United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. more...

Home
Asia
Australia
Br. Comm. Other
Canada
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
Publications & Supplies
Topical & Specialty
UK (Great Britain)
United States
Worldwide
Collections, Lots
First Day Covers
Other
Philatelic Covers
Postal History
Postal Stationery
United Nations

The UN was founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between nations and to provide a platform for dialogue.

There are now 192 member states, including almost every recognized independent state. From its headquarters on international territory within New York City, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. The organization is divided into administrative bodies, primarily:

The General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly);; The Security Council (decides certain resolutions for peace and security);; The Economic and Social Council (assists in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development);; The Secretariat (provides studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN);; The International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ).;

Additional bodies deal with the governance of all other UN System agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea.

The UN is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states, and has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

History

The United Nations was founded as a successor to the League of Nations, which was widely considered to have been ineffective in its role as an international governing body, in that it had been unable to prevent World War II.

The term "United Nations" (which appears in stanza 35 of Canto III of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage) was decided by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II, to refer to the Allies. Its first formal use was in the 1 January 1942 Declaration by the United Nations, which committed the Allies to the principles of the Atlantic Charter and pledged them not to seek a separate peace with the Axis powers. Thereafter, the Allies used the term "United Nations Fighting Forces" to refer to their alliance.

The idea for the UN was espoused in declarations signed at the wartime Allied conferences in Moscow, Cairo, and Tehran in 1943. From August to October 1944, representatives of France, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union met to elaborate the plans at the Dumbarton Oaks Estate in Washington, D.C. Those and later talks produced proposals outlining the purposes of the organization, its membership and organs, and arrangements to maintain international peace and security and international economic and social cooperation.

Read more at Wikipedia.org