United Nations Organization (UNO)

The United Nations Organization (UNO) is one of the most heavily tested topics in LAT General Knowledge papers because of its rich mix of dates, numbers, and organizational structure. Students should memorise both the historical formation timeline and the structure of its principal organs.

Formation & History:

• The name 'United Nations' was adopted at the suggestion of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met and agreed in principle to form the UN in October 1943.
• USA, UK, France and the Soviet Union formed the constitution of UNO in October 1944.
• The UN Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 at San Francisco by delegates of 50 countries.
• UNO officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 — celebrated annually as United Nations Day.
• UNO was originally composed of 51 original member states; today membership has risen to 193 members.
• Besides Pakistan, Yemen also gained UNO membership on 30 September 1947; Pakistan itself joined UNO in September 1947.

Structure & Organs:

• UNO has 6 principal organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.
• The General Assembly, considered the 'world parliament', meets in regular session every year beginning on 3 September and discusses any matter not already being dealt with by the Security Council.
• The Security Council has 15 members: 5 permanent (USA, Russia, UK, France, China — all holding veto power) and 10 non-permanent, elected for a term of two years. New members are admitted on the Security Council's recommendation with a two-third majority vote of the General Assembly. The presidency rotates monthly among members in alphabetical order.
• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has 54 members elected by a two-third majority of the General Assembly, serving three-year terms, with one-third re-elected each year; it oversees 5 Regional Economic Commissions.
• The Trusteeship Council safeguards the interests of inhabitants of territories that are not yet fully self-governing.
• The International Court of Justice, headquartered at The Hague (Netherlands), has 15 judges elected by the Security Council and General Assembly for 9-year terms.

Secretary-General:

• The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
• Trygve Lie of Norway was the first Secretary-General; Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden died in an air-crash; Kofi Annan was the first Secretary-General elected from the ranks of UN staff.

Facts, Symbols & Miscellaneous:

• UNO headquarters is in New York; official languages of the UN are 6, including the Asian languages Chinese and Arabic.
• The UN emblem shows a world map projected from the North Pole, embraced in twin olive branches; the UN flag is blue and white.
• The USA is the largest debtor of UNO.
• Related agencies: UNESCO (headquartered in Paris, official working languages English and French) runs the 'Oil for Food' plan for Iraq's association with the UN; UNFPA deals with population issues; the World Food Council (est. 1974) is headquartered in Rome; the World Bank publishes the annual 'World Development Report'; the WWF's logo is the Panda.
• Pakistan first became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 1952, and was again a non-permanent member for a term that began in January 2012 and ended in December 2013.
• South Sudan became a UN member on 14 July 2011.

Tip: Many questions pair a UN body/agency with either a location or a number (members, years, languages) — build a mental table of 'organ → number of members / term length / headquarters' before the exam.