presence of UN
troops in Yugoslavia during the violent and protracted disintegration of that
country renewed discussion about the role of UN troops in refugee resettlement.
In 1992 the UN created the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO),
which provides administrative and technical support for political and
humanitarian missions and coordinates all mine-clearing activities conducted
under UN auspices.

The UN’s peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace-building activities have suffered

from serious logistical and financial difficulties. As more missions are undertaken,
the costs and controversies associated with them have multiplied dramatically.
Although the UN reimburses countries for the use of equipment, these payments
have been limited because of the failure of many member states to pay their UN
dues.

Sanctions and military action

By subscribing to the Charter, all members undertake to place at the disposal of
the Security Council armed forces and facilities for military sanctions against
aggressors or disturbers of the peace. During the Cold War, however, no
agreements to give this measure effect were concluded. Following the end of the
Cold War, the possibility of creating permanent UN forces was revived.

During the Cold War the provisions of chapter 7 of the UN Charter were invoked
only twice with the support of all five permanent Security Council members—
against Southern Rhodesia in 1966 and against South Africa in 1977. After fighting
broke out between North and South Korea in June 1950, the United States
obtained a Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to support its
ally, South Korea, and turn back North Korean forces. Because the Soviet Union
was at the time boycotting the Security Council over its refusal to seat the
People’s Republic of China, there was no veto of the U.S. measure. As a result, a
U.S.-led multinational force fought under the UN banner until a cease-fire was
reached on July 27, 1953.

The Security Council again voted to use UN armed forces to repel an aggressor
following the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. After condemning the
aggression and imposing economic sanctions on Iraq, the council authorized
member states to use “all necessary means” to restore “peace and security” to
Kuwait. The resulting Persian Gulf War lasted six weeks, until Iraq agreed to
comply with UN resolutions and withdraw from Kuwait. The UN continued to
monitor Iraq’s compliance with its resolutions, which included the demand that
Iraq eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. In accordance with this
resolution, the Security Council established a UN Special Mission (UNSCOM) to
inspect and verify Iraq’s implementation of the cease-fire terms. The United
States, however, continued to bomb Iraqi weapons installations from time to
time, citing Iraqi violations of “no-fly” zones in the northern and southern regions
of the country, the targeting of U.S. military aircraft by Iraqi radar, and the
obstruction of inspection efforts undertaken by UNSCOM.

The preponderant role of the United States in initiating and commanding UN

actions in Korea in 1950 and the Persian Gulf in 1990–91 prompted debate over
whether the requirements and spirit of collective security could ever be achieved
apart from the interests of the most powerful countries and without U.S. control.
The continued U.S. bombing of Iraq subsequent to the Gulf War created further
controversy about whether the raids were justified under previous UN Security
Council resolutions and, more generally, about whether the United States was
entitled to undertake military actions in the name of collective security without
the explicit approval and cooperation of the UN. Meanwhile some military
personnel and members of the U.S. Congress opposed the practice of allowing
U.S. troops to serve under UN command, arguing that it amounted to an
infringement of national sovereignty. Still others in the United States and western
Europe urged a closer integration of United States and allied command structures
in UN military operations.

In order to assess the UN’s expanded role in ensuring international peace and
security through dispute settlement, peacekeeping, peace building, and
enforcement action, a comprehensive review of UN Peace Operations was
undertaken. The resulting Brahimi Report (formally the Report of the Panel on
United Nations Peace Operations), issued in 2000, outlined the need for
strengthening the UN’s capacity to undertake a wide variety of missions. Among
the many recommendations of the report was that the UN maintain brigade-size
forces of 5,000 troops that would be ready to deploy in 30 to 90 days and that UN
headquarters be staffed with trained military professionals able to use advanced
information technologies and to plan operations with a UN team including
political, development, and human rights experts.

Arms control and disarmament

The UN’s founders hoped that the maintenance of international peace and
security would lead to the control and eventual reduction of weapons. Therefore
the Charter empowers the General Assembly to consider principles for arms
control and disarmament and to make recommendations to member states and
the Security Council. The Charter also gives the Security Council the responsibility
to formulate plans for arms control and disarmament. Although the goal of arms
control and disarmament has proved elusive, the UN has facilitated the
negotiation of several multilateral arms control treaties.

Because of the enormous destructive power realized with the development and
use of the atomic bomb during World War II, the General Assembly in 1946
created the Atomic Energy Commission to assist in the urgent consideration of
the control of atomic energy and in the reduction of atomic weapons. The United
States promoted the Baruch Plan, which proposed the elimination of existing
stockpiles of atomic bombs only after a system of international control was
established and prohibited veto power in the Security Council on the
commission’s decisions. The Soviet Union, proposing the Gromyko Plan, wanted
to ensure the destruction of stockpiles before agreeing to an international
supervisory scheme and wanted to retain Security Council veto power over the
commission. The conflicting positions of the two superpowers prevented
agreement on the international control of atomic weapons and energy.

In 1947 the Security Council organized the Commission for Conventional

Armaments to deal with armaments other than weapons of mass destruction, but
progress on this issue also was blocked by disagreement between the Soviet
Union and the Western powers. As a result, in 1952 the General Assembly voted
to replace both of these commissions with a new Disarmament Commission.
Consisting of the members of the Security Council and Canada, this commission
was directed to prepare proposals that would regulate, limit, and balance
reduction of all armed forces and armaments; eliminate all weapons of mass
destruction; and ensure international control and use of atomic energy for
peaceful purposes only. After five years of vigorous effort and little progress, in
1957 the International Atomic Energy Agency was established to promote the
peaceful uses of atomic energy.

In 1961 the General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the use of nuclear
or thermonuclear weapons to be contrary to international law, to the UN Charter,
and to the laws of humanity. Two years later, on August 5, 1963, the Nuclear Test-
Ban Treaty was signed by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United
States. The treaty—to which more than 150 states later adhered—prohibited
nuclear tests or explosions in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. In
1966 the General Assembly unanimously approved a treaty prohibiting the
placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit, on the Moon, or on other
celestial bodies and recognizing the use of outer space exclusively for peaceful
purposes.

In June 1968 the Assembly approved the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons, which banned the spread of nuclear weapons from nuclear to
nonnuclear powers; enjoined signatory nonnuclear powers, in exchange for
technical assistance in developing nuclear power for “peaceful purposes,” not to
develop or deploy nuclear weapons; and committed the nuclear powers to
engage in measures of disarmament. The treaty represented a significant
commitment on the part of more than 140 (now 185) signatory powers to control
nuclear weapons proliferation; nevertheless, for many years the treaty, which
went into effect in 1970, was not ratified by significant nuclear powers (including
China and France) and many “near-nuclear” states (including Argentina, Brazil,
Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and South Africa). Some of these states signed the treaty in
the early 1990s: South Africa signed in 1991, followed by France and China in
1992.

The UN has been active in attempting to eliminate other weapons of mass

destruction of a variety of types and in a variety of contexts. In 1970 the General
Assembly approved a treaty banning the placement of weapons of mass
destruction on the seabed. A convention prohibiting the manufacture, stockpiling,
and use of biological weapons was approved by the Assembly in 1971 and took
effect in 1975, though many states have never acceded to it. In 1991 the UN
General Assembly passed a resolution on the registration of conventional arms
that required states to submit information on major international arms transfers.
During the first several years of the registry, fewer than half of the UN’s members
submitted the required information; by 2000 about three-fifths of governments
filed annual reports. In 1993 the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibited
the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and
called for the destruction of existing stockpiles within 10 years, was opened for
signature. In 1996 the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibited
the testing of nuclear weapons, was signed—though it has not yet entered into
force—and two years later a treaty banning the production and export of
antipersonnel land mines (Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction) was
concluded. Despite international pressure, the United States refused to sign both
the test ban and the land mine agreements.

Many negotiations on disarmament have been held in Geneva. Negotiations have

been conducted by the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament (1960); the
Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament (1962–68); the Conference of the
Committee on Disarmament (1969–78); and the Disarmament Commission
(1979– ), which now has more than 65 countries as members. Three special
sessions of the General Assembly have been organized on disarmament, and,
though the General Assembly sessions have produced little in the way of
substantive agreements, they have served to focus public attention on the issue.
In other forums, significant progress has been made on limiting specific types of
armaments, such as bacteriologic, chemical, nuclear, and toxic weapons.

Economic welfare and cooperation

The General Assembly, ECOSOC, the Secretariat, and many of the subsidiary
organs and specialized agencies are responsible for promoting economic welfare
and cooperation in areas such as postwar reconstruction, technical assistance,
and trade and development.

Economic reconstruction
The devastation of large areas of the world and the disruption of economic
relations during World War II resulted in the establishment (before the UN was
founded) of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
in 1943. The UNRRA was succeeded by the International Refugee Organization,
which operated from 1947 to 1951. To assist in dealing with regional problems, in
1947 ECOSOC established the Economic Commission for Europe and the
Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. Similar commissions were
established for Latin America in 1948 and for Africa in 1958. The major work of
economic reconstruction, however, was delegated to the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), one of the major financial
institutions created in 1944 at the UN Monetary and Financial Conference
(commonly known as the Bretton Woods Conference). Although the World Bank
is formally autonomous from the UN, it reports to ECOSOC as one of the UN’s
specialized agencies. The World Bank works closely with donor countries, UN
programs, and other specialized agencies.

Financing economic development

The World Bank is also primarily responsible for financing economic development.
In 1956 the International Finance Corporation was created as an arm of the World
Bank specifically to stimulate private investment flows. The corporation has the
authority to make direct loans to private enterprises without government
guarantees and is allowed to make loans for other than fixed returns. In 1960 the
International Development Association (IDA) was established to make loans to
less-developed countries on terms that were more flexible than bank loans.

The UN itself has played a more limited role in financing economic development.
The General Assembly provides direction and supervision for economic activities,
and ECOSOC coordinates different agencies and programs. UN development
efforts have consisted of two primary activities. First, several regional
commissions (for Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Africa) promote
regional approaches to development and undertake studies and development
initiatives for regional economic projects. Second, UN-sponsored technical
assistance programs, funded from 1965 through the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), provide systematic assistance in fields essential to technical,
economic, and social development of less-developed countries. Resident
representatives of the UNDP in recipient countries assess local needs and
priorities and administer UN development programs.

Trade and development

After the massive decolonization of the 1950s and early 1960s, less-developed
countries became much more numerous, organized, and powerful in the General
Assembly, and they began to create organs to address the problems of
development and diversification in developing economies. Because the
international trading system and the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade
dealt primarily with the promotion of trade between advanced industrialized
countries, in 1964 the General Assembly established the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to address issues of concern to
developing countries. Toward that end, UNCTAD and the Group of 77 less-
developed countries that promoted its establishment tried to codify principles of
international trade and arrange agreements to stabilize commodity prices.

UNCTAD discussions resulted in agreements on a Generalized System of

Preferences, providing for lower tariff rates for some exports of poorer countries,
and on the creation of a Common Fund to help finance buffer stocks for
commodity agreements. UNCTAD also has discussed questions related to
shipping, insurance, commodities, the transfer of technology, and the means for
assisting the exports of developing countries.

The less-developed countries attempted a more concerted and wide-ranging

effort to redistribute wealth and economic opportunities through demands for a
New International Economic Order, made in 1974 by the Group of 77 (which had
become a permanent group representing the interests of less-developed states in
the UN and eventually came to include more than 120 states). Encouraged by the
successful demonstration of economic power by the oil-producing countries
during the embargo of 1973–74, developing states demanded greater
opportunities for development finance, an increase in the percentage of gross
national product allocated by the advanced industrialized states to foreign aid,
and greater participation in the specialized agencies created to deal with
monetary and development issues, including the World Bank and the IMF. These
demands resulted in limited modification of aid flows and of the practices of
specialized agencies and produced much greater debate and publicity
surrounding development issues. Following the East Asian financial crisis of the
late 1990s, UNCTAD and other UN agencies took part in discussions aimed at
creating a new international financial architecture designed to control short-term
capital flows.

Social welfare and cooperation

The United Nations is concerned with issues of human rights, including the rights
of women and children, refugee resettlement, and narcotics control. Some of its
greatest successes have been in the area of improving the health and welfare of
the world’s population. In the 1990s, despite severe strains on the resources of
UN development programs and agencies resulting from massive refugee
movements and humanitarian crises, the UN increased its emphasis on social
development.

Refugees
After World War II the International Refugee Organization successfully resettled,
repatriated, transported, and maintained more than one million European and
Asian refugees. It was abolished in 1952 and replaced by a new international
refugee structure. In 1951 ECOSOC drew up, and the General Assembly approved,
a Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was then appointed and directed to act
under this convention, and ECOSOC appointed an Advisory Commission to assist
the high commissioner.

The work of the UNHCR has become increasingly important since the late 1980s,
involving major relief operations in Africa, Asia (particularly Southeast and Central
Asia), Central America, western and central Europe, and the Balkans. At the end
of the 1990s approximately 20 million people had been forced to migrate or had
fled oppression, violence, and starvation. The UNHCR works in more than 120
countries and cooperates with more than 450 NGOs to provide relief and to aid in
resettlement. For its services on behalf of refugees, the Office of the UNHCR was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1954 and 1981.

A separate organization, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), administers aid to refugees in the
Middle East.

Human rights
Unlike the League of Nations, the United Nations incorporated the principle of
respect for human rights into its Charter, affirming respect for human rights and
for fundamental freedoms for all without regard to race, sex, language, or
religion. According to the Charter, the General Assembly is charged with initiating
studies and making recommendations, and ECOSOC is responsible for establishing
commissions to fulfill this purpose. Consequently, the Commission on Human
Rights, originally chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, was created in 1946 to develop
conventions on a wide range of issues, including an international bill of rights, civil
liberties, the status of women (for which there is now a separate commission),
freedom of information, the protection of minorities, the prevention of
discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, language, or religion, and any other
human rights concerns. The commission prepared the nonbinding Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the General Assembly in
1948.

After the declaration, the commission began drafting two covenants, one on civil
and political rights and another on economic and cultural rights. Differences in
economic and social philosophies hampered efforts to reach agreement, but the
General Assembly eventually adopted the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights in 1966. The covenants, which entered into force in 1976, are known
collectively, along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the
international bill of rights. Although all countries have stated support for the 1948
declaration, not all observe or have ratified the two covenants. In general,
Western countries have favoured civil and political rights (rights to life, liberty,
freedom from slavery and arbitrary arrest, freedom of opinion and peaceful
assembly, and the right to vote), and developing countries have stressed
economic and cultural rights such as the rights to employment, shelter,
education, and an adequate standard of living.

The Commission on Human Rights and its subcommission meet annually in

Geneva to consider a wide range of human rights issues. Human rights violations
are investigated by a Human Rights Committee set up according to the provisions
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The commission and
subcommission also carry out special responsibilities delegated by the General
Assembly or by ECOSOC. The commission and subcommission have strengthened
human rights norms and expanded the range of recognized rights, in part by
drafting additional conventions on matters such as women’s rights, racial
discrimination, torture, labour laws, apartheid, and the rights of indigenous
peoples.

In particular, the UN has acted to strengthen recognition of the rights of women

and children. It established a special Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, which was approved in 1979 and has been
ratified by some 170 countries, and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the
Child, which has been ratified by more than 190 countries. In 1995 the Fourth
World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, developed a Platform for Action to
recognize women’s rights and improve women’s livelihood worldwide, and
follow-up meetings monitored progress toward meeting these goals. UNIFEM, the
United Nations Development Fund for Women, has worked since 1995 to
implement the Beijing Platform for Action.

The UN, through special rapporteurs and working groups, monitors compliance
with human rights standards. In 1993 the General Assembly established the post
of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), which is the
focal point within the UN Secretariat for human rights activity.

Control of narcotics
The Commission on Narcotic Drugs was authorized by the General Assembly in
1946 to assume the functions of the League of Nations Advisory Committee on
Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs. In addition to reestablishing the pre-
World War II system of narcotics control, which had been disrupted by the war,
the United Nations addressed new problems resulting from the development of
synthetic drugs. Efforts were made to simplify the system of control by drafting
one convention incorporating all the agreements in force. The UN established the
Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) in 1997 to address
problems relating to drugs, crime, and international terrorism.
Health and welfare issues
The UN, through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and specialized
agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), works toward improving
health and welfare conditions around the world. UNICEF, originally called the UN
International Children’s Emergency Fund, was established by the General
Assembly in December 1946 to provide for the needs of children in areas
devastated by World War II. UNICEF was made a permanent UN organization in
1953. Financed largely by the contributions of member states, it has helped feed
children in more than 100 countries, provided clothing and other necessities, and
sought to eradicate diseases such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, and
diphtheria. UNICEF promotes low-cost preventive health care measures for
children, including the breast-feeding of infants and the use of oral rehydration
therapy to treat diarrhea, the major cause of death in children. UNICEF has key
monitoring responsibilities under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

WHO is the primary UN agency responsible for health activities. Among its major
initiatives have been immunization campaigns to protect populations in the
developing world, regulation of the pharmaceutical industry to control the quality
of drugs and to ensure the availability of lower-cost generics, and efforts to
combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. The UN has responded to the AIDS epidemic
through the establishment of UNAIDS, a concerted program of cosponsoring
agencies, including UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, UNESCO, and the World Bank. UNAIDS
is the leading advocate of global action on AIDS, supporting programs to prevent
transmission of the disease, providing care for those infected, working to reduce
the vulnerability of specific populations, and alleviating the economic and social
impact of the disease. In 2001 UNAIDS coordinated a General Assembly special
session on the disease.

The environment
In response to growing worldwide concern with environmental issues, the
General Assembly organized the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment, which was held in Stockholm in 1972 and led to the creation of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the same year. UNEP has
attempted to find solutions to various environmental problems, including
pollution in the Mediterranean Sea; the threat to aquatic resources posed by
human economic activity; deforestation, desertification, and drought; the
depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer by human-produced chemicals; and global
warming. Much disagreement has arisen regarding the scientific bases of
environmental concerns and the question of how to combine the goals of
environmental protection and development. Although both developed and
developing countries recognize the need to preserve natural resources,
developing countries often charge that the environment has been despoiled
primarily by the advanced industrialized states, whose belated environmental
consciousness now hampers development for other countries. In other instances,
developed countries have objected to the imposition of environmental standards,
fearing that such regulations will hamper economic growth and erode their
standard of living.

UNEP succeeded in establishing, through the General Assembly, a World

Commission on Environment and Development and in 1988 outlined an
environmental program to set priorities for the 1990–95 period. International
conferences, such as the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (the “Earth Summit”), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, have
continued to focus attention on environmental issues. The Earth Summit, which
was far larger than any previous intergovernmental global conference,
incorporated input from numerous NGOs. It produced a Convention on Biological
Diversity; a Framework Convention on Climate Change, or Global Warming
Convention; the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (the Rio
Declaration); a Statement of Principles on Forests; and a plan for the sustainable
development of the Earth’s resources into the 21st century (Agenda 21). The
Global Warming Convention was amended in 1997 by the Kyoto Protocol and in
2015 by the Paris Agreement on climate change, both of which aimed to limit
global average temperature increases through reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions.
Dependent areas
The United Nations has expressed concern for people living in non-self-governing
territories. Most importantly, the UN has affirmed and facilitated the transition to
independence of former colonies. The anticolonial movement in the UN reached a
high point in 1960, when the General Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored
by more than 40 African and Asian states. This resolution, called the Declaration
on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, condemned
“the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation” and
declared that “immediate steps shall be taken…to transfer all powers” to the
peoples in the colonies “without any conditions or reservations, in accordance
with their freely expressed will and desire…in order to enable them to enjoy
complete independence and freedom.” After the decolonization period of the
1950s and ’60s, new states exerted increasing power and influence, especially in
the General Assembly. With the admission of the new states of Africa and Asia to
the United Nations in the 1960s and ’70s and the end of the Cold War in 1991,
politics within the General Assembly and the Security Council changed as
countries formed regional voting blocs to express their preferences and
principles.

UN efforts to gain independence for Namibia from South Africa, carried out from
the 1940s to the ’80s, represent perhaps the most enduring and concerted
attempt by the organization to promote freedom for a former colony. In 1966 the
General Assembly took action to end the League of Nations mandate for South
West Africa, providing for a United Nations Council for South West Africa in 1967
to take over administrative responsibilities in the territory and to prepare it for
independence by 1968. South Africa refused to acknowledge the council, and the
General Assembly, secretary-general, and Security Council continued to exert
pressure through the 1970s. In 1978 the General Assembly adopted a program of
action toward Namibian independence, and the Security Council developed a plan
for free elections. In 1988, with Namibian independence and the departure of
Cuban troops from neighbouring Angola implicitly linked, South Africa finally
agreed to withdraw from Namibia. In the following year a UN force—United
Nations Temporary Auxiliary Group (UNTAG)—supervised elections and assisted
in repatriating refugees. Namibia gained formal independent status in 1990.

Development of international law

The United Nations, like the League of Nations, has played a major role in
defining, codifying, and expanding the realm of international law. The
International Law Commission, established by the General Assembly in 1947, is
the primary institution responsible for these activities. The Legal Committee of
the General Assembly receives the commission’s reports and debates its
recommendations; it may then either convene an international conference to
draw up formal conventions based on the draft or merely recommend the draft to
states. The International Court of Justice reinforces legal norms through its
judgments. The commission and the committee have influenced international law
in several important domains, including the laws of war, the law of the sea,
human rights, and international terrorism.

The work of the UN on developing and codifying laws of war was built on the
previous accomplishments of the Hague Conventions (1899–1907), the League of
Nations, and the Kellog-Briand Pact (1928). The organization’s first concern after
World War II was the punishment of suspected Nazi war criminals. The General
Assembly directed the International Law Commission to formulate the principles
of international law recognized at the Nürnberg trials, in which German war
criminals were prosecuted, and to prepare a draft code of offenses against the
peace and security of mankind. In 1950 the commission submitted its formulation
of the Nürnberg principles, which covered crimes against peace, war crimes, and
crimes against humanity. In the following year the commission presented to the
General Assembly its draft articles, which enumerated crimes against
international law, including any act or threat of aggression, annexation of
territory, and genocide. Although the General Assembly did not adopt these
reports, the commission’s work in formulating the Nürnberg principles influenced
the development of human rights law.
The UN also took up the problem of defining aggression, a task attempted
unsuccessfully by the League of Nations. Both the International Law Commission
and the General Assembly undertook prolonged efforts that eventually resulted in
agreement in 1974. The definition of aggression, which passed without dissent,
included launching military attacks, sending armed mercenaries against another
state, and allowing one’s territory to be used for perpetrating an act of aggression
against another state. In 1987 the General Assembly adopted a series of
resolutions to strengthen legal norms in favour of the peaceful resolution of
disputes and against the use of force.

The UN has made considerable progress in developing and codifying the law of
the sea as well. The International Law Commission took up the law of the sea as
one of its earliest concerns, and in 1958 and 1960, respectively, the General
Assembly convened the First and the Second United Nations Conferences on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The initial conference approved conventions on the
continental shelf, fishing, the high seas, and territorial waters and contiguous
zones, all of which were ratified by the mid-1960s. During the 1970s it came to be
accepted that the deep seabed is the “common heritage of mankind” and should
be administered by an international authority. In 1973 the General Assembly
called UNCLOS III to discuss the conflicting positions on this issue as well as on
issues relating to navigation, pollution, and the breadth of territorial waters. The
resulting Law of the Sea Treaty (1982) has been ratified by some 140 countries.
The original treaty was not signed by the United States, which objected to the
treaty’s restrictions on seabed mining. The United States signed a revised treaty
after a compromise was reached in 1994, though the agreement has yet to be
ratified by the U.S. Senate.

The UN has worked to advance the law of treaties and the laws regulating
relations between states. In 1989 the General Assembly passed a resolution
declaring 1990–99 the UN Decade of International Law, to be dedicated to
promoting acceptance and respect for the principles and institutions of
international law. In 1992 the General Assembly directed the International Law
Commission to prepare a draft statute for an International Criminal Court. The
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted in July 1998
and later signed by more than 120 countries. The ICC, which is to be located at
The Hague upon the ratification of the statute by at least 60 signatory countries,
has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, war crimes,
and crimes of aggression, pending an acceptable definition of that term. Under
the terms of the convention, no person age 18 years or older is immune from
prosecution, including presidents or heads of state.

Since 1963 the United Nations has been active in developing a legal framework
for combating international terrorism. The General Assembly and specialized
agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the
International Atomic Energy Agency established conventions on issues such as
offenses committed on aircraft, acts jeopardizing the safety of civil aviation, the
unlawful taking of hostages, and the theft or illegal transfer of nuclear weapons
technology. In 2001, in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks that killed
thousands in the United States, the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on
Terrorism continued work on a comprehensive convention for the suppression of
terrorism.

Assessment
The United Nations is the only global international organization that serves
multiple functions in international relations. The UN was designed to ensure
international peace and security, and its founders realized that peace and security
could not be achieved without attention to issues of rights—including political,
legal, economic, social, environmental, and individual. Yet the UN has faced
difficulties in achieving its goals, because its organizational structure still reflects
the power relationships of the immediate post-1945 world, despite the fact that
the world has changed dramatically—particularly with respect to the post-Cold
War relationship between the United States and Russia and the dramatic increase
in the number of independent states. The UN is a reflection of the realities of
international politics, and the world’s political and economic divisions are
revealed in the voting arrangements of the Security Council, the blocs and
cleavages of the General Assembly, the different viewpoints within the
Secretariat, the divisions present at global conferences, and the financial and
budgetary processes.

Despite its intensively political nature, the UN has transformed itself and some
aspects of international politics. Decolonization was successfully accomplished,
and the many newly independent states joined the international community and
have helped to shape a new international agenda. The UN has utilized Charter
provisions to develop innovative methods to address peace and security issues.
The organization has tried new approaches to economic development,
encouraging the establishment of specialized organizations to meet specific
needs. It has organized global conferences on urgent international issues, thereby
placing new issues on the international agenda and allowing greater participation
by NGOs and individuals.

Notwithstanding its accomplishments, the United Nations still operates under the
basic provision of respect for national sovereignty and noninterference in the
domestic affairs of states. The norm of national sovereignty, however, runs into
persistent conflict with the constant demand by many in the international
community that the UN take a more active role in combating aggression and
alleviating international problems. For example, the United States appealed to the
issue of national sovereignty to justify its opposition to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the International Criminal Court. Thus it is likely that the
UN will continue to be seen by its critics as either too timid or too omnipotent as
it is asked to resolve the most pressing problems faced by the world’s most
vulnerable citizens.
 International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the central institution embodying the
international monetary system and promotes balanced expansion of world trade,
reduced trade restrictions, stable exchange rates, minimal trade imbalances,
avoidance of currency devaluations, and the correction of balance-of-payment
problems. The IMF's goal is to prevent and remedy international financial crises
by encouraging countries to maintain sound economic policies. Because of its size,
the IMF is also a forum for discussion of global economic policies.

The IMF is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but has offices in Paris, Tokyo,
New York, and Geneva. The current and first female managing director, Christine
Lagarde of France, was appointed in June 2011.

How it works (Example):

The IMF formally came into existence in December 1945 with 29 member
countries after it was conceived during negotiations of the Bretton Woods
Agreement in 1944. It was originally tasked with establishing exchange rates after
World War II through regulation of rates among the member countries.

Between 1944 and 1971, most of the world operated under a fixed exchange-rate
system, which required each country to maintain a reserve balance of other
currencies in order to weather temporary supply and demand problems. Thus,
the IMF required each member country to deposit currency into an interest
reserve fund. The IMF then loaned these funds to nations with balance-of-
payment problems.

Today, the IMF promotes its objectives through surveillance and consultation
with member countries rather than regulation. It still provides short-term loans to
member countries having balance-of-payment problems, and countries seeking
assistance must meet or exceed certain thresholds related to inflation rates,
budget deficits, money supplies, and political stability.

Mechanics of the IMF

The IMF is run by a board of governors, which makes decisions on major policy
issues but delegates day-to-day decision making to the executive board. All
member countries are represented on the board of governors, which meets once
per year. Each member country appoints a governor and an alternate governor to
represent it to the IMF. The governors are usually the ministers of finance or
governors of their central banks.

The IMF's 24-member executive board is chaired by a managing director. The

managing director is selected by the executive board every five years, and three
deputy managing directors, each from a different region of the world, report to
the managing director.

The executive board meets three times a week, and the IMF's five largest
shareholders (the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and the United
Kingdom) as well as China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, each have a seat on the
board. The other sixteen directors are elected for two-year terms by groups of
countries.

There are several committees within the IMF. The International Monetary and
Financial Committee, which is a committee of the board of governors, meets
twice per year to evaluate policy issues relating to the international monetary
system. The IMF Development Committee, which is composed of members of the
boards of governors of both the IMF and the World Bank, advises and reports to
the IMF governors on matters concerning developing countries.

The IMF has a weighted voting system that gives more votes to countries with
larger economies. However, according to the IMF, most decisions are not made
based on formal voting, but by consensus.
 The IMF is funded by the subscriptions countries pay upon joining the IMF or
when their subscriptions are increased. Members pay 25% of their subscriptions
in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) or in major currencies. The IMF can call on the
remaining 75% as needed for lending.

The IMF determines a country's subscription amount based on its relative size in
the world economy. The IMF may borrow money to supplement the funds
received from subscriptions. Generally, the IMF may borrow money from several
countries that participate in one of two standing lending agreements with the
IMF.

IMF Operations
The IMF monitors economic and financial developments and policies in member
countries and at the global level and then gives policy advice to its members
based on its observations and experience. IMF advice generally focuses on
macroeconomic, financial-sector regulation, and structural policies. To do this, the
IMF engages in three types of surveillance: country surveillance, global
surveillance, and regional surveillance. During country surveillance, which occurs
annually, a team of economists visits a member country to collect data, examine
policies, and meet with government and bank officials. The team submits its
findings to the IMF executive board, which makes recommendations to the
country. The IMF's global surveillance functions center around the publication of
the World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability reports, which are
issued twice a year. Regional surveillance usually occurs within a series of internal
IMF discussions about developments in certain regions or within groups of
countries.

The IMF also provides technical help and training to the market participants and
governments of member countries. This often comes in the form of advice on
banking regulation, tax administration, and budget formulation as well as
managing statistical data and drafting or reviewing legislation. They also provide
training courses for government and central bank officials.
 One of the IMF's single biggest functions is lending money to members in need. If
a country is unable to make payments to other countries without taking
"measures destructive of national or international prosperity," such as
implementing trade restrictions or devaluing its currency, it may borrow money
from the IMF. When the IMF lends a country money, it often requires the
borrower to follow a program aimed at meeting certain quantifiable economic
goals, which are described in a letter of intent from the borrowing government to
the IMF's managing director. IMF loans are not provided to fund particular
projects or activities, they are provided to promote a country's overall economic
health. The duration, payment terms, and lending conditions vary on a case-by-
case basis. The IMF charges borrowers a market-related interest rate and also
requires service charges and a refundable commitment fee. Low-income
countries pay as little as 0.5% interest per year.

The IMF also lends money to countries dealing with sudden losses of financial
confidence, such as after natural disasters or wars, in order to prevent the spread
of financial crises stemming from those countries. There are five main facilities
from which the IMF makes loans: IMF Stand-By Arrangements (for short-term
lending), the Extended-Fund Facility, the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility,
the Supplemental Reserve Facility, and the Exogenous Shocks Facility.

When a country borrows from the IMF, the proceeds are deposited in the
country's central bank. The repayment period varies for each loan, but maturities
usually extend from six months to up to ten years. The international community
places considerable pressure on a borrower to repay the IMF so that those funds
are available to other countries, and the IMF in turn is diligent about timely
repayment in order to maintain its status as a preferred creditor.

Why it Matters:
The IMF, like the World Bank, is one of the most powerful and controversial
legislative bodies in the world. The IMF's objectives focus on macroeconomic
performance and policies, while the World Bank focuses on long-term economic
development and poverty-reduction issues. The IMF works actively with the
World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and other
international bodies that share an interest in international trade.

Criticism
Whether the IMF truly benefits the international economy is the subject of
considerable debate. Much of the criticism centers on the IMF's requirements to
adopt certain economic policies in order to receive IMF loans, which may
encourage poor countries to neglect social concerns in order to comply.
Supporters note that the IMF strengthens the economic and financial-integration
effects of globalization and helps low-income countries benefit from globalization
through the development of sustainable economic policies and debt reduction in
the poorest countries. They also state that IMF approval often indicates a
country's economic policies are favorable, which may reassure and motivate
investors and other governments who might provide additional financing to the
country in need. This not only attracts capital, it prevents investors from
withdrawing funds from an economy, which could create further distress for that
country and possibly for other countries.

WORLD BANK
World Bank, in full World Bank Group, international organization affiliated with
the United Nations (UN) and designed to finance projects that enhance the
economic development of member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.,
the bank is the largest source of financial assistance to developing countries. It
also provides technical assistance and policy advice and supervises—on behalf of
international creditors—the implementation of free-market reforms. Together
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization, it
plays a central role in overseeing economic policy and reforming public
institutions in developing countries and defining the global macroeconomic
agenda.

Origins
Founded in 1944 at the UN Monetary and Financial Conference (commonly
known as the Bretton Woods Conference), which was convened to establish a
new, post-World War II international economic system, the World Bank officially
began operations in June 1946. Its first loans were geared toward the postwar
reconstruction of western Europe. Beginning in the mid-1950s, it played a major
role in financing investments in infrastructural projects in developing countries,
including roads, hydroelectric dams, water and sewage facilities, maritime ports,
and airports.

The World Bank Group comprises five constituent institutions: the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development
Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The IBRD provides loans at market
rates of interest to middle-income developing countries and creditworthy lower-
income countries. The IDA, founded in 1960, provides interest-free long-term
loans, technical assistance, and policy advice to low-income developing countries
in areas such as health, education, and rural development. Whereas the IBRD
raises most of its funds on the world’s capital markets, the IDA’s lending
operations are financed through contributions from developed countries. The IFC,
operating in partnership with private investors, provides loans and loan
guarantees and equity financing to business undertakings in developing countries.
Loan guarantees and insurance to foreign investors against loss caused by
noncommercial risks in developing countries are provided by the MIGA. Finally,
the ICSID, which operates independently of the IBRD, is responsible for the
settlement by conciliation or arbitration of investment disputes between foreign
investors and their host developing countries.

From 1968 to 1981 the president of the World Bank was former U.S. secretary of
defense Robert S. McNamara. Under his leadership the bank formulated the
concept of “sustainable development,” which attempted to reconcile economic
growth and environmental protection in developing countries. Another feature of
the concept was its use of capital flows (in the form of development assistance
and foreign investment) to developing countries as a means of narrowing the
income gap between rich and poor countries. The bank has expanded its lending
activities and, with its numerous research and policy divisions, has developed into
a powerful and authoritative intergovernmental body.

Organization
The World Bank is related to the UN, though it is not accountable either to the
General Assembly or to the Security Council. Each of the bank’s more than 180
member states are represented on the board of governors, which meets once a
year. The governors are usually their countries’ finance ministers or central bank
governors. Although the board of governors has some influence on IBRD policies,
actual decision-making power is wielded largely by the bank’s 25 executive
directors. Five major countries—the United States, Japan, Germany, the United
Kingdom, and France—appoint their own executive directors. The other countries
are grouped into regions, each of which elects one executive director. Throughout
the World Bank’s history, the bank president, who serves as chairman of the
Executive Board, has been an American citizen.

Voting power is based on a country’s capital subscription, which is based in turn

on its economic resources. The wealthier and more developed countries
constitute the bank’s major shareholders and thus exercise greater power and
influence. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century the United States
exercised more than one-sixth of the votes, more than double that of Japan, the
second largest contributor. Because developing countries hold only a small
number of votes—e.g., in the late 1990s approximately 2 percent of the votes
were held by 25 African countries combined—the system does not provide a
significant voice for these countries, which are the primary recipients of World
Bank loans and policy advice.

The bank obtains its funds from the capital subscriptions of member countries,
bond flotations on the world’s capital markets, and net earnings accrued from
interest payments on IBRD and IFC loans. Approximately one-tenth of the
subscribed capital is paid directly to the bank, with the remainder subject to call if
required to meet obligations.

The World Bank is staffed by more than 10,000 people, roughly one-fourth of
whom are posted in developing countries. The bank has offices in about 70
countries, and in many countries staff members serve directly as policy advisers
to the ministry of finance and other ministries. The bank has consultative as well
as informal ties with the world’s financial markets and institutions and maintains
links with nongovernmental organizations in both developed and developing
countries.

Debt and Policy Reform

The debt crisis of the early 1980s—during which many developing countries were
unable to service their external debt to multilateral lending institutions, because
of a slowdown in the world economy, high interest rates, a decline in commodity
prices, and wide fluctuations in oil prices, among other factors—played a crucial
role in the evolution of World Bank operations. The bank had become increasingly
involved in shaping economic and social policies in indebted developing countries.
As a condition of receiving loans, borrowing countries were required to
implement stringent “structural adjustment programs,” which typically included
severe cuts in spending for health and education, the elimination of price
controls, the liberalization of trade, the deregulation of the financial sector, and
the privatization of state-run enterprises. Although intended to restore economic
stability, these programs, which were applied in a large number of countries
throughout the developing world, frequently resulted in increased levels of
poverty, mounting unemployment, and a spiraling external debt. In the wake of
the debt crisis, the World Bank focused its efforts on providing financial assistance
in the form of balance-of-payments support and loans for infrastructural projects
such as roads, port facilities, schools, and hospitals. Although emphasizing
poverty alleviation and debt relief for the world’s least developed countries, the
bank has retained its commitment to economic stabilization policies that require
the implementation of austerity measures by recipient countries.

The World Bank and the IMF played central roles in overseeing free-market
reforms in eastern and central Europe after the fall of communism there in the
1980s and ’90s. The reforms, which included the creation of bankruptcy and
privatization programs, were controversial because they frequently led to the
closure of state-run industrial enterprises. “Exit mechanisms” to allow for the
liquidation of so-called “problem enterprises” were put into place, and labour
laws were modified to enable enterprises to lay off unneeded workers. The larger
state enterprises often were sold to foreign investors or divided into smaller,
privately owned companies. In Hungary, for example, some 17,000 businesses
were liquidated and 5,000 reorganized in 1992–93, leading to a substantial
increase in unemployment. The World Bank also provided reconstruction loans to
countries that suffered internal conflicts or other crises (e.g., the successor
republics of former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s). This financial assistance did not
succeed in rehabilitating productive infrastructure, however. In several countries
the macroeconomic reforms resulted in increased inflation and a marked decline
in the standard of living.

The World Bank is the world’s largest multilateral creditor institution, and as such
many of the world’s poorest countries owe it large sums of money. Indeed, for
dozens of the most heavily indebted poor countries, the largest part of their
external debt—in some cases constituting more than 50 percent—is owed to the
World Bank and the multilateral regional development banks. According to some
analysts, the burden of these debts—which according to the bank’s statutes
cannot be canceled or rescheduled—has perpetuated economic stagnation
throughout the developing world.

International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice (ICJ), French Cour internationale de Justice, byname
World Court, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). The idea for
the creation of an international court to arbitrate international disputes first
arose during the various conferences that produced the Hague Conventions in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. The body subsequently established, the
Permanent Court of Arbitration, was the precursor of the Permanent Court of
International Justice (PCIJ), which was established by the League of Nations. From
1921 to 1939 the PCIJ issued more than 30 decisions and delivered nearly as many
advisory opinions, though none were related to the issues that threatened to
engulf Europe in a second world war in 20 years. The ICJ was established in 1945
by the San Francisco Conference, which also created the UN. All members of the
UN are parties to the statute of the ICJ, and nonmembers may also become
parties. The court’s inaugural sitting was in 1946.

The ICJ is a continuing and autonomous body that is permanently in session. It

consists of 15 judges—no two of whom may be nationals of the same state—who
are elected to nine-year terms by majority votes in the UN General Assembly and
the Security Council. The judges, one-third of whom are elected every three years,
are eligible for reelection. The judges elect their own president and vice
president, each of whom serves a three-year term, and can appoint
administrative personnel as necessary.
The seat of the ICJ is at The Hague, but sessions may be held elsewhere when the
court considers it desirable to do so. The official languages of the court are French
and English.

The court’s primary function is to pass judgment upon disputes between

sovereign states. Only states may be parties in cases before the court, and no
state can be sued before the World Court unless it consents to such an action.
Under article 36 of the court’s statute, any state may consent to the court’s
compulsory jurisdiction in advance by filing a declaration to that effect with the
UN secretary-general, and by 2000 more than 60 countries had issued such a
declaration. The declaration (the “optional clause”) may be made unconditionally,
or it may be made on condition of reciprocity on the part of other states or for a
certain time. In proceedings before the court, written and oral arguments are
presented, and the court may hear witnesses and appoint commissions of experts
to make investigations and reports when necessary.

Cases before the ICJ are resolved in one of three ways: (1) they can be settled by
the parties at any time during the proceedings; (2) a state can discontinue the
proceedings and withdraw at any point; or (3) the court can deliver a verdict. The
ICJ decides disputes in accordance with international law as reflected in
international conventions, international custom, general principles of law
recognized by civilized nations, judicial decisions, and writings of the most highly
qualified experts on international law. Although the judges deliberate in secret,
their verdicts—rendered in both English and French—are delivered in open court.
Any judge who does not agree in whole or in part with the court’s decision may
file a separate opinion, and few decisions represent the unanimous opinion of the
judges. The court’s judgment is final and without appeal.

The court’s decisions, numbering approximately 70 from 1946 to 2000, are

binding on the parties and have been concerned with issues such as land and
maritime boundaries, territorial sovereignty, diplomatic relations, the right of
asylum, nationality, and economic rights. The ICJ is also empowered to give
advisory opinions on legal questions at the request of other organs of the UN and
its specialized agencies when authorized to do so by the General Assembly.
Although advisory opinions—numbering about 25 over its first 50 years—are not
binding and are only consultative, they are considered important. They have been
concerned with issues such as admission to the UN, the expenses of UN
operations, and the territorial status of South West Africa (Namibia) and Western
Sahara. The court may also be granted jurisdiction over certain cases by treaty or
convention. By the late 1990s approximately 400 bilateral and multilateral
treaties deposited at the UN conferred compulsory jurisdiction to the ICJ.

The court itself has no powers of enforcement, but according to article 94 of the
Charter of the United Nations:

If any party to a case fails to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a
judgment rendered by the Court, the other party may have recourse to the
Security Council, which may, if it deems necessary, make recommendations or
decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment.

Few state parties to a case before the ICJ (or before its predecessor, the PCIJ)
have failed to carry out the court’s decisions. Two exceptions are Albania, which
failed to pay £843,947 in damages to the United Kingdom in the Corfu Channel
case (1949), and the United States, which refused to pay reparations to the
Sandinista government of Nicaragua (1986). The United States also withdrew its
declaration of compulsory jurisdiction and blocked Nicaragua’s appeal to the UN
Security Council. In general, however, enforcement is made possible because the
court’s decisions, though few in number, are viewed as legitimate by the
international community.

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