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HomeHISTORICAL EVENTSThe United Nations ’ Day (UN Day)

The United Nations ’ Day (UN Day)

Following the failure and dissolution of the Nations’ Society in 1939, big powers sought for an alternative and the heads of the United States and Britain signed a charter on the Warship “Prince of Wales” in Atlantic Ocean in 1941 consisting eight articles which was known later as Atlantic Charter.

Accepting the content of the charter, other governments like China, Soviet Union, and France joined its signatories.

The United Nations’ Charter was signed on June 26, 1945 and after approval of 5 great powers of United States, Britain, Russia, France, and China and majority of other signatories, the United Nations was officially established on October 24, 1985. Its first General Assembly Session was held from January 8 to February 12 of the same year in London and the second session in October and November of 1946 in New York.

The aim of foundation of United Nations at the end of World War II (1945) was to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations on equal terms, and encourage international cooperation in solving intractable human problems.

A number of its agencies have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, and the UN was the corecipient, with Kofi Annan, of the prize in 2001. The term originally referred to the countries that opposed the Axis powers. An international organization was discussed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and the UN charter was drawn up two months later at the UN Conference on International Organization. The UN has six principal organs: the Economic and Social Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the Secretariat, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Trusteeship Council. It also has 14 specialized agencies
some inherited from its predecessor, the League of Nations (e.g., the International Labour Organization)
and a number of special offices (e.g., the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), programs, and funds (e.g., UNICEF). The UN is involved in economic, cultural, and humanitarian activities and the coordination or regulation of international postal services, civil aviation, meteorological research, telecommunications, international shipping, and intellectual property. Its peacekeeping troops have been deployed in several areas of the world, sometimes for lengthy periods (e.g., they have been in the Kashmir region, disputed between India and Pakistan, since 1949). The UN’s world headquarters are in New York City; its European headquarters are in Geneva. In 2004 the UN had 191 member countries. The principal administrative officer of the UN is the secretary-general, who is elected to a five-year renewable term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The secretaries-general of the UN have been Trygve Lie (1946–53), Dag Hammarskjöld (1953–61), U Thant (1961–71), Kurt Waldheim (1972–81), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1982–91), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1992–96), and Kofi Annan (from 1997).

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